Angela Kitchens

Apple Grove Elementary School

7400 Bellefield Avenue
Fort Washington, MD 20744
July 17, 2014
Walmart Community Grant Program
8745 Branch Ave
Clinton, MD 20735

To Management of the Clinton Walmart,

My name is Angela Kitchens and I am a Kindergarten teacher at Apple Grove Elementary
School in Fort Washington, MD. I am seeking funding for five iPads to use in my classroom.
Currently, at Apple Grove ES we have one iPad cart that is used on a first come first served
basis, which makes it difficult to gain access to the cart. The cart is allowed to be used for as
long as you request, but this could mean the cart will be unavailable to other staff for days at a
time. The use of five iPads in my classroom can guarantee my students access to the iPads on a
daily basis. Furthermore, the iPads will be used in small groups and during student centers to
reinforce, teach, and improve literacy, comprehension, and phonics skills. Due to annual budget
cuts, we find it difficult to acquire new technology in our school and are only able to do so when
we receive funding from the county or outside resources.
The use of iPads in reading instruction has proven to be beneficial for improving
students phonics and reading skills (literacy and comprehension). I feel that the inclusion of
iPads in my curriculum will help students reach the instructional goals set forth by myself and
curriculum state standards. These tablets provide access to a variety of applications in the iTunes
store that allow for personalized activities that are appropriate for students different learning
levels and needs. Furthermore, the use of iPads will assist me in reaching my students with

special needs learning goals by allowing me to locate and use apps from the iTunes store that
meet their specific needs. Research on iPad use in the Kindergarten classroom has shown that
the availability of many different apps, as well as the many features of each app, made it easy to
differentiate assignments for students (Killeen and Northrop, 2013). Differentiation is defined
as creating a learning environment where learning needs of individual students are met.
Technology instruction is an integral part of todays education and iPad is expanding in
classroom instruction. A study done on using iPads for literacy instruction found that using the
iPads for literacy instruction not only supported student learning, but students were also highly
engaged and able to demonstrate unique and creative ways of responding to text using a
technology tool that offers some unique affordances to users (Beschorner, Hutchison and
Schmidt-Crawford, 2012). This research proves that iPads not only will help my students with
reaching their reading goals, but will motivate them and keep them engaged in their learning. In
addition to this, I sometime find that some students have not fully developed their motor skills
and the use of the iPad can help with improving these skills with these students. Studies have
shown that a frequent comment by teachers was the ease of using the iPad, especially for young
students who may not have developed the motor skills necessary for using a computer mouse
(Blackwell, 2013).
The use of the iPad for literacy and phonics instruction is one of the major uses I will
incorporate into my curriculum. The iPad has numerous downloadable books that allow
students to read text with audio support, word-by-word tracking, and picture animation, with
options for the reader to further interact by recording and replaying their own voice with the
text (Beschorner, Hutchison and Schmidt-Crawford, 2012). This is another advantage of

iPads for improving literacy and phonics skills because students can benefit from the different
options within different apps
One of the benefits of using the iPad is that I can locate and use applications that are compatible
with Apple and Android systems. Therefore, students can get practice both inside and outside the
classroom by using tablets of their own or their parents tablets, smartphones, or iPods. This was
a fact noted by researchers as one of the benefits teachers identified with using iPads; they can
be used during center time or independent seat work time and, with many programs, can offer
extended practice at home on parents smartphones (Blackwell, 2013).
The following is a proposed budget I would need to implement the use of five iPads in my
classroom:
The Budget
Item
iPad Mini 16GB (5)
$299.00
iPad Mini covers (5)
$32.99
iPad Screen
protectors (5) $14.99

Use
Use of apps to reinforce, teach, and improve literacy,
comprehension, and phonics skills.
Protects the iPad when dropped and from scratches.
Protects the screen from liquids, scratches, and
smudges.

Price
$1,495.00
$164.95
$74.95
Total Cost
$1,734.90

In closing, I ask that you consider my grant proposal for ten iPads to help students with
their reading and phonics skills. The money issued from the grant will help me in purchasing the
items I need to reach the state standards and learning needs of my students with the integration of
the iPad minis. Thank you for your time and consideration!

Best regards,
Angela Kitchens
Kindergarten Teacher
(301) 875-5376
References

Beschorner, B., Hutchison, A., & Schmidt-Crawford, D. (2012). Exploring the use of the iPad
for literacy learning. Reading Teacher, 66(1), 15-23. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01090
Blackwell, C. (2013). Teacher practices with mobile technology integrating tablet computers into
the early childhood classroom. Journal Of Education Research, 7(4), 231-255.
Killeen, E., & Northrop, L. (2013). A framework for using iPads to build early literacy skills.
Reading Teacher, 66(7), 531-537. doi:10.1002/TRTR.1155

Reading Rockets. (2014). Top 11 phonic apps. Retrieved from

http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101/phonics/literacyapps_phonics
Reading Rockets. (2014). Top 12 comprehension apps. Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101/comprehension/literacyapps_compre
hension