Using a Drawing App To Show Thinking

As we are still in the first month of school, I have many primary teachers ask me, "What app should I begin with first or where do I begin to implement my new iPads?"  I like to start with a drawing app.  The reason for this is that it is an app that does not require previous iPad use.  All ability levels will enjoy using a drawing app and you can build onto this app by exporting your students' pictures into other apps to label, record their voice or use the work to create a class book.  A drawing app also goes perfectly with teaching children the strategy of reading and responding with a digital tool.  If you have a class set of iPads then while you are doing your read aloud all of your students can participate.  If you have 2-1 iPads, have your students work in partners.  If you have less, model the strategy, then leave the read aloud book in a literacy center with your 2 or 3 iPads and have students practice the strategy that way.  Even if your students can't read yet, they can still look through the book and retell it in their own words.  Make sure you choose a book full of beautiful pictures, labels and charts.  This way your students can complete this task while you are working with a small group elsewhere.  In the lesson below, I used a National Geographic Reader on Bats.  I chose this book because it is easy to read, has great pictures and I knew it was a book that my students would love to reread at silent reading time.

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