Using Ipads for reading - getting help from colleagues.

In my class I have a huge range of abilities - as all teachers say and do. 

For reading, I have one student, Bob, who is significantly lower than the rest of his peers. Due to the huge gap between him, and the next lowest student, I struggle to find time to give him adequate learning tasks and time. Everybody else is in a group, so if I am not there they can learn off each other. However with Bob, there is no one else at his level in this class. 

I have been giving him books to read at his level and trying to come up with activities that will appropriate (for the book content and his maturity level), but this is really hard when I have everyone else to think about as well.

Today I went to observe my friend and colleague Lucina, who teaches year 1 and 2. Although her students are lower than Bob is, I wanted to see how she taught them and especially how she integrated the Ipad into her teaching.

It was good to see her teaching, but I got more out of picking her brain about it. 

For example, I went through her Ipad and saw the different kinds of activities she does on Explain Everything for her kids (i.e. retelling the story, sequencing pictures in the right order, circle the punctuation) and then went away and made some for myself (at Bobs level). 

I went back and showed these to her and she was quite happy with them. She then explained some technical stuff about saving, locking pictures (Etc) that I didn't know and wouldn't have been able to figure out on my own.

But wait.. there's more!

Then she set me up with a teachers account on Sunshine Books and created Bob as a student on it, so he use that independently as well. 

I have never been on Sunshine books before but it is AMAZING. 

There are levelled books, with audio, and follow up activities BUILT IN.

Today has given me a lot more information and access to activities that I can make, and Bob can do, with some level of independence. It will be awesome to have something to give him all the time, instead of him sitting with me for 20 minutes (if we are lucky) and then kind of doing nothing for the rest of reading time. 

I am so excited! It's going to be great.

Thank you Lucina, you are a god send!