Today we are going to look at BigHugeLabs. Make sure you get your user name and password for me. I want you to make a movie poster for me first. After you create it you need to post it on your blog and the ning. Make sure it is school appropriate.
After you have finished, you can check out some of the other
Today you are going to create your own talking avatar at voki dot com. Choose a character, check out the accessories and then type in the text. Don't forget you can change your background as well.
Post your Voki to the class Ning.To do that you will need to log in and go to the blog button and create a new post. If you need help ask around.
Today you have an unusual opportunity. Public School 22 (PS22) has a very famous student chorus that performs regularly at big events and has been recognized by many famous musicians for their work. The blog has an incredible amount of content showing the students preparing and performing. I want you to spend time exploring the blog and checking out all the content. Then I want you to leave a comment.
Next we are going to Mr. McClung's class blog to leave him another message. This post is on how his students have showed him how much they care.
Next we will be visiting New Zealand again and commenting on two blogs from one school, the Yendarra school. The first post will be by the Yendarra School Pukekos. They have just started blogging and will love your encouragement. The second post has two parts. The first part is to read this post on teachers from the school visiting Samoa. Make sure you read my comment. The second part is to read my blog post on the reply I received from Miss Venturi. Incidentally, this is where I first found out about the Pukekos! I want you to leave a comment on their blog. Feel free to ask questions.
While doing my usual snooping around for new blogs to read and comment on I came upon this wonderful site, the Yendarra School Kiwis.
What caught my eye was a post on several of the teachers of the school visiting Samoa to learn about the island. I also learned from the post that a tsunami had recently hit Samoa.
I left a comment asking about the Samoan schools compared to the schools in New Zealand. Soon I received this email.
Hi Mr C
Just thought I would answer the questions you left on our blog about Samoa. First of all, thank you for leaving the comment. My name is Vanessa Venturi and I am the classroom teacher here in Room 14. Yendarra School is in Auckland, New Zealand. The ethnic make up of our school is 70% Pacific Island (mainly Samoan, but also Tongan, Cook Island and Niuean) and 30% Maori (native New Zealanders). Earlier in the year, some of the staff went to Samoa to gain a better understanding of where our Samoan children come from and to better enable ourselves to transition children who move from Samoa to Auckland. What an eye opener! The schools there have little in the way of resources, no equipment, very little paper, some classes had no desks or chairs. Some of the classrooms had up to 45 students and some teachers taught two classes at the same time, just running between two rooms. Because of the heat, the classrooms have no windows. Because of the huge number of children in each class, we didn't see any group work happening. The teachers teach in both Samoan and English. It was amazing to see what they can do with so little, the children were incredibly happy and very proud of their schools. The Samoan people are incredibly musically talented and their performances were stunning.
Schools in Auckland are very similar to yours, I would imagine. We have lots in the way of resources, computers, books, internet access, interactive whiteboards, playgrounds etc. We work very hard to be at the cutting edge of education in New Zealand. Visiting Samoa has really helped me to understand where my students and their families come from and relate to them more effectively. We were very lucky that we didn't lose any of our students in the tsunami because we were on school holiday when it hit and many students were at home in Samoa. Families at our school lost a lot of extended family members, auntys, uncles and cousins etc. The other question you had was about karakia, karakia is the Maori word for prayer. At the end of each day, one child stands up and leads the class in a karakia. This isn't something we have to do, but one of my boys asked at the beginning of the year if we could do it and its become a really special way to end each day together.
Thanks so much for commenting on our blog, I hope I've answered your questions for you. Please let me know if you have any others!
Have a great week :) Vanessa Venturi and Room 14
What a wonderful surprise for me. I suspect most people think that most of the learning in school (and especially in my lab) happens with the students. This is obviously not the case today! Again, our ability to communicate and learn from people all over the world is amazing. Thank you Vanessa!
The consequences of sin can be incredibly painful. David forgot his purpose and decided he could make some decisions that not only effected him and his family, put the entire nation of Israel. It would be difficult for most of us to have as big an effect on our country with our sin, but the worldly effect can be just as damaging to those close to us as it was to David's family. While we categorize small sins and big sins, all sins can potentially harm those we love and more importantly they remo… Continue
God chose David to re-align the kingdom of Israel and to set its house in order. After David became king he had to fight several battles to strengthen his hold on the country and to get rid of some enemies that were still in Israel. Everything was going well until he decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Without checking out the rules God gave for the transportation of the Ark, David had it loaded on a cart to move it. Uzzah, who was helping with the chore of moving the Ark, rea… Continue
When Saul became King, he tried to stay in God's will, but God knew he wouldn't be able to last. God had already made plans to put the man he chose into the role of king. God always has a back-up plan for those that don't fulfill their responsibilities. The question is, will you fulfill your responsibilities to God and the Church or does God already have your replacement picked out?
When David was anointed by Samuel, God identified him as his next leader of the Israelites. Saul was still the ki… Continue
Have you ever asked for something you thought you wanted, but then found out it wasn't really what you wanted after all? When I was growing up I thought I wanted a certain toy for Christmas. My parents never questioned my request and when Christmas came, so did the present. After playing with the toy for a few minutes, I realized that it was not as cool as I thought it was when I saw it on television.
God told Samuel to tell the Israelites that having a king wouldn't solve their problems. A kin… Continue
Ruth is an amazing book. It has tragedy, love, and redemption as its themes. When Naomi loses her husband and two sons, she is left alone, a poor widow. She loved her daughter-in-laws dearly and when she decided to go back to her home town she told them to go back to their families. Orpah decided to go back, but Ruth refused. She told Naomi that she would stay with her until she died.
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Tell Diana that I was talking about Bell's Palsy last night on the phone. I couldn't think of the name of it but after i got off the phone it came to me.
Thanks,
Sally
Not sure where we left it last night with you teaching next week. Don't feel obligated, it is OK to say no, I could ask others, I just thought of you first. Just let me know.
Thanks
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Thanks,
Sally
I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.
Isn't that awesome?
Thanks