Kindergartners at Orchard Drive Elementary in Jackson use tech to share snapshots, video of the day

After finishing an exercise, teacher Jennie Pehle gave precise instructions to her class.

"Now close Kahoot!" Pehle told her 23 students. "Now, if you have QR codes at your table, you can start working at your table."

The students, all equipped with iPads, went to work.

Pehle was not teaching foreign language, chemistry or even genetics.

She's a kindergarten teacher at Orchard Drive Elementary School in Jackson.

Presley Harrison, left, giggles as Addison Broussard, center, and Cole Kasten try out a photo app Friday on an iPad in Jennie Pehle's kindergarten class at Orchard Drive Elementary in Jackson.Laura Simon

This is not your daddy's kindergarten.

There are still singing and crafts and all, but in this increasingly high-tech world, a Seesaw is no longer a seesaw.

On this particular day, about midway into the school year, Pehle was demonstrating the technology being incorporated into the classroom of her 5- and 6-year-olds.

Kahoot! was a website, projected onto a large screen at the back of the room, where the students engaged in a "Match The Word" contest from their iPads.

The first round featured a picture of a dog and four words in colored boxes with a silent, on-screen countdown from 20 seconds. The students provided the audio, turning it into a NASA-like event as they demonstrated the ability to count backward.

Jonathan Roe, right, sneaks a photo of Kolten Geske using the Seesaw app on his iPad on Friday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Jennie Pehle's kindergarten class at Orchard Drive Elementary in Jackson.Laura Simon

Upon "blastoff," the screen flashed 18 correct answers, and Pehle gave a shoutout to Jaxon Hood for making the quickest response, jumping to the top of the points leaderboard, a display that featured the first names and point totals for the quickest to punch the correct word.

Jaxon's lead was short-lived, however, as Avery Kuehn beat him to the draw on "hat" (17 correct responses) and "jug" (19 correct), then stayed out front on "cat" (21), "rat" (19) and "mat" (19).

Plenty of fun, countdowns and learning.

Just as important, it was information Pehle had on file that she would look at later to see who might have struggled and needed help.

Then came the QR codes, scanned by the students to access reading, spelling and subtraction exercises that required the use of headphones. Each youngster worked individually, scanning coded cards that presented a problem or activated a voice that read a picture book.

"They're reading it, and we're looking at the pictures," Sophia Crowell said, explaining the activity.

After a time, the Seesaw exhibition was put in motion as Pehle assigned several students to use the camera and video modes on the iPads.

Operating in the Seesaw Class app, Jonathan Roe snapped pictures of his classmates working, while Kolton Geske took video.

"For Christmas, I got a tablet," Roe said. "Before that, I played on my dad's iPad. Tablets are awesome because they're a little bit different from iPads."

Geske said he's had a tablet at home for a couple of years.

"I took video of everyone but me, because I was the one taking the video," he said when asked about his duty in the Seesaw process.

The youngsters were just a click away from a menu with the names and faces of classmates and another click from moving their pictures or video to be considered for addition to an account.

Pehle later would sift through the submissions and decide whether to release them to a child's account, where they can be viewed by parents through the Seesaw Parent app. Parents receive text messages or emails that allow them to view their child's work or events of the day on mobile or computer devices.

Pehle demonstrated the real-time function of the Seesaw Class app from her smartphone, snapping a picture of a student and sending it to a child's account.

It was immediately available to the parent.

The iPads are nothing new for students. Pehle, who has taught kindergarten for 11 years, has had them in her classroom for four years.

This is the second year every student has had access to individual units in her room. She has 30 devices on a cart that can be wheeled to another room. There are three such carts for the entire school.

Pehle, serves on the school district's technology team, which evaluates and provides recommendations for the strategic planning process within the district.

"She hears a lot of things firsthand that a lot of other teachers don't just because this is kind of her specialty and area of expertise; it's her passion," Orchard principal Shanna Wilson said.

Pehle said her students work with iPads for about an hour a day.

"My job is make sure they love school, and technology is one of those ways I use to do that," Pehle said.

Her kindergarten class, one of six at Orchard Elementary, is the only one using the Seesaw apps, although all use the iPads.

Pehle experimented with an app similar to Seesaw last year but found it less user-friendly.

This year, she finds herself using the Seesaw Class app with regularity because of its ease of use, allowing for a better documentation of a student's progress and a fluid mode to connect parents to the events of the day. It's so easy a 5-year-old can use it, but Pehle has a stop gate that gives her total control over what goes into a student's account.

In an Everyone account, Pehle can place singing and choreography moves, group projects that couldn't go home otherwise, as well as snapshots of the day in the life of a kindergartner.

Parents can view only their own child's work or group activities intended for everyone on the Seesaw Parent app.

"Sometimes parents are like, 'Wow, I never knew what it looked like when they go to lunch,' or 'I never knew what it looked like when they played at recess,'" Pehle said. "Sometimes parents will ask, 'Does my child have any friends? Do they play?' Well, I can take a video at recess and load it onto that child's Seesaw account, and then the parent can say, 'Well, I do see them; they're having fun and they're running' -- that type of thing. So it does capture moments, not just work."

The connection also can facilitate home discussions between the parent and student about what happened at school.

Pehle said the app she uses, free to all involved, serves as a motivator, as children often push their boundaries of accomplishment in an effort to get a picture of their work placed in their account. Each child can have up to 10 Seesaw Parent apps for different family members.

Pehle is mindful technology in the classroom, notably iPads, be used as a resource for learning and not for entertainment.

"I'm a big advocate for it being a tool and not a toy," Pehle said. "If I can't find a way to create an environment where it's a tool, then we don't have them in here."

Wilson said she knows of another teacher in the district using Seesaw.

"I have a feeling we'll see it more and more," Wilson said.

For the technologically challenged old-schoolers who may find kindergarten a bit intimidating these days, there still are a few security blankets.

"We're doing the old-school singing, crayons, cutting, and Seesaw doesn't take any of that away; it just gives us a way to share that and what we're doing," Pehle said.