For many women in Paragominas, Brazil, their Mother's Day surprise began at 9 in the morning. Their children showed them how to use the iPads the youngsters have been trying out at the Caseca community project.

The iPad project started in Paragominas last January, using a classroom at the Socio-Educational Center for Children and Adolescents (Caseca). The idea is to stimulate learning through the use of apps and an educational plan divided into modules developed especially for school children.

So last Thursday, May 9, the mothers experienced their first contact with iPads. The technology class was the way find by them to show to moms how the initiative is making a difference in their lives.

The "student-teachers" were, in fact, students who distinguished themselves in class and now  participate in monitoring. One of them, 7-year-old Josemir, until the beginning of this year didn’t know how to read or write at all, but just after joining the “iPads Caseca” he quickly took to the iPad and became one of the “small monitors.”

Now he already is learning some new words and has learned to write his name. “He has improved a lot in the school and also improved his behavior. He is more attentive and is exercising a lot his memory,” says Sueli Maciel da Silva, Josemir’s mother.

Fátima Carvalho, “iPads Caseca” coordinator, explains that the idea of honoring mothers with a class using iPads arose after they noticed their interest in the tablets used to improve their children’s knowledge.

The iPad activities opened the program of Mother’s Day in Caseca. “Our goal was to provide mothers a different day, giving access to a technology still not very common in the city, but that their children already use," says José Haroldo Paula, manager of Communication and Social Responsibility in Hydro Paragominas.

"It was great to be here with my son today. I enjoyed being able to use the device, which contributes greatly to the development of my child,” Sueli Maciel da Silva says.