MARTINSBURG - With their iPods in hand, kindergarteners at Rosemont Elementary sat quickly in the school's library and tapped away on their tiny devices, while some of their classmates stood in front of the visitors and demonstrated what they do in class with Smart Board technology.
The visitors were members of Berkeley County Business Education Partnership. They watched as the students used new technology from a Smart Board to an iPad and iPod Touch.
"There are learning games as well as the music we learn in kindergarten, active songs to get up and do. I have some books they can find on the iPod. Kindergarten and first grade have them. We also have iPads accessible to our students," said kindergarten teacher Heather Whetsel.
Journal photo by Michelle Horst
Rosemont Elementary School kindergartener Brenna Seeders shows Kelly Tanksley of the Martinsburg Library and Kathy Mason of the Berkeley County Development Authority what she has learned on her iPad.
Rosemont's principal, Erica Propst, said she believes the Smart Boards increase the level of student engagement across many levels.
The Smart Board technology allows for students to see, hear and touch the elements of the lesson.
"A lot of it is where the student can participate in the activities, they will touch the screen, move objects around," said Chrissy Bolyard, who also teaches kindergarten. She added that the only drawback she has found with the Smart Boards is that sometimes she has to help the children reach.
Currently, all 24 classrooms at Rosemont have the Smart Boards installed, and only a few are waiting on software to finish being installed.
"Smart Boards are used for math, reading and our art and music teachers use them. It's great for social studies too, to be able to pull up different current events or maps," Propst said.
During the 2011-12 school year, Berkeley County Schools surveyed classrooms throughout the county to determine what ways each school best uses its wireless accessibility.
"There's discussion of someday reaching the point where we don't use traditional textbooks, and even though that's several years away, this allows us to get an infrastructure together, beginning with putting wireless into every one of our schools," Dr. Kim Hough, assistant superintendent, said in a previous interview.
In 2010, Berkeley County Schools spent $1.4 million on making each of its schools wireless-accessible.
- Staff writer Michelle Horst can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 138, or email@example.com.