My school is trying to move to 1:1 iPads for the 3th and 4th grade students during the 2013-2014 school year. Students in 5th grade have a laptop cart that they share between 5 classes and the same in 3rd and 4th grade. Students PK-2 go to the computer lab once during the six day rotation where they are taught by an amazing teacher [who also happens to be my boyfriend, so I'm not biased at all 
]. He teaches students how to use basic web 2.0 tools as well as integrate technology into their units. We also have an iPad cart with about 23 iPads that PK-2 teachers have the opportunity to check out and use in their classrooms. The technology teacher has been assigned with the wonderful task of trying to convince parents that 1:1 iPads is a step in the right direction. He’s been gathering pictures and video clips of students in action while using the iPads. I wanted to show my support and tried to think of a way to integrate the use of technology with literacy, besides playing with educational apps. I figured he could add video and photographs, of students participating in this activity, to his presentation for the parents.
I’m sure I’m not the only person who thought of this idea and that there are many [better] variations of it, so I am not trying to take credit for it. I’d been working a lot with the older grades and decided it was time to do something with the littler ones in the school. I emailed the Kindergarten and 1st grade teachers asking if their students needed more practice with sight words and many of them replied “YES!” I love the enthusiasm from my colleagues!
So, I typed up some Dolch sight words (grade level specific) and assigned a QR code to each word using this website. Afterwards, I put each QR code into a picture frame. Then, created a checklist for students to use as they find each sight word. Students need access to an iPad with a QR Reader app. There are many to choose from. I use “QR Reader” which can be found in iTunes.
We’ll see how students do with this activity. The teacher would have to show them how to use the QR reader to scan the QR code while at the same time keeping track of their clipboard with their checklist on it. I’m thinking of creating some word study QR hunts where students have to find the word that belongs to the correct word family and create a sentence using that word… I’m not sure. That’s still in the brainstorming stages of my mind.
Adopting technology is great for the classroom when used effectively.
So true– when used effectively! Many teachers confessed to using technology in their classrooms just for the sake of using it, because that was what their administrators expected of them. Effective is the key word!
Pingback: Kindergarteners Using QR Codes to Practice Sight Words | David Lee EdTech