Kindles in the Classroom: A Year in Fourth Grade

Amazon Kindle

I and a colleague of mine, (who writes for this blog under the name Puzzleman) have successfully written a grant to purchase twelve Kindles. We are thinking about purchasing the $114.00 version that includes advertisements and special offers. We are still doing some research on the advertising content. If the advertising is kosher for kids, then we will be able to purchase Kindles for a less expensive price than originally planned giving us plenty left over for e-books (See number crunching below).

I will continue to post about our journey while we utilize Kindles in the classroom. Some of the future topics will include:

• Getting the best bang for the buck when purchasing e-books
• Different ways to get students to utilize the note-taking feature
• Dictionary use
• Text-to-Speech feature
• Kindle book share feature
• How to assess students by reading their notes
• How to successfully share a limited amount of Kindles between multiple classes
• How will the PDF reader be used
• Durability, longevity of battery, and overall usefulness in the classroom

Soon we will make our purchases and begin the enjoyable task of finding great books for our fourth graders.

If you have any suggestions, or experience with Kindles yourself, please share your expertise.

Number Crunching
$114.00 x 12 = $1,368 (Free 3-5 day shipping)
$2,000 - $1,368 = $632.00 remaining for e-book selections


A Sample of Kindle Store e-Book Pricing (as of June 2011)
Rick Riordan's book, The Throne of Fire sells for $9.29
Wilson Rawls' book, Where the Red Fern Grows sells for $6.99
Beverly Cleary's book, Beezus and Ramona sells for $5.99