Thing #11

Poplar Hill Pumpkin Patch by Zizzybaloobah

If you can avoid running off a very narrow road, a household off Poplar Hill Road in Baltimore decorate their hillside with their home-grown pumpkins, meticulously carved and glowing nightly for a few evenings before Halloween.

I chose black cats and pumpkins as my theme for flickr photos. I also explored photos of pictures from certain geographical areas like Wales. My cousin, who also researches our Welsh line, found pictures on a United Kingdom website that show our ancestors homeland. It also pinpoints the location on a map.


















Talybont, Wales by Eddie Webster

I enjoyed looking for the photos, but there are so many! I find crediting the photography a bit cumbersome, but it needs to be done, and then later, when I wonder where I got that photo, or want more photos by the same photographer, I will be glad I did.

Thing #12

My slideshow is obviously black cats. My first graders sing a song entitled "Big Black Cats" so I thought they would enjoy it.

I enjoyed looking at the different ways of showing off pictures. I really like Smilebox as well.

I tried to embed the video on my wiki, and I do not know what I did, but I did something..... Whatever I did, it would not let me edit the page after that. I finally just created a whole new page, so if you "discussed" anything with me, it's gone from the new page.

Black Cats

Face of Count Catula by Sean Dreilinger
Black Cat Pumpkin by Cobalt123
Black Cat by fernando
Dobson turning into a pumpkin by jennconspiracy

Thing #10

I understand the need for copyright. One wants ones ideas to be respected and honored, and sometimes paid for, but it sure is frustrating when you want to use something.

Creative Commons sounds like a great idea. I had never heard of it before, nor have I noticed it anywhere. It was neat to find free music that I might use in my classroom.

As an educator, I have always freely shared with other educators my ideas, resources, and time. I think since others have done the same for me, it's what I should also do.

Poultrygeist (in the spirit of Halloween)

Click on the eyes to view a larger version!

Thing #9

I did not enjoy this thing very much. When I first read it, I thought I could do it quickly, especially since I had done a wiki at this site before. Ha! I kept reading and rereading, looked at Kelly's again, ☺ Looked for videos on the wiki site.

Finally, I was successful. It was very frustrating though.

I also wanted to add more smaller pictures. I tried changing them in iphoto and photoshop elements, but was unable to do so. If there is a way to adjust your image in the wiki itself, please let me know. AND,,,, I couldn't get that big space from under my picture?!?@?!?@??!

OKAY! Now I got the dachshund picture in smaller, but it doesn't work when I try the same thing with the picture of the cows. Those are cows in case you didn't recognize it, and a fence... We are telling the story of Sixteen Cows by Lisa Wheeler and Kurt Cyrus.

Well, now it's smaller, because I'm at a different computer????

Thing #8

I don't know if there will be a wiki in my future educationally speaking. I've tried or been a part of 3 different wikis before, and I guess the people I'm trying to get to participate, just don't get why that is better than email.

I did notice that if when I first saw the opening page of a wiki, and it didn't seem to be well-organized or attractive, I went on to something else. Presentation is very important.

I loved the wiki that 3rd grade students made about going west. I loved history when I taught in the regular classroom, and it's a big part of studying your family history. I'm sure these 3rd graders could tell me all about what it was like to travel west in a covered wagon.

Mr. Lindsay's wiki was very cute and attractive. It's all about cute at the elementary level. Students definitely experienced a good writing experience posting to that wiki. I'm sure they couldn't wait to write.

I also searched for a wiki from an elementary music classroom, and I only found one. It needs a little more substance, but it is a beginning.

Thing #7

Of all the posts I follow, I have rarely commented on them, if at all. I think this is because I like to keep my reflections to myself, or I just don't take the time to contribute to the conversation.

This is true of actual conversation as well, unless I just feel that it's really important to offer a difference of opinion or to come to the defense of an idea or opinion.

I do express my opinion more often than I used to. As one gets older, one tends to not worry so much about what others think, or I've become my mother, I'm not sure which.

I didn't find an educational post that I felt would benefit from my comments, but I commented on the flickr picture below.

If you click on the picture you can then click on "best viewed large on black."

Beautiful!

Graveyard
Originally uploaded by (Erik)

Thing #6

Yes, the number of things in your reader are voluminous. It is a even worse if you have more than one interest. I am trying to skim and scan, but then I also feel that I'm never comprehending everything. I guess the key is to just find something you are really interested in, and then take your time. I also wonder, who has the time to write this much every day?

I found a blog that talks about the students wanting to be active and involved. I taught 3rd and 4th grade for 21 years before I began to teach music. No classroom is more active and involved than my classroom. There's singing, dancing/movement, playing orff instruments, recorders, percussion, making noise, being quiet, listening, creating... It's more fun for me, as the teacher, to also be in a classroom that is active and involved. Not worrying near as much about testing can also help.

There's an interesting article music article about the pentatonic scale. There are 7 notes in the diatonic scale. The pentatonic scale uses only 5 notes of the scale omitting fa and ti. This is a staple in the elementary classroom. Almost all of our early work in the elementary classroom is using the pentatonic scale.

See video below about the association of the pentatonic scale and african american spirituals.

Well, I thought I would be able to put video below, but, alas, no. Here's the link.

Amazing Grace History...

But I really wanted to embed the video!!!!!!!



Woohoo! Thanks, Kelly!

I did subscribe to Flickr's Most Interesting Photos. That is interesting and enlightening.