What is Osmo?

As part of the IGNITE: Innovation in Education conference held earlier this fall, Second Baptist School kindergarten teacher, Mary Paige Harris ‘13, presented her go-to educational tool, Osmo, to an audience of educators and administrators. Mrs. Harris describes Osmo as “a digital tool that creates peer-interaction and provides self-differentiated learning opportunities.” 

Second Baptist School teachers have access to various educational tools, and Osmo stands out because it is easy to learn and guaranteed to benefit the students. Mrs. Harris feels that this product is purposeful not only in the classroom but at home as well; “Osmo is the perfect bridge to connect school and home. I customize spelling lists so my kindergarten students can practice the current curriculum from home.”

Across the board, students have diverse learning needs and Mrs. Harris appreciates that Osmo helps bridge the gap from student to student by meeting their needs and creating challenges specific for each student. 

During her presentation, Mrs. Harris highlighted three Osmo applications she uses in her classroom: Words, Numbers and Tangrams. The Words app is used in reading stations to help students practice the phonograms for the week. A picture pops up on the iPad with a certain number of places for letters. Students compete with each other to slide the correct letters under the scanner. This encourages them to practice social skills and be a good sport! In the Numbers app, students add numbers together in any combination to reach a sum. The Tangrams app provides students the opportunity to develop problem-solving and spatial reasoning skills as they use shapes of different sizes to build the picture on the screen. Mrs. Harris notes “I love watching them figure out the problem and turn shapes different ways to solve the picture!”

As an Apple Distinguished School, Second Baptist School is always seeking to utilize cutting-edge technology in the classroom and share that with others in the education industry. The IGNITE: Innovation in Education conference is a platform where educators are encouraged to discuss these tools with each other; Mrs. Harris notes “There are so many resources to share and new ideas that teachers can be applying, what better place to learn about effective methods than from a group of educators sharing with educators?! The opportunity to present also encouraged me to delve deeper into my Osmo knowledge.” 

For more information on how Osmo is used in the classroom at Second Baptist School, please contact Mary Paige Harris or Technology Integration Specialist Antionette Latham.