Understanding Usernames for IXL

IXL - Free
Image courtesy of Apple

IXL is a math program that provides practice for math users from grades PK all the way up to those taking Algebra and Geometry. It does cost money to receive an amount of licensed user accounts for the students to access the math practice pages.

The app itself is free, and as long as you have an account you can have students sign in and start practicing different math skills.

Having students in grades 4-8 sign in with a username and password has become pretty straightforward. Second and third graders are still understanding that concept and I have just introduced the idea of a username to my first grade classes.

I had the students break down the word username into words that they were familiar with (use, user, and name). From there I explained how a user is the student and the name is the students name the computer will recognize. All of our usernames include our first names so it was an easy tie in. From there breaking down the @ and the domain took a little more thinking. I explained how the @ symbol is used by computers to explain where the user is coming from, and the domain is where the user is from. So @westsideschool became the user who is at Westside School.

For many of the students, this made sense! It was good to see them practice writing their username with paper and pencil before I placed the iPad in front of them.