Student technology experiences at YES are based on these National Educational Technology Standards for Students from the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education):

1. Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

2. Digital Citizen: Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.

3. Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.

4. Innovative Designer: Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.

5. Computational Thinker: Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.

6. Creative Communicator: Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

7. Global Collaborator: Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.

Teachers collaborate to provide experiences for students that are linked to their subject area learning and reflect their lives as digital age learners. ISTE standards are referred to by number in the parentheses.

Students in Second grade:

• Learn to use iPads to record still images and videos for learning journals. (1, 4, 6)
• Illustrate and communicate ideas in stories, poems and narratives using writing, voice recording and drawing. (3, 6)
• Share original writing and group performances with an audience of family members and other students online using learning journals. (1, 3, 4, 6)
• Learn and review math fact fluency using apps at school and continuing at home. (5)
• Describe science learning using words and drawings created on an iPad. (1, 2, 3)
• Access math activities that support the learning in each math unit throughout the school year. (5)
• Access reference sites like Facts4Me and online encyclopedia for research at school or at home. (1, 3)
• Demonstrate responsible use of iPads in the classroom and specialist subjects. (1, 2)
• Participate with teachers using classroom projectors and document cameras to share literature, media and Internet-based materials. (1, 3, 6)
• Learn to create and communicate responsibly online through lessons on digital citizenship in the classroom. (2, 4, 6)
• Research, write or create multi-media projects about science and social studies topics. (1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
• Demonstrate the ability to navigate in virtual environments such as electronic books, websites and apps. (1, 2)
• Use combined media (video, sound, images and text) to create stories on iPads. (1, 2, 3, 4, 6)
• Access audio versions of books and reading materials on iPads. (1)
• Use the video and voice recording tools on the iPads to record reading and develop fluency (1, 6)
• Use voice-to-text feature of the iPads to have text read aloud for information or personal editing. (1, 2)
• Learn the concepts of logical thinking and programming using Scratch Jr. and other coding tools. (1, 3, 5)

In addition to the experiences listed above, in Third and Fourth grade students:

• Create documents and presentations using Google Drive account login. (1, 2, 3, 6)
• Share Google documents and presentations with teachers for revision and editing. (1, 2, 3, 6)
• Use formative assessment tools to respond to teacher instruction and contribute to classroom lessons. (1, 6)
• Participate in online book groups and collaborations with students outside of their own classroom as guided by a teacher. (1, 2, 6, 7)
• Explore the geography of the world through Google Earth and collaborations with classrooms in other countries. (1, 7)
• Use a "mindmapping" tool to plan writing assignments. (1, 4, 6)
• Begin to learn "keyboarding" to assist with typing on iPads. (6)
• Use Lego WeDo materials to build projects and create programs for them. (5)