Brown Bear Brainstorming

It’s time to add another story to our collection of classes.

Both We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and The Ugly Duckling have been pretty good, so it’s time to think of something else to add.

As Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a classic kids book, it has been well used and there is plenty of useful information out there to inspire.

The image above was taken from Mrs Bussa’s blog and I thought it looked fairly easy to achieve.

Technology

The Mobile English vans are equipped with computers and big screens so it seemed fairly logical to combine that technology to make a book in real time.

1. Create a book template
2. Make a copy for any new school
3. Add students’ pictures (via webcam)
4. Add students’ names
5. Finished

The students and the school can then get a PDF copy of the document or, even better, we post the new document to the web and get them to go to our website to go and get it.

Creating Live

Creating the book right there on the scene, in the class, is the most convenient way to do it.

The only issue is how we can create it quick enough to not make the class drag.

Enter Google Docs.

One of the features of Google Docs is the ability to add images straight from a connected input device. In this case, the webcam.

The only issue is that you must have an Internet connection.

Internet Everywhere

Even two years ago I wouldn’t have considered using online documentation to this sort of thing.

The process would have been:

1. Create MS Word document (cringe)
2. Make copy
3. Take photos and names in order
4. Add photos and names to document
5. Finished!

Huh, it actually doesn’t seem so bad now that I write it down.

Nevertheless, it then needs to be sent. Wrapped up as a PDF and possibly published online. With Google Docs, those features are all built in. Yay!

Mobile Van

There are a few things to consider, or at least think about for outside class use.

1. Internet – all schools have Wifi, but it can be dodgy, so bring a cellular connection
2. Speed – this might just end up too slow to do in class, depends on tech stuff

Oh, here is the first try which took too long with a slow connection, but did work in the end.

You can see the original document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CTN_MVO2a5Wws0GXdWiCiIDLb4iOkrMJqi6kKYBMIko/edit?usp=sharing

Or download the PDF here:

What Do You See?

What do you think?