Thanks to all who replied. Here are the hits I received:
AlphaSmarts:
Ours are in constant use by classroom teachers for word processing. They use
them as an adjunct to the computer lab, which is usually overbooked since
it is used for keyboarding instruction and technology lessons. Teachers
borrow 20 at a time. Its easy to download the information to a classroom
computer for further editing. All the teachers in our school have at least
one computer in the classroom.
I have also used the applet program for typing (with grade 3). Our teachers
love them and I wish I had money to buy more.
Kids type poetry, their DARE essays, essays, etc. AlphaSmarts are only used
by the 3-5 teachers but they are available to K-2 as well (but they never
ask for them.) They are used extensively by the OT and special education
teachers. Special education kids who have poor handwriting, and poor manual
dexterity do better with a keyboard.
--I've been using them--they are very easy to use and affordable. So far
they have been used for writing by language arts teachers and special needs
students check the out and use them every day--let me know if you have any
specific questions.
We use them a ton in our K-6 elementary school. They are cheaper than
laptops at only about $300 apiece and can be checked out overnight for
homework. Ours are the old AlphaSmarts but the new ones have a lot more
features.
I would recommend ALphaSmarts if you have a limited budget and want kids to
be able to take them home without having a huge liability.
I teach second grade. We use AlphaSmarts in our classroom for several
purposes. One of them is to type our spelling words for the week. We have
also used them for creative writing as well as for writing sentences with
our spelling words. They can be (although we have not done it yet) used for
science observations. If you enter the data in and tab in the same spot
(hitting enter at the end of your categories/data), you can transfer it
directly to an Excel spreadsheet. They can be used also for math problems
(I've not created/sent any documents to the units via the hub, but the kids
have made up their own). Our district had a link with activities and ideas.
If I can find it, I will send it to you.
Neena Grosvenor, Media Specialist
Silver Lakes Middle School
North Lauderdale, Fl. 33068
ngros@bellsouth.net
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of ngros
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 4:42 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [LM_NET] Technology-AlphaSmart
Greetings All,
I would like to converse with someone off list about the uses of
Alphasmarts. Thanks in advance.
Neena Grosvenor, Media Specialist
Silver Lakes Middle School
North Lauderdale, Fl. 33068
ngros@bellsouth.net
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