District to Give iPads to Fifth Graders

District to Give iPads to Fifth Graders
  
Eighty Jackson Avenue students learn they will be receiving iPads instead of textbooks this year.
  
For four fifth grade classes at the Jackson Avenue School, the phrase "no more pencils, no more books," took on a whole new meaning Tuesday morning. With about 80 students gathered in the school cafeteria, Mineola school Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler announced a new initiative that will provide each of them with an Apple iPad for the duration of the school year.
  
"This is an experiment," he said. "It is to see if this is a new way of teaching and of learning. You are going to be a part of something that hasn't been done before." The district has purchased about 100 of the devices which connect to the internet wirelessly. The approximate retail price for each iPad is around $500.
  
According to Nagler, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a "ripple effect across the country" with his Free Digital Textbook Initiative, where schools are able to cost-effectively incorporate technology into academia. Nagler feels his iPad initiative will aid a "new generation of students," helping them learn the skills necessary for their futures. Jackson Avenue School principal Matthew Gaven believed that Mineola is the first school district to have an iPad program on such a large scale...

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