Did I mention that my old laptop died right before ALA, while I was on a writing retreat? Those who know me know that I have phantom limb syndrome without my laptop near at hand, so I bought a new one — a rather expensive California souvenir.

I had no choice but to get Vista, and I admit that while it is pretty, it has some weird “hang-ups.”  But one of the things that it does have that I missed from my Mac days is the “Snipping Tool,” which lets you choose which part of a screenshot you want to copy.  (Like Snag-It — but free!).

You might not find this feature unless you know to look for it, because it isn’t automatically installed by Windows.  Go to your START button and start typing “snipping tool” in the search box.  If you have just the right version of Vista (it doesn’t work on the most basic version of Vista), snipping tool will come up in the menu above.  Make sure you are on the page from which you’ll take the screenshot, then start up the snipping tool.

Here are some tricks for using the snipping tool.

In the spring, I posted information inviting you to join our Exploring Elementary 2.0 self-paced tutorial.  The tutorial uses a constructivist approach to Web 2.0.  Participants visit sites, explore them, then reflect on how those tools might be used in their teaching and learning.

I’m rerunning this tutorial for the staff in my building, and I hope you’ll join us! We are a small building, so your perspectives mean a lot to us.  You can participate as an individual, or you can organize a group and use this for staff development in your district.  Check with your district and see if you can coordinate your staff’s participation so that they can earn PD credit in your district.  You monitor their progress and follow your district’ s reporting procedures, but the work is already done!  No handouts to make, no computer lab to supervise!

It is really fun to watch staff colleagues explore on their own and then chat with me or with each other.  I often learn that they see different uses or work patterns than I do, so even if it’s a tool I know, I gain a new perspective.

We’re rerunning this tutorial from now until the end of August.  (A third round will begin in September as we kick off SLMAM’s 25th anniversary year!)

To learn more, read over the information at http://exploringelementary2.edublogs.org and then email me at slmamblog@gmail.com to let me know that you’d like to participate.

Hope to hear from you!

Kristin

Image source: http://www.tabblo.com/partners/flickr

Last year, my family adopted a “homemade or gifts of time” approach to the holidays. It made the holiday so much more fun! Instead of spending time frustrated in long lines in shopping centers or jockeying for parking spaces at the mall, I spent my time in creativity mode.

I’m realizing that “homemade” can be digital and high-tech, too. For example, few of the second grade boys who work in our school library media center each morning have made podcasting CDs for their families for holiday gifts, complete with hand-drawn labels, and we’ve also wrapped nature poems in ribbons for gifts. I find that the act of preparing a piece of student work to be shared with others often infuses the project with extra energy. (The first time we gave podcasting CDs as gifts, the student and I strategized the number that needed to be burned. But while my back was turned, he popped a few more into the computer! That’s exactly the kind of thing that helps us know we’ve hit a chord in a kid.)

This year, I’ve been following a lot of crafting and quilting blogs to get ideas for my family’s gifts. (This is an amazing online community … something I’ll write about in more depth later.) Today, I found a link to this HP/Flickr toys site, which lets you access your Flickr albums, select favorite images, and drag them into the template. The system generates a PDF, which you print, cut out, and assemble. Wouldn’t these cubes make nifty gift tags, ornaments, or little gift boxes?

The site also lets you make 8.5 x 11″ posters for free, as well as order photo books. I’m looking at the 4″x4″ book for $9.95 … the price is so low that I’m willing to try it out.

Join the Conversation: Educational Uses for Photo Cubes

We can’t overlook the fact that technology motivates people.  So how could we use this free photo cube tool in an educational setting?

One useful tool might be to remember that Flickr accounts can be private and not shared online, whic could help with online student safety.  My own Flickr account is private, but I can authorize some Flickr tools to access those private photos for projects.

Here are some quick thoughts — what can you add?

• Autobiography: Ask students to find and upload five photos that reveal something about their life history.  Share the cube with a partner.
• Biography: Students upload five images about a famous person and share them with a partner.
• Science: Students select five images that represent a particular science concept: mutation, adaptation, symmetry, gravity, parasite/host, etc.
• Social studies: Students select images that represent a core democratic value.
• Creative writing: Students select five images, create the cube, then swap with a partner.  The partner uses the images on the cube as a story starter or basis for a poem.
• Math: Students select images that illustrate Fibonacci’s number.