Marshall Simonds Middle School in Burlington is 1:1 with iPads. About 860 students in grades 6-8 have been using iPads in the classroom since January. Teachers and students at MSMS were recently asked about how the 1:1 program is developing. Here are some of the early updates about the 1:1 environment and a current top ten list of MSMS apps.
Foreign Language
Students are using iPads to to practice and reinforce vocabulary. Educreations is being used to write vocabulary as dictated and translate. Educreations is also used as a review tool before assessments. Students are accessing Quia.com in order to play games that reinforce vocabulary from class. They have the option of taking class notes in Evernote or Notability. Many students are creating virtual flashcards with pictures or voice attached. Students have shown excellent growth in organization of materials using the iPad.
Music
Students in the MSMS Select Chorus use their iPads instead of sheet music. Students use a number of apps to record their parts when rehearsing. This is useful as they can hear themselves singing the correct notes, limiting the number of times a particular passage needs to be reviewed. Practice tracks are created for each part and designated Section Leaders use their iPad to reinforce music to their peers. The entire grade 6 General Music curriculum is on NetTexts. They can view videos and complete worksheets on particular topics. This eliminates the need to make photocopies. Students love the app and appreciate the consolidated organization of content.
Art
Students are using iPads to find images for art projects and incorporating the digital images into paintings, Photoshop projects, and sculpture. Students are using iPads for digital video art projects as well.
English Language Arts
iPads are being used to find poetry in music lyrics. iPad apps including Evernote and Notability are being used for note taking, worksheets, and practice. Highlighted apps include Edmodo, Socrative, Grammar, and Explain Everything. Students are using Haiku Deck and Explain Everything for presentations.
Math
Students are completing daily MCAS warm up questions and using Notability and Evernote for note taking. Explain Everything is being used for student videos and screen casts as well as some interim assessment activities. Educreations has been helpful for group or partner work and JogNog has been used for MCAS practice and review. Socrative is being used for quiz review and MCAS style questions. Students are using Google Chrome to check their stocks daily as part of the stock market game. They use Google Spreadsheets for keeping track of their stocks and Google Drive for creating letters to their companies. Edmodo is also used for daily homework and test preparation.
Social Studies
Socrative is being used for practice, review, and quizzes. Most students are using Evernote for note taking. Students have created presentations using Haiku Deck and Explain Everything which have been shown through the classroom AppleTVs or Reflector app. Students are also using the Globe and Google Earth apps to locate and describe places as topics are discussed in class.
Science
Students are using Evernote and Google Drive for note taking and science lab activities. Students are reviewing for the science MCAS using the JogNog app. Students are video recording classroom presentations and reviewing projects created by their peers. Many students have used Explain Everything and the camera roll as presentation tools.
MSMS Top Ten List of Apps (as of March 25, 2013)
1) Evernote 2) Explain Everything 3) Google Drive 4) Notability 5) Haiku Deck 6) Socrative 7) Educreations 8) Edmodo 9) NetTexts 10) JogNog
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