Things #8 (Doorbells)

Okay that was fun! I had no idea this was how people were making all these different photos floating around the internet. I found some really great sites with easy to use instructions. The site I finally settled on was http://bighugelabs.com/. It had a variety of things to do with photos and was easy to use. 

This first picture I used is my husband. It is one of the most “Hooah” pictures he has during his time in the Army. When I showed him the picture he laughed (my signal of a good job). There is more to the reason I have made this one than what I would like to get into, but let’s just say there may be more than what meets that eye on this one.

The second photo was taken by me, on my phone no less (no special photography here) at a ride. Biking is one of my hobbies and there are several rides a year that I do. Every time my friends and I ride we make sure to wear protective gear, a reflective piece being one of them. Somehow we started wearing these belts that wear left over from my husband’s time in the army. It is always a big joke since many people don’t know the association and think they are just a “neat idea.” Trust me we were a big hit at the Soldier Ride! 

Since these are so easy to use and I don’t have to store the pictures online I don’t see why not to use these applications. I can even see letting the students make up their own for assignments. A thought I had was to use everyday pictures of the class or school for the motivational posters (instead of the peaceful scenery pictures) in the class. Another way to use this particular application is to take each student’s picture and allow them to create a line about themselves. Hang it in the classroom so everyone can get to know a little more about each other and motivate themselves. 

I can see where these sites might get a little addicting. How am I ever going to get any work done now?

Thing #7 (Crisp Apple Streudels)

The photos I choose for this assignment are from my youngest son’s 2^nd birthday. Philip turned two back in January and I decided to have a craft time for the kids. After everyone was done I found him back at the table enjoying himself. Isn’t he adorable? He loves to draw with anything that writes. In fact I have a few “treasure maps” on the wall as I write this. These pictures are an example of what I hope to continue to instill in my children. 

        

I have never used Flickr before. I usually upload my pictures to Facebook where I can share them or to a site where I can have them printed. Getting started was easy and uploading wasn’t hard either. I did however find some things a little confusing. I didn’t know what the tags or groups were. There are so many features that I’m still searching around to see what all there is available. I like the sharing aspect but I would like to keep everything private. I don’t mind too much out there public if I put it there, but I don’t think it is a good idea to put other people’s children out in the public view if they have not consented to it. I can see using the site to create groups for each year and have all the pictures of the classroom on Flickr. If I am able to keep each group private and have only certain people view them that would be even more ideal. If I was teaching an older class I could use this site as an assignment since there are different groups to be created each child could have their own page within the classroom’s page or, if each child could have an account (with parent’ permission) and tag or add to classroom’s group just as we did with this assignment. 

Wow, there are a lot of “ifs” in this post. Maybe with additional clarity and familiarity using the site I will be able to have a clearer picture on how to use it in my classroom.