Managing tablets in classrooms and FREE apps!

Earlier this school year I was lucky enough to have my project funded by DonorsChoose.org!  Great right?  Yes!  I was super excited to have a tablet for my kids to use and when I sent home photo release permissions slips from Donors Choose, I had a parent contact me about donating a another tablet to our classroom!  So cool!  The only problems I had to solved were;  which apps to use and how to manage the use of the tablets in our room.

I did some research in the google store, checked out all the cool ideas on pinterest, and asked anyone I knew who had tablets for ideas.  I found some pretty cool apps for free, but the coolest FREE app I found is called Kids Place.  It is an app launcher, and has easy to use settings that allowed me to put only the apps I want my students to access in the Kids Place app.   The app makes it so simple to use and disables all the other buttons so my kids can't accidentally exit out of Kids Place, or do any damage to the tablet's settings.  Click on the picture below to check the free app out for yourself!


Some of the other educational free apps that I have found are:


Sight Words Games Lite


First Grade Learning Games











First Grade Words Lite

Grade 1 Math Common Core












We use the tablets in word work during our modified daily 5/guided reading rotations, and during math stations.  I am happy to report that after a week of using the tablets, my kiddos are doing a great job!  They are working hard when it is their turn, and they are sharing and helping each other.

I know that I will find new ways to use these tablets during the school year, and will hopefully find a few more apps, but I am happy to have them being used everyday by my cute little kiddos! How do you use technology in your classrooms?  Please leave comments below and share what has worked, and not worked in your class.  Thanks for stopping by!!