Tech Talk: How is touch technology making a difference?

Our Lower School currently has a cart of 20 iPad 3's that are being shared by teachers from Pre-K3 to 1st grade, so you can imagine they are heavily used.  One app that is very popular with many grades is ShowMe.  As an example, Mrs. Keener's class use the iPads with an AppleTV to demonstrate how letter combinations make sounds in words.  Here is one of her students mapping the word "Shame". 

There are many skills happening at once as our learner draws each letter, sounds out each part, and narrates why letters make certain sounds.  With ShowMe tablet technology is superior to an interactive whiteboard, because with it, every student gets a chance to "go up to the board". Learning is personalized to each student and following every word map, they get to publish to AppleTV for the class to see.  Pre-K students enjoy Monkey Preschool Lunchbox and Monkey Math where they are challenged with fun activities that stimulate memory, spatial recognition, identify patterns and series, understand shape and size, and apply simple math.  The Monkey series also provides fun rewards as incentives to do more activities.  Kindergärtners use Hungry Fish to learn addition, Fun Rhyming to identify sounds and shapes with iPad technology using three of our five senses to engage students in bright, colorful, and animated activities.  Our science specialist, Mrs. Bridges, has been donated ten new iPads that her students will use to explore our solar system using Solar Walk, and interact with dinosaurs using National Geographic's Dinopedia.  Each of her students will be also using iMotion to record stop-motion videos of simple machines to draw conclusions on how laws of physics and motion apply to Lego machines built in class.  Reflecting on my re-imagining learning Tech Talk, how we are using touch technology with our early learners fits the idea of doing more with technology that just digitizing the classroom.  We are using technology in new ways to help our young people develop for a digital world filled with wireless touch devices.