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Thursday's weather didn't call for snow flurries and there were no jingling bells or red and green decorations at B-C Grammar No. 1. But the mood at the West Columbia elementary school was definitely festive.
"It's like Christmas in February," fifth grade teacher Preston Deaver told his class.
There's nothing like that new tablet smell. (photo by Rachel Ham) Students got to unwrap a gift from Lexington Two as part of the district's final leg of the 1-to-1 technology rollout. Tablet distribution began a year and a half ago, and carts of brand-new devices were delivered to B-C Grammar Thursday morning.
"This puts an exclamation on the (rollout)," said Rob Burggraaf, Lexington Two elementary instructional technology coach.
The order of schools receiving tablets was determined by how much classroom technology was in place already. Students in grades 3-5 at BC Grammar have had access to Chromebooks.
Deaver ended the school day Thursday by letting his students turn on their tablets for the very first time. As the screens on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education devices lit up, so did the kids' faces.
Students were led through the basics of how to personalize their tablets, including taking a selfie for their lock screen, and how to care for them. Deaver's instructions for carrying the tablets are to "hug it" with both arms to minimize the risk of drops.
Fifth grade teacher Katherine Meetze said the tablets can be used for instruction and projects in all subject areas. Since the tablets are checked out to one student only, Burggraaf can send personalized help in the form of apps that address math remediation, language help or other types of resources.
"This helps to individualize instruction, especially for our ESOL students," Meetze said.
Fourth grader Victoria Watson said she plans to use her tablet to explore math apps related to multiplication and fractions.
"I'm most excited to do classwork and different games," she said.
The excitement was too much for some students. (photo by Rachel Ham) Before the tablets were released into the students' hands, teachers got a how-to lesson from Burggraaf. He advised not every one of them must incorporate the tablets immediately but can add the new technology into instruction at their own speed.
"Ask what do your kids need," he said.
Many kids already have devices at home, and Meetze said she will talk with her students about the right amount of "screen time" and when it's appropriate to use a book for research versus Google. Burggraaf said teachers can create a custom search engine that only pulls information from kid-friendly sites so their students are safeguarded.
Burggraaf also encouraged teachers to create opportunities for their student to use devices not just for individual research or educational games but for pair or small-group work where kids are discussing their finds and how they solved a certain puzzle or problem. A few of Deaver's students demonstrated problem solving Thursday by helping their deskmate figure out how to change a setting or color.
"We must use the tablets as a tool," Meetze said
Burggraaf said students will be able to gain real-world skills like typing, troubleshooting, how to care for technology and how to be polite online.
Shovels aren't in the ground yet on Lexington Two's major building projects funded by the voter-approved bond referendum, but the monies are being put to good use through the 1-to-1 technology initiative. Burggraaf said about $2.7 million of the total initiative budget to date – approximately $4.5 million – comes from the bond referendum monies. State funds make up the rest of the budget.
"The remainder of the bond referendum money allocated to the 1:1 program will be used to purchase needed supporting equipment for the technology initiative and to refresh the pool of devices when this current set of devices reaches the end of service life," Burggraaf said.
CommentsSource: A tablet in every backpack: Lexington Two completes tech rollout
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