Picture Downloads

I'm using the Blogsy app with Blogger (thanks to Rick Glass for the research to figure that out) to be able to download pictures from my IPad onto my blog. The pictures I tried downloaded in a very large format. I haven't figured out how to control that without loosing picture quality. If you have suggestions please share them with me otherwise I will just continue posting these large pictures and then make the next post a description of what they are. It will work and the IPad will be less weight to carry around, so that is my plan.

Galimotoes

These are pictures of galimotoes my students made after we read a book about a boy in Malawi who made one. Galimotoes are push toys made with found objects. Children use a long stick or other similar object to push the toy along on the ground while walking behind it. The boy in the book used different kinds of wires that he found all around the village where he lived.. My students started with a bag of leftover twist ties, pipecleaners, and balloons we found in our classroom. They drew a design of a galimoto they thought they woul like to make. Then they took their bag of found objects and went home to see what else they could find to add to their project. The creations they brought back were amazing! I had asked them to try to use only things they found or were getting ready to recycle and to check with parents to be sure it was ok. Some of the students did all of the work on their own and told stories about the fun they had collecting and creating. Some of the students had help from parents and told stories about the fun they had working on the project together. We enjoyed listening to all of their stories and seeing the inventive finished projects. The book we read was Galimoto by Karen Lynn Williams.

Galimotoes

 

 

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More galimotoes creations.

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I am trying out the camera connector I purchased to see if I will be able to add pictures to my blog.
We did a multicultural unit of study in reading. We learned about several boys and girls that live in other parts of the world. A boy who lived on Malawi, Africa made his own toy called a galimoto. It is a kind of a push toy made out of found objects. We had fun trying to make our own galimotoes. Here are some pictures of the galimotoes that we made.

I am getting ready to travel to China to establish a partnership with an elementary school in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. My school, Harrison Elementary, Warsaw, Indiana will enter into a partnership with Hangzhou Shengli Primary School, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. I will be visiting the school and using this blog to keep my 2nd grade class informed about what I am seeing and doing. I will be taking one of our IPad 2 tablets to try to connect whenever I can get a wi-fi connection. I will take lots of pictures and video to share on my return in case my plan of connecting through the Internet doesn't work out.

IPads in Our Classroom

We were fortunate to be able to purchase three IPad2 devices to use in our classroom after we were awarded a Red Apple Grant by the Warsaw Education Foundation in January. We put them to use right away. Students are using the IPad2 camera to video themselves reading a short passage from a book at their "Just Right" reading level and then playing it back and deciding if they are happy with it or if they want to practice it and video it again to see if they can read it even better. Students are building their fluency and having fun watching themselves while doing it. The students have their favorite apps that they like to use. I will ask them to write down their favorite apps and why they like them. I'll add them to this blog if you are interested in some of the apps we are using.