news-record.com

HIGH POINT — Chris Pulliam II tapped away on an iPad, quickly navigating the game Grammar Gorillas.

The second-grader correctly identified words as verbs, action words and nouns, collecting bananas.
 

“See,” he said. “All 10 bananas.”
 

Working with pencil and paper doesn’t compare to using an iPad, Chris said.
 

“That’s boring,” he said.
 

This year, every student at Montlieu Academy of Technology has an iPad to use in class, and on Tuesday, parents visited the school to see what students have been doing. Parents rotated through the classrooms, and the children showed them what they can do on the computers.
 

The consensus of the Montlieu community is that the new technology makes learning more exciting.
 

“She talks more with me about what’s going on at school,” Tasha Robinson said of her 9-year-old daughter, Velinda. “She’d rather be on her computer at home playing math games than watching TV.”
 

Montlieu Academy is using the iPads to reinforce math and literacy skills. Students are using computers for Internet research, word processing, data spreadsheets and more. Students have used video chat to talk with students in Manchester, England.
 

The one-iPad-per-student program is a prototype for Guilford County Schools. The computers were donated by Businesses for Excellence in Education, the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, the William B. Millis Fund of the High Point Community Foundation and High Point University.
 

The school will help parents become more comfortable with the technology with “parent empowerment nights,” when they’ll practice on the computers. They’d be wise first to check out the Rocket Math app, a clear favorite. As they answer math questions, students earn money to upgrade their rockets and send them soaring. Schoolwide, students and teachers are battling for the highest score.
 

Teachers said children are more engaged during class since getting the iPads.
 

“It definitely reaches all kinds of learners,” first-grade teacher Noelle Leslie said. “It’s definitely working.”
And children aren’t just improving their math and writing skills. They’re learning to be more technologically savvy, Leslie said. “This gives them a glimpse of some of the technology they’ll use when they’re adults.”
 

Principal Gerald O’Donnell said the iPad is playing a part in the staff’s goal to build community pride and involvement in Montlieu Academy.
 

“The school is changing,” he said. Almost 400 people attended Tuesday’s event. More parents are applying to get their children into the magnet school, and its reputation is improving, O’Donnell said.
 

“That has a ripple effect because the school is one of the centers of the community,” he said.

Contact Jamie Kennedy Jones at 373-7088 or jamie.kennedy@news-record.com.