When a group of kindergartners at the Coman Hill School recently took turns using iPads to write and illustrate simple stories about their lives, they didn't know that they were helping the district find effective ways to use wireless technology in the classroom. Or that they were starting to learn keyboarding skills. They just knew that they liked working on iPads.

"This is a lot more fun than crayons," said Charlotte Sanders as she used her finger to "draw" a picture on the iPad screen. "You get to do work like a grown-up," added her classmate, Kimberly Eagle.

The kindergartners, along with other Byram Hills students, are benefiting from the district's recent overhaul of its network infrastructure. Because the upgrade increased the network's capabilities and boosted connection times, it can now support more wireless tablets and computers in the classroom. District educators quickly took notice, proposing a variety of pilot uses for wireless technology and apps.

Kindergarten teacher Jean White and special education teacher Robin Zilli teamed up to try out an app called StoryKit, which has been installed on 10 iPads shared by the two classes. StoryKit, available free through the University of Maryland, is being used by the teachers to supplement the traditional kindergarten writing curriculum. It enables the children to write and illustrate a story, as well as narrate the words to play back later.

"This type of technology is a part of their lives," said Ms. White, adding that the app helps the children learn their way around a keyboard - an important skill for this generation of students.   Ms. Zilli said the app works well with the existing curriculum, which stresses traditional writing and drawing. In fact, the children first write and draw their story before putting it on StoryKit.

"It enhances what we already do," Ms. Zilli said.

Both teachers said StoryKit is well thought out, and grows with children as they progress from simple one-page stories to more complex ones. StoryKit can also help teachers meet various elementary school literacy standards found in the Common Core, the U.S.-led initiative that sets out a single set of educational standards for K-12 students. The Common Core, for example, calls for kindergarten students to explore digital tools to produce and publish writing.

Ms. White said the children took easily to using iPads during class, and love displaying their stories and playing the narration to classmates. "I'm impressed with the way they've embraced it as a learning tool."  

You can study about George Washington or Molly Pitcher in class, but there's nothing like becoming them to really teach you about their lives.

Every year, seventh graders at HC Crittenden choose individuals from the Revolutionary War, and prepare and deliver a dramatic monologue from their perspective. The two-month project begins in November when teachers introduce the Revolutionary War, which forms a major part of the seventh-grade social studies curriculum. Students then research their individuals, the role they played during the war and defining moments of their lives. They turn their knowledge into a monologue that they deliver to classmates in January.

"They focus on an individual in a dramatic moment in his or her life and answer the question 'Can an individual make a difference?' " said social studies teacher Christina Bonitatibus. Along the way, students learn more about the Revolutionary War, develop research skills and try their hand at speech writing. They even dress up in Revolutionary War-era clothes when they deliver their speech - and many stay in costume for the whole day.

"The idea is to make history come alive - to give the students a sense that these were real people making critical decisions that impacted America at the time and America today," said Social Studies teacher Lili Van Zanten.

Although many of the students initially think they want to become one of the main heroes of the war - figures like Washington, Thomas Jefferson or Samuel Adams - they choose by lottery. The students who end up with lesser-known figures, however, often particularly enjoy the project because they are learning new material and have an opportunity to teach it to others.  

Amina Chace learned about Molly Pitcher - who was given that name because she travelled with her husband during the war, and brought water to soldiers. She reportedly also took over her husband's cannon when he was injured in battle.

"We get to learn about all of these people who you never knew about like Molly Pitcher," said Amina, adding that she had also found out that women played an important role in the war. "It's very intriguing that we're learning about people who lived such a long time ago, but had such an impact on how our country runs today," said classmate Alex Robbins, who is portraying Samuel Adams.

While recently working on the project in the school library, several students said it had taught them how to do research using a variety of sources, such as books, articles and the Internet, and how to organize it for later use. The students are also making use of the library's new collection of e-books - which enable several students to read the same material simultaneously, according to librarian Barbara Barthelmes.

Ms. Bonitatibus said the project challenges the students to find different ways of making their monologues interesting to other students.

"It's not a typical research paper," she said. "They are writing non-fiction, but they want to add a creative twist to make it exciting."