Week #3, Things #5, 6, 7 - Flickr

This is my Flickr exploration week. I've used Flickr for about two years now to upload photos of my family for other family members to see what we're up to. I admit I've also used it to show many, many photos of transportation (fire trucks, vans, police cars, bulldozers, etc.) to my two-and-a-half-year-old son. It's easy to find a group that has hundreds or thousands of photos in one category like that.

So I have been thinking about using Flickr in this way at school, to quickly show kindergarteners photos of sushi if they are studying Japan, or even photos of Japan. I would find the groups and browse them quickly beforehand and then have them ready to show. I found this collection that would be fun for my students to see - 1,879 photos from over 500 users just about sushi!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sushi_sushi/

I also would use these photos and the Creative Commons licenses to teach my older students about copyright. We would learn about the different types of licenses and they would be tasked to find photos on Flickr that are available for them to use in school projects.

I used the mapping feature in Flickr to mark the location of the sightseeing photos I took in Washington DC. (click here) It was remarkably easy to use and I thought of the similar maps you can create in Google Maps. I started making one for Washington State history, pinpointing important locations in Washington's history. This is a project I could see my fourth graders doing at school, if we could get around the 'everyone has to have a Google account' problem. We can't do that with fourth graders. Maybe a school account that everyone uses?

I also had fun using the trading card maker and would love to use it in projects, maybe Washington State location trading cards, finding appropriate photos on Flickr?

5th Grade Found Art Sculptures

sculpture.jpg
Originally uploaded by Ridgecrest Library

I love having student work in the library for everyone to see, and these sculptures are no exception! In preparation for going to the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle next week, the 5th graders brought items from home and then shared them to create whatever their imagination came up with. The younger students are having fun trying to imagine what the sculpture is, it's funny how it always has to "be" something, it can't just be something abstract. I'd love to tie in some lessons about art books with this project next time.

Reading in the Library

books.jpg
Originally uploaded by Ridgecrest Library

Kindergarteners are enjoying nonfiction reading during their library time. They made a mess, but were sharing their finds with each other, which is just fine with me!