iPods Give Kindergartners A Jump On Learning

Got a question about iPod functionality? Talk to a Kindergartner from for a little tech advice.

As part of a new experimental program, 21-year teaching veteran John Kim is helping his Kindergarten class poke and prod its way to academic success on iPod Touch screens.

The program is part of an innovative use of technology that has many of Kim’s students picking up skills at record pace with, well, just a touch of the screen.

“I’m a techy person and thought that the iPods could be a great tool for the kids. It’s a way to engage and excite them, all the while following our curriculum,” Kim said.

Free apps, including Phonics, Dot to Dot, Shape Builder Lite, First Letters and Phonics, and Sight Words, have been carefully chosen by Kim and his colleagues to ensure that the games build on skills required in California’s state standards.

Students spend roughly 30-40 minutes per week with the iPods, stretched over a two-day session. Kim said that not only are students engaged in learning their shapes and blending sounds, they are mastering the tactile skill of hand-eye coordination.

“It has taken time to properly implement and monitor the program. And it takes time to go through the apps and make sure they’re a good fit,” Kim said, adding that the iPod’s Internet capabilities have been blocked and locked for safety.

Kim said that part of the challenge has been the acquisition of the iPods, considering their expense, but that a slow and measured approach has garnered the team six iPods, with a plan for more.

“We have purchased some refurbished iPods with the help of our recycling efforts,” Kim said, adding that grants and Green Team money, earned by saving electricity in the classroom, have made the purchase of four additional iPods possible.

Karen Fisher, 28-year veteran Kindergarten teacher, said, “I think we are just scratching the surface. Most kids already know how to use the iPods, coming in. So we have a sense that learning is just moving along that much faster.”

So fast that Kim said education officials are currently studying a series of new applications to keep learning fresh and the students engaged.

Fisher said, “There are so many educational apps that support the program.”

Adding that they don’t want to diminish the impact of the classroom iPods by giving kids too much of a good thing, Kim said, “The parents love this. And some of them want to load the same apps at home, but we have to be careful.”

In the classroom, Kim's Kindergartners are eager for a turn at learning. In the span of just 15 minutes the students work at individual centers – first drawing, then reading and computers, then iPods. So quick and ready are the kids that Kim spends a harried moment or two assigning iPods.

When asked which center he preferred -- drawing or reading or iPods -- student Rylan Shank responded with an answer that would make any teacher proud.

“I like them all.”