Tag: children

Growing trees out of books!

Posted on by Team Blookup

A small publishing house in Argentina recently made a totally organic book that gives back to nature what it took from it by growing into a tree (Which might remind you of our previous article about the Japanese blooming newspapers). What’s their secret? Well first, unlike the majority of books, this one is made using organic ink along with acid-free pages that allow it to be planted without harming the soils. Seeds are put inside the paper during the making process and will wait until their time comes to grow into a magnificent tree!

cover-book-tree
This book tells the story of a man wandering inside the equatorial jungle as seen through the eyes of his son.

 

Pequeño Editor, the publishing house specialized in books for children,  wanted to deliver a message to their young readers: “Books come from trees. Today, a tree comes from a book.”

Even though changing the way we make books on a global scale seems difficult (If not impossible), we have to salute the effort made by the people of this publishing house who do not only show us an eco friendly alternative but also educate children in the process!

“If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children” – Confucius

If you want to know more about Pequeño Editor and their work, be sure to check out their Facebook and Twitter page!

Source

 

5th graders make a blog and turn it into a yearbook!

Posted on by Team Blookup

This week we had the pleasure of meeting with Sylvanie Girault who is a teacher at the elementary school Sainte-Marie de Mérignac in France.

She came up with the idea of starting a blog for her group of fifth graders to maintain and decided later on to turn it into a yearbook that each of them could get as a souvenir (at a very fair price 😉). She accepted to answer our questions and share her experience with us!

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Tell us a little bit about yourself: you, your hobbies, your projects…

My name is Sylvanie Girault, mother of three children and have been teaching at the private elementary school Sainte-Marie de Mérignac for 4 years now. My group of fifth graders is made of 30 pupils, all 11 years old. I came up with the idea of making a blog that they will maintain 4 years ago.  I wanted them to be familiar with computers and writing in general. What I had in mind was a blog in which the children would be the authors so that they’d be more familiar with writing and would also have a public reading them. The content of the blog is written by them and them only. I only interact with them through the comments. This year’s group is the fourth to maintain the blog.

Picture of Sylvanie holding a blook in front of a picture of her group

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What is the blog about?

This blog is about highlighting the major events of the year (a yearbook of some sort), such as school trips like our yearly trip to London or even smaller visits in the region: of the City Hall, the Courthouse, Museums, of the Cathedral Saint-Pierre, and many more. These activities are very important for the pedagogical process because they discover and learn things that they would not if they stayed at school, moreover some of them are not familiar with their surroundings. Our school trips are in keeping with the school program and motivate some students that are usually discouraged by the academic way of learning. But more important than that, they can use these trips as a source of inspiration to write articles on the blog about what they saw, felt or understood. Writing allows them to cultivate their curiosity and awareness to their surroundings, and doing that through a computerized tool motivates them as well. Every single one of my pupils has written at least one article on the blog during the year, each of them with their own writing style; this diversity of styles is what makes this blog stand out from a blog maintained by an individual. Since the blog opened, we have published about 70 articles and more than 6 000 pages have been viewed by the students but also their parents. The blog is entirely accessible to the public and anyone can read about the adventures of the group.

A picture of the 40 blooks ready to be picked up

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What articles are you the most proud of?

The articles about our yearly trip to England last October, without a doubt. Every year the group goes to London for 5 days and discovers the English culture. It is without the doubt the highlight of the year that all the students are looking forward to. During these 5 days they will be immersed in the English culture together, discover the gastronomy, local habits, the lifestyle…that is a strong collective experience!

The fifth grade is very dense in term of things to learn and master before going to middle-school. This school trip allows us to get together and strengthen the group’s dynamic hundreds of kilometers away from home. The articles published at that time are more profound because they crystallize this moment they had together.

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Why did you choose to make a book out of it?

I wanted every student to be able to keep a written record of this moment of their life in England with all their friends. During the making of of the book on BlookUp’s platform, I only kept the articles and pictures of the trip to London in order to have a smaller book that would be entirely dedicated to this trip. Besides it makes sense for my students to have a physical object reminding them of the group because fifth grade is the last step before entering middle-school. Some students have known each other for 7 years, since they were in kindergarten; they grew up together and will, for some of them, be separated from each other once they get to middle-school. Having by their side a book reminiscent of their time in elementary school is something truly unique and precious. A few days away from the end of the school year, every student will go home with a book signed by their classmates. I just received the 40 books and will be signing them as well as writing a personal note, if the pupils and their parents ask me to do so.

An example of a blook signed by the teacher and classmates!

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What are the qualities of the platform? What would you improve?

I found it easy to create a blook, the platform is intuitive. I have one regret however, it is the standardized size of the pictures. Of course you can choose between three different sizes but once you picked one, all the pictures will be of the same size, which sometimes results in blank spaces on the pages. I think it would be nice to give people the opportunity to play around with the spaces between the pictures to reduce these empty spaces. Other than that, the quality of the book is impeccable, and the cover lamination is really good.

(This interview was originally in French, but we loved the idea so much we decided to translate it to English and tried to make it as true to the original as possible.)

Bookroo: children books in a box !

Posted on by Team Blookup

kids-readingDo you have children, nephews, nieces or godchildren?  Do you still have trouble finding what kind of books to offer them?

Our kind always used reading as a communication tool between generations. And as such, we want to transmit values, memories. But we can sometimes be afraid to impose them or to invest too early, to shock, to not be understood.In short, it’s not so easy to choose!

Well, take a deep breath because BlookUp found the perfect solution to offer books all year round without fearing the lack of idea!

Discover Bookroo!

The Bookroo logo Bookroo consists in a 1, 3, 6 or 12-month subscription. During which you will receive at home (within all US territory and also Canada, for an additional $11 per month). 

Each month, a box filled with books chosen for you in accordance with the way you filled out the subscription form!

Customization options are limited to the kids’ age (from 0 to 2 and 2 to 6). The idea is really to send you (or to the kids you are offering the gift to) books “that you don’t already know and are not easy to be found online or in stores”. 

Examples of books available in the Bookroo box
Those books, for example, were the ones sent during the last few months!

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So it’s a whole surprise that is coming in a beautiful cardboard box, and within it, books separately and elegantly wrapped like presents!

Do you like the idea? Well, go to Bookroo now, choose your subscription time and spread culture, values and imagination all around you!

A customised book with the name of your child!

Posted on by Team Blookup

We’ve found the perfect gift for a mum-to-be or for little readers… A book that you can customise with the name of your child! A very creative concept, because the story inside the book adapts to the name you choose.

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The idea is simple: it’s the story of a little boy or a little girl (as you wish) that has lost his/her name. Little by little, the child will find one by one the letter of his name and live some magical adventures at the same time. Every character that the child met will give him the first letter of his name… Louis will first meet a lion, and Chloe a chameleon!

What do you think about this concept, pretty amazing don’t you think? To know more about the “Lost My Name” project, it’s this way!

And if you want to create a customised book to offer a wonderful gift to your child, you can also print your family blog into a book or your most beautiful Instagram pictures with BlookUp 🙂

Print a mom blog, the new family album?

Posted on by wsb

mom blogApproximately 1/3 of the world bloggers are moms!

It explains maybe the success of moms’ blogs in the blogosphere because the market is consequent but not only.

A little of voyeurism for a feeling of identification for the just cause.

First of all, the offer in an editorial register is rather didactic!  The press handling with the parenthood the fact often in a very serious way. The advice(councils) on coats(layers), night terrors, diversified food(supply), photos of banks of image it is good but the young mom of today also waits for notices closer to their universe and to their everyday life(daily paper).

It is thus into this crenel(niche) that Mom blogs rushed. The Mom blog is spontaneous and removed inhibitions. Girls as you and I – a little the same principle of the chorus girl next door – how explain you to get back of her evening of the old woman with her baby, how small darling put you really ill-at-ease with the baker, which app to download for 3-6 years or how difficult it is to assume all these roles: woman, mother, wife, working-girl , girlfriend…everyday.

The feelings, fears, moments of joy. This is what all mothers live and this creates a strong link between women, also called “mother ” strong solidarity or identification phenomenon. Who has never thrown a sympathetic look on mom at the supermarket checkout exasperated by his son screaming at whim in the cart, while saying “yes, all the same …” ?

Humor, irony and decline in your mom blog : I feel much better for that

And then there are women’s blogs, which deal with everything but also with the parenthood differently, because this one is a member of their story and thus their territory of expression. A beautiful feather, a highly-rated assumed trash and a sense of the mockery: the keys of the success, for a public so feminine as male. Mockery and humor, key principles in moms’ blogs which work.

Children muses in the collectors sentences

We also count moms’ blogs centred on the creation. Because once mother, we can find the inspiration, the other way in the life than the 35 hours to the office. Fashion designer or serial shoppeuse, photographer or illustrator. The examples are not lacking because the children are also muses.

And then, to speak about her own child, it is completely fascinating. It is the opportunity to post some photos for the family which lives at the other end of the hexagon, while telling anecdotes which we shall have doubtless forgotten in a few months. One of those where we say ourselves, “this one have I to note it”. Then here we are, mom’s blog it is made for it too to remember its history.
Actually, we almost want to assert that mom’s blog is to become the new family album and that fast. It is necessary to make the book, the Blook to offer to birthdays(anniversaries) and begin the annual collection.

PRINT YOUR BLOG MOM