Friday, December 29, 2006

A New Look for Gallimore Learning

I am in the middle of renovating gallimorelearning.com. I don't know if people actually like the orange color scheme, and I'm wondering if it is a bit too hard to read. I'm changing it to match this layout. Please preview the site and leave your comments or ideas.
Here are some questions to consider:

Is the site easy to navigate?
What do I need more of?
What are you having a hard time finding?
What do you need as a teacher?
How can gallimorelearning make your life easier as a teacher?

Thanks for your input in advance.
I'm working to make our lives easier. I just need a little feed back.

Diorama (Foldables Part 3)



Dioramas in the classroom can be a wonderful teaching tool. They are very cheap and easy to make. The students only need two sheets of regular (or construction paper), scissors, and glue (or staples if you want to be really cheap; staples also work a lot quicker because you do not have to wait for the glue to dry.)
When you think of a diorama you may be reminded of the old shadow boxes that you made when you were little. These shadow boxes were generally made from old shoe boxes, construction paper, and enough glue to keep Elmer's in business. However, the modern diorama is a very close cousin to the foldable. Here is how to make one.

To create a simple diorama, take a square piece of paper. (8 1/2" X 8 1/2" works well) Fold the paper diagonally, open it and fold it on the other diagonal. Then, cut on one fold to the center. Bring one of the flaps over the other flap and staple. This makes a little tent shaped space for your scene. Color the scene, add the setting, and then you can also have your students write a small paragraph about why they chose specific things.

Once the diorama is complete you can have the students combine four of the dioramas together, and they can be used to compare or contrast various ideas.