Monthly Archives: May 2014

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

What an amazing two years it has been. This blog started out merely as a way of adding photos/drawings/video/audio when a simple comment wasn't enough. I had no idea how much a part of my life blogging would become. Being a retired teacher, I once again felt part of student learning.

As of May 21 there had been 73,400* visitors from 179 countries who have dropped in. My top five visitors have been from U.S.A., Australia, Great Britain, Canada and India. There has been so much interaction where students and I shared our learning journeys on many topics.

To celebrate, two friends of mine joined me for a birthday party complete with a cake. As you can see in the photo above, they really got into the swing of the party.

My two friends have a slight problem classes might like to help me solve. They don't have names. Can classes help me find names for them?

Let's have a closer look at them...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

They are an Australian made koala and kangaroo. If your class thinks of a name for each, write them as a comment on this post.

Only class entries will be taken, no individuals. If you are entering for your class, you must ask your teacher if it's okay.

Classes should only enter one name for each of my friends. Remember to mention which friend for each name.

I hope to have a panel of local students help me make the selection. They will not have entered for their class.

You have until the last part of the world reaches midnight on May 29, 2014 to submit your suggestions.

For my blog 's birthday, the gifts are for readers. My two friends are waiting for a new home.  The winning two classes will be notified and I will attempt to contact your school for the school address details. Your class will, if your class name is chosen for one of the friends, receive the friend you have named.

 

Below is the Clustrmap for this blog's first two years...

This is a screen capture of this blog's Clustrmap for its first two years before archiving.

This is a screen capture of this blog's Clustrmap for its first two years before archiving. 73,756 visits were recorded.

*73,400 was based on data from Clustrmaps and not actual visitors due to the Clustrmap being inserted some weeks after this blog commenced.

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Miss Jordan's class has been learning techniques for playing African drums. To see their original post, click the link below...

Drumming in Music

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Hello Miss Jordan and Class,

Your Drumming in Music post fascinated me. In my years of teaching, I didn't have the opportunity to learn and share African drumming with a class but in more recent years I have produced DVDs for a multi-school performing arts festival and been able to experience them.

The use of African drums has been spreading throughout my area. One school has even dabbled in Japanese Taiko drums. It's the rhythm and coordinated beat of many drums I really enjoy. I can't share the actual video visuals of the performance online but I can share the audio track of a performance I filmed in 2013. What you hear is the work of 12 primary school students who had been practising throughout the year leading up to their performance in Term 3.

 

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Ella left a comment asking what Taiko drumming sounded like. Below is the sound of 14 primary school students performing at the same festival as the African drums. Again, the visuals can't be shown.