I thought I was part genius today.
For all my new followers who missed this:
I have 5 “iPod Touches” that I use in my classroom as a station.
Oh, you want to know why “iPod Touches” are in quotes? Well, when my entire family upgraded to the iPhone 4 I was left with 5 extra, decently working, dust collecting iPhone 3/3Gs that no longer worked as phones. I thought to myself… “Why don’t you use these for something?!”
Naturally, I cleared the data and memory from each phone and uploaded them with oodles of free and cheap education apps from the App Store. There’s no limit to how many devices to you can place each app on which made having five iPod Touches extremely convenient.
I’ve found some strikingly awesome apps for free and I place these babies right into my Daily Five routine for reading and math centers.
Once my students got over the initial shock and excitement of having shiny, new toys in the classroom they became an essential tool in learning.I’ve had several students write down the names of the apps to take home and download on their own devices.
Back to my genius idea today… I bought one of those fun-little-man multiport USB hubs and decided to see if it would not only connected to my Mac, but also charge my iPods. It did! Woo hoo.
To add to my collection, I also bought a headphone hub that holds 5 sets of headphones that my students use to listen to eBooks or our Reading book’s MP3s of our weekly story on these iPods. Best part? I can move the group where ever I want in the classroom because the iPod is mobile, unlike our stationary listening center.
I hope some of these cheap and geeky tech tips help some of you out!
I highly suggest putting up a facebook status asking friends and family for old iPod touches or old iPhones to use in your classroomm regardless of your grade level.
Anyone have an old iPhone or iPod Touch I can have for my classroom? =)
(via revolutionizeed)
