Teachers across the globe are using iPad to
design interactive, engaging experiences for
primary learners and enhance all aspects of
their learning. They’ve discovered that iPad
lets students learn at their own pace and
communicate, create, and explore in ways
they never have before.
Learning with iPad
Supporting Primary Learners
How iPad can help
iPad is ideal for students in the primary grades. It’s small and light with a simple, intuitive interface that allows
young students to undertake tasks independently. Direct interaction with content on iPad is highly engaging
for primary learners. Even nonreaders can instantly interact with iPad—they can listen, watch, draw, record
audio, take photos, and shoot video.
The built-in features on iPad, along with access to a breadth of included just-in-time resources, make it
valuable for supporting young learners. iPad can transform into almost any tool students need—a camera,
a book, a drawing canvas, a voice recorder, a math manipulative—the list goes on. And iPad doesn’t just
display the tools—iPad becomes them. The interface dissolves, and students use the tools through touch,
voice, or movement.
iPad is also a helpful tool for primary teachers. They can record student observations to demonstrate
academic progress and create content to enrich student learning experiences.
Early elementary programs provide rich learning opportunities that develop physical, social, emotional,
cognitive, and language abilities. iPad—just one component of these learning opportunities—can be used
to enhance current classroom strategies.
On the following pages you’ll get a quick look at the built-in features on iPad that support students in the
early grades. You’ll also find examples of outstanding learning materials, as well as activity ideas and stories
from schools that are using iPad to help their young learners achieve.
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iPad includes many built-in features that can be used to
support students in the primary grades. Here are some
examples.
Spoken text
With Speak Selection, students can highlight text and use the Speak option
to have the text read aloud. Or while reading, they can hear an unknown
word and continue to focus on the content. Learners can also use Speak
Screen to read the entire content on a screen. This both increases their
exposure to language and helps them proofread their written text.
Apple’s proprietary text-to-speech voice, Alex, speaks the way people
naturally talk. Alex is a contextual screen reader that actually reads a
whole paragraph before beginning to speak. Alex knows when to pause
and literally takes a breath, making it possible for young students to
understand the text and its pronunciation.
With the typing feedback feature, students can have a letter or word
spoken back to them once they’ve typed it. This confirms that they’ve
selected the right letter or correctly spelled and written the word as
they type.
Dictation
Thanks to the built-in microphone and Dictation, learners are no longer
bound by being able to only write or type their thoughts. Allowing emerging
writers to talk instead of type encourages them to write more, as well as to
practice their speaking skills. Having students dictate a story or response
first and then reproduce it—either in written or typed form—results in
more in-depth thinking and richer language use. Letting them dictate their
thoughts also allows teachers to assess metacognition—not just language
development. Dictation works offline and doesn’t require an Internet
connection.
Built-in features for
primary learners
Communication tools
Young students can use iPad to practice speaking and writing skills and
interact with written text in a variety of formats. Here are a few examples.
Camera. With the Camera app and built-in still and video cameras,
building fluency is fun for students. They can capture video of
themselves practicing their reading or speaking skills, listen to
their recording, reflect on their performance, and then rerecord
as needed.
Notes. Writing in the Notes app using Speak Selection, predictive
text, and Dictation lets students practice speaking and listening
to written language. They can also make their thinking visual by
sketching what they’re trying to say, or practice their handwriting
and share it in real time with their teacher or classmates.
Messages. Communicating via text chats using emoji, pictures,
and video engages young learners and enhances communication
within a secure and private environment.
Personalized settings
With iPad, teachers can personalize settings for every student. For
example, teachers can use the Guided Access feature to set time limits
for students when using an app, lock them into a specific app, and make
certain features inactive. They can also increase the font size on the screen
to make it easier to read, set restrictions on volume limits, and restrict
access to certain websites.
Content creation
Primary learners often need to demonstrate their thinking and under-
standing of content in ways that don’t rely solely on written language.
The built-in content creation apps on iPad help students scaffold through
visuals, text, and other media. Students can even add illustrations directly
in Pages, Numbers, and Keynote using Apple Pencil or their finger. These
apps also allow teachers to create relevant, age-appropriate materials.
Keynote. Go on a photo scavenger hunt, then create visual
vocabulary cards with drawings, audio recordings, images,
animations, and video.
Pages. Use built-in templates to create interactive book
reports that include images, videos, drawings, shapes, and
audio recordings.
GarageBand. Record reading to improve reading fluency or
capture students singing songs for learning language and patterns.
iMovie. Build video versions of picture books using titles, images,
voiceovers, and sound effects, and allow students to share their
learning outcomes in engaging ways.
Clips. Create videos that capture learning quickly and easily for
assessments, how-tos, and more. Using Live Titles, students
can add animated captions and titles—just by talking—that sync
perfectly with their voice.
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Additional built-in features
A wide variety of learning materials are available for iPad that can
engage students and help them learn in new and exciting ways. Many
of these outstanding resources are also ideal for primary educators.
App Store. A vast collection of apps on the App Store help students improve
literacy, numeracy, and social skills; record reading to improve fluency; and
create content in many ways.
iBooks Store. Thousands of engaging Multi-Touch books in the iBooks Store
are available for primary learners, including picture books, loved classics, read-
aloud options, and leveled readers. Many books have built-in reading tools,
such as spoken text and instant access to dictionary definitions. One example
is The Animal Book—which includes an embedded animal index and glossary, as
well as other interactive elements that create an immersive reading experience.
iTunes U. This online catalog includes free education courses from top
schools and prominent institutions worldwide. Much of this content is ideal for
teachers, such as the Technology in K–12 Lesson Plans – K–2 course from the
University of South Florida, or the Lessons for Primary courses, available from
Apple Distinguished Educators.
iBooks Author. With iBooks Author on a Mac, educators and students can
create their own interactive books for viewing on iPad. Teachers can develop
materials personalized for students’ own reading levels. Explore Just-Right
Books at Their Fingertips: Authoring for Primary Readers to see how a teacher
uses iBooks Author to create leveled texts for students.
Engaging learning materials
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Apps for primary learners
Here are just a few examples of engaging apps that can spark
curiosity in young learners.
Instructive
DragonBox Numbers. This app gives students the foundation for
learning math by teaching them what numbers are, how they work,
and what they can do with them.
Easy Music. Young students are introduced to the world of music
as they explore a game world—learning to recognize notes, pitch,
rhythm, and melody, and recording their own creations.
Endless Reader. Students have fun learning sight words along
with their context and usage with the adorable Endless monsters.
The Human Body. Elementary-grade students can explore a fun,
interactive model of the human body to learn what it’s made of
and how it works.
Sesame Street Alphabet Kitchen. Students practice early
literacy skills by blending letter sounds to create words with this
vocabulary-building app. The app can be combined with the
Tiggly Letters manipulative to provide a hands-on, interactive,
digital learning experience.
Todo Telling Time. These playful learning activities help children
in preschool through second grade learn all aspects of time-telling
through interactive minigames.
Tynker. This fun, engaging app introduces students to coding. They
begin experimenting with visual blocks, then progress to text-based
coding with Swift as they solve puzzles, build apps, program drones
and robots, mod Minecraft, and make incredible projects.
My Very Hungry Caterpillar. Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry
Caterpillar is brought to life in this beautifully illustrated app. The
wide range of interactive activities help students develop nurturing
skills and encourages a love of nature. My Very Hungry Caterpillar
is part of the StoryToys Jr. line, which includes many other apps
designed for preschoolers.
Constructive
ChatterPix Kids. Students make anything talk by drawing a line to
make a mouth on any photo and then recording their voices. They
can bring vocabulary to life and then share it as a silly greeting,
playful message, creative card, or oral report.
The Complete Fairytale Play Theater. Students create their own
stories or retell fairytales with their own narration, choosing from
over 60 characters and dozens of scene backgrounds and props to
bring their stories to life.
Explain Everything. This app turns iPad into an interactive
whiteboard for students to demonstrate what they’ve learned by
combining visuals and narration. Teachers can create tutorials for
students and use the app for formative student assessments.
Manipulative
Tangible Play—Osmo. This series of apps uses the Osmo Game
System and manipulatives for playing hands-on games with words,
numbers, tangrams, coding, and more. Use with available Osmo
lesson plans.
Tiggly. To spark curiosity and creativity, the Tiggly Learner Kit for
iPad offers three award-winning learning systems that combine soft,
colorful physical toys with digital apps. Students take a learning
journey through early geometry, arithmetic, and literacy.
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Learning activity: Story retelling with the Three Little Pigs
Sago Mini
Doodlecast
Puppet Pals
HD Director’s
Pass
Pages
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> >
Students can use apps on iPad to strengthen their math and
language skills and reflect on their learning. Developmentally
appropriate tools that provide opportunities for reflection can
create deeper learning and more meaningful experiences for
primary learners.
Objective
Students practice their speaking and early math skills to recount a
traditional story. They then direct their own version of the story in a fun
and engaging way. They use Dictation to reflect on their experience.
Overview
In this workflow, students use Sago Mini Doodlecast to draw and
record themselves chronicling the story of the Three Little Pigs using
mathematical vocabulary: before, after, first, second, third, and so on.
Next, they use Puppet Pals HD Director’s Pass to recite the story using
animation and narration. They then add their videos to a Pages document
and use the audio recording feature to dictate a reflection on their
experience of using apps to retell this classic story.
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Learning activity: Track reading fluency
iBooks
With the right tools, monitoring and documenting reading
fluency growth can be engaging and meaningful for your
students. Recording reading progress and capturing data
helps them self-assess and develop decoding and reading
comprehension skills.
Objective
Using a spreadsheet and voice recordings, students are empowered to
monitor progress over time through tracking and recording their fluency
rate, expression, and errors.
Overview
In this activity, students build a fluency tracking system in a Numbers
spreadsheet. Working with a partner, they’ll read an appropriately leveled
passage in iBooks while recording themselves in Numbers. Students
are then able to quickly add self-assessment data to tables in Numbers
that help them collect, organize, and keep track of learning progress.
Additionally, students can set reading goals and monitor progress toward
their goals.
>
Numbers
To view the full lesson, download Enhancing Productivity with iPad from
the iBooks Store. See pages 30–31.
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Learning activity: Design vocabulary flashcards
Students can use the built-in features on iPad to strengthen
their language skills. Flashcards, especially when customized
with visuals, context clues, and definitions, help primary
learners personalize and streamline the process of acquiring
new and difficult words.
Objective
Students create their own support practices through vocabulary
flashcards that can be duplicated and used for any subject area or
learning concept.
Overview
In this workflow, students build a flashcard template in Keynote that can
be used in multiple disciplines and shared with others. Once the template
has been created, they can personalize each slide with their own text,
images, audio recordings, drawings, and videos.
To view the full lesson, download Enhancing Productivity with iPad from
the iBooks Store. See pages 23–24 of the book.
CameraKeynote
>
Impact on learning
Educators are using iPad to inspire creativity and powerful,
hands-on learning experiences for primary learners. Many
schools are seeing great results by providing young learners
with access to iPad and engaging learning content.
Drayton Hall Elementary School, Charleston, South Carolina.
Drayton Hall Elementary puts students at the center of its classrooms
with an iPad-based environment that fosters learning through apps,
interactive lessons, and teacher-authored Multi-Touch books. Before
iPad was introduced in Kristi Meeuwse’s kindergarten class, about
35 percent of her students entered first grade reading above grade
level. After bringing iPad into her classroom, 100 percent of her
students have been reading above grade level for four years in a row.
Kristi uses iPad to help teach the Common Core State Standards,
which requires presenting nonfiction text to the class. Because of
the limited number of nonfiction books available at the kindergarten
level, she creates her own books, taking advantage of the Multi-Touch
features of iPad to make them engaging for her students.
To learn more, subscribe to Kristi’s Personalized Learning in
Kindergarten course.
Park Avenue Elementary School, Auburn, Maine. With 22
students in her kindergarten class, Amy Heimerl is challenged to teach
at every level. So when the school district gave each of her students
an iPad, she decided to try to create a custom learning experience for
every student. And it turned out to be as simple as making folders.
Amy put the same library of apps on every iPad. She then dragged
appropriate apps into custom folders for each student. For example,
in one student’s math folder, she might put a number recognition app.
Another student ready for the next level might have an addition and
subtractionapp.
Making folders of apps seemed basic, but it made a huge difference.
When students pick up iPad to start learning, they just tap the right
folder and go to work. Having tailor-made learning materials helps them
advance much more quickly.
Escondido Union School District, Escondido, California. For eight
years, Escondido has seen significant student achievement gains in
reading comprehension. Escondido observed that students in their
one-to-one mobile device classroom made nearly two years of progress
in reading comprehension in just six months; a comparative classroom
had just two-and-a-half months’ growth in the same period.
“ For the first time in 22 years of teaching, 100 percent
of my kindergarten students went to first grade reading
above grade level.”
Teacher, Drayton Hall Elementary School
Supporting Primary Learners: Learning with iPad | 10
“ Everything they do on iPad is completely self-checking,
so they get that immediate reinforcement and can move
along without my standing right there. They have the
freedom to progress at their ownspeed.”
Amy Heimerl, elementary teacher, Park Avenue Elementary
Tools f or t eaching
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Many solutions are available that make it easy to guide the use of
devices and apps in the classroom, get insight into each student’s
progress, and share student work.
Classroom
This versatile teaching assistant puts the teacher in charge of every iPad
in the classroom, keeping students focused, even when they’re working
on different tasks. Learn more >
Schoolwork
Schoolwork is a powerful iPad app built to help teachers and students
use the creative power of iPad. Teachers can distribute and collect
assignments, assign activities within apps, and view student progress.
They can also collaborate with an individual student and provide instant
feedback, enabling them to tailor instruction based on that student’s
needs. And students have one place to see assignments organized by
class and due date, submit work, and view their own progress.
Learn more >
Apple TV
With Apple TV, teachers can easily share student work by mirroring
any student’s screen to a TV monitor or projector. It’s a great way to
highlight student work, encourage collaboration, and involve everyone.
There’s also great content available on Apple TV for primary classrooms.
Here are a few examples.
• iBooksStoryTime.Read-aloud narration and beautiful illustrations
give young readers a different way to experience the classic kids’
books they love.
• SketchParty TV. This high-tech drawing game is great for teaching
vocabulary or just about any subject in the classroom.
• PBS KIDS. Television content—like full-length episodes and clips
from PBS KIDS programs—is available on Apple TV.
Apple provides many resources to help teachers learn how to
use our products and integrate them into classroom learning.
Here are some to get started.
Apple Teacher
Apple Teacher is a free professional learning program designed to support
and celebrate educators using Apple products for teaching and learning.
Educators can build skills on iPad and Mac that directly apply to activities
with students, earn recognition for the new things they learn, and be
rewarded for the great work they do every day. Learn more >
Everyone Can Create
Everyone Can Create was designed to give every student the opportunity to
develop the skills and techniques they need to become the next generation
of innovators, artists, and creators. It includes a versatile set of resources
designed to help teachers infuse core creative skills into the topics and
subjects they teach every day. Learn more >
Everyone Can Code
Everyone Can Code includes resources to give anyone the power to learn,
write and teach coding, from kindergarten through college. The Get
Started with Code Teacher Guides are designed to help teachers bring
coding into the elementary classroom using visual-based programming
apps like codeSpark Academy and Tynker. The two Teacher Guides provide
the support teachers need to help students in grades K–5 explore coding
concepts and begin to think like coders. Learn more >
App collections
A great place to start finding outstanding content is in the Preschool &
Kindergarten and Elementary School collections on the App Store. They
provide teachers with educator-approved apps to use with young learners.
Apple Professional Learning
We want your teachers to feel confident using Apple technology for
learning and teaching. Our specialists are former educators who can
support your teachers with onsite coaching and mentoring that helps them
design deeper learning experiences for each student. Learn more >
To learn more about Apple in Education, visit www.apple.com/education
or call 1-800-800-2775 to speak with an Apple Education representative.
Resources
© 2018 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Apple TV, GarageBand, Guided Access, iBooks, iMovie, iPad, iTunes, iTunes U, Keynote, Mac, and Pages are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Multi-Touch
is a trademark of Apple Inc. App Store and iBooks Store are service marks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
