Thankful for Donor's Choose!!

Aloha Friday friends. I bet some of you are hootin' and hollerin' because you are officially on Thanksgiving break.  I am officially jealous!  I have never had off the whole week for Thanksgiving, but I can't really complain.  This was the first week in a LONG time that I have taught 5 full days!

This post finds me happy and excited about having another Donor's Choose project funded!!

My latest project was funded a few weeks ago and I just received all of my items.  I was very fortunate to have it funded by Chevron Fuel Your School.  They funded all projects in Hawaii for the month of October.  You can check them out on Facebook if you want to learn more.

So here is what I asked for - 4 new iPads and the cases to go along with them.

Isn't that the most beautiful sight!  I now have 8 iPads and they were all funded by Donor's Choose except one, which was given to us from Admin.

The kids literally flipped when they saw them all!  Of course the bright colored cases make them even more alluring for my 2nd graders.

The cases are from Amazon.com and they are really cool.  They are made of a thick foam like substance. Perfect for my tropical colored classroom! 

Now my only problem is organization.  How to store and charge all of these and keep it looking decent.  (If you didn't already notice the horrible wires everywhere, check the picture)

So I headed back over the Amazon and found this storage unit.

It has 8 slots for each iPad.  It seems like it will be sturdy enough, especially with the thickness of the new cases.

Now I just need this little gadget to get them all charging without a huge powerstrip!

Ahhh, I could go on and on, but for now I am excited with what I have!

With 8 iPads I can use 4 for our listening center and 4 for word work during Daily 5.  During math rotations I have 6 students in each group, so they can use these to access our Reflex Math program.

I can also use them for small groups to do research, and during my intervention block my higher kids can read KidBiz articles and play enrichment games.

I am really excited to plan a lesson using QR codes.  Once I get it all going I will share what we do.

I posted this on my Facebook page yesterday and I had a few requests for apps to use in the class.  I am working on a new post and will get it up soon.

I would love to hear how you use iPads in your classroom and feel free to share any apps that you love!! I am always on the hunt for great apps!

I am also linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five For Friday post.  Go check out some other fun blogs!