Kids, today's letter is 'I' - as in iPod - London Free Press

Caroline Van Bommel, a JK/SK teacher at South Dorchester public school is taking part in a course that gets teachers up to speed on the Apple iPod Touch, as a literacy teaching tool. Van Bommel and about 15 other teachers were finishing up a course on the device in the basement of the Thames Valley District School Board's offices on Dundas Street East on Wednesday. (MIKE HENSEN, The London Free Press)

Playtime, naps and -- oh, yes -- e-mail.

Welcome to the brave new technological world of early childhood education.

They may be just learning to read and write, but hundreds of London-area kindergarten and junior kindergarten pupils are part of a pilot project using iPod Touches to help them nail down literacy skills early on.

While some may cheer technology's march into the school system's earliest level, others, including parents, may wonder if it isn't a bit early.

But one tech analyst says it's never too early for kids to learn digital literacy skills.

"There isn't such a thing as a premature age to introduce these technologies to children, in much the same way that it's never too early for a child to learn to read and write and add and subtract," said Carmi Levy.

"The reality is that these kids will head out into the real world and use these technologies, whether their school teaches them or not."

Forty teachers at 18 schools across the Thames Valley District school board started using iPod Touches in their classrooms to teach kids how to use applications, send e-mails, take pictures, listen to stories online and more.

Now, instead of bringing their schoolwork home to their parents to put on the refrigerator, these tech-savvy youngsters use the electronic devices to e-mail their work to their teacher, who posts it online or forwards it to parents.

And then they'll use a voice memo app to record an oral description of their work -- some of which gets put on YouTube as a video.

Pretty impressive stuff, considering these are four- and five-year-olds.

"Half of them knew what to do before they walked into the class," said Sarah Paradis, a kindergarten teacher at Pierre Elliott Trudeau public school in St. Thomas.

Teachers, however, needed to get up to speed with the technology.

To do this, the educators traded in their spots at the front of the class for a seat in a series of four professional development sessions.

"It's not just playing with apps. It's making it legitimate learning," Paradis said during a break from her final session Wednesday.

The school board picked up the tab for 40 iPod Touch kits at $1,200 a pop, while Ontario's Education Ministry footed the $25,000 bill to train the teachers.

With its simple design and low cost, the iPod Touch is the perfect device for a kindergarten pupil, Levy said.

But some parents could be concerned their little ones are being exposed to technology and the Internet too early.

Precautions still need to be taken, Levy noted.

"An iPod Touch is a full-on, web-capable device, so you have to limit the child's activity on it if you're going to keep the focus purely educational," he said. "You can't simply let them turn the thing on and surf the web until their heart is content."

E-mail dale.carruthers@sunmedia.ca or follow DaleatLFPress on Twitter.