ORANGE COUNTY, Fla – VPK students get jump-start with re-furbished iPad.
Today's kids are sometimes even more savvy with technology than their parents, and that's why Orange County Public Schools are adding more opportunities for even the youngest students to interact with technology in the classroom.
Approximately 80 schools throughout the district are receiving nearly 2,000 recycled iPads through the LaunchED Program and a collaboration with Early Childhood Education. The tablets will go to Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) classrooms.
Whether they're learning letters, sounds or numbers, four-year-old VPK students will get practice and reinforcement to enhance their teacher's lessons.
"The curriculum doesn't change, we want our 4-year-olds learning their alphabet, to be learning sounds, learning sight words, quite frankly, we want them to start reading as early as possible," Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said.
Supt. Jenkins says the extra technology in the classrooms is made possible thanks to taxpayers. With funds from the half-penny sales tax, every high school student started receiving a school-issued laptop last school year and by the end of this school year, all middle schools will have that one-to-one ratio as well.