Blogging Since Infancy: Award Winning XO Bloggers – Part 2

In December, 2009 we reported that the Rising Voices grantee OLPC Uruguay (Blogging Since Infancy) co-sponsored and supported the first ever national school Blogging contest for students in Uruguay who use OLPC (XO) laptops. In the second post of the series, we are highlighting three blogs among the 10 award winning blogs.

Sarandi grande schoolHere is the blog of Escuela 68 de Sarandí Grande, 6to año – (68 de Sarandi Grande School, 6th year) from Parque del Plata, Canelones, Uruguay, which received a special jury award. In a blog post they describe how the Plan Ceibal project and the XO laptops for children impacted their school, family and their community:

The Plan Ceibal changed the way we study at school because whenever we need information on any topic we open the XO and seek in Internet. Our laptop has also some educational programs like Tortugarte for Geometry; Etoys, with which can create presentations; Tam Tam Mini to learn music; Write, to practice production of text; Library, to read multiple tales and poems of national authors and many more activities.

ceibalita23The arrival of laptops (XO) also changed the families a lot. Having a computer at home is a novelty for those who did not have a computer at home and now they have a tool of many possibilities to learn. For those who already had a PC, its also a novelty, because XO has different programs and many new things.

Its also a great change for the communities involved, because now children gather in squares for logging into Internet and study what the teachers had prompted them. Thus they don't need to go to a cybercafe and spend money to obtain reading materials.

The Plan Ceibal constitutes a great education reform and it is a breakthrough for country's future. (Machine translation)

In another post we learn about some of the most visited places in Parque Del Plata town alongwith pictures of these wonderful locations. We are informed about a lady from a Spa located between Parque del Plata and Atlántida, who has approximately 40 cats living with her.

Some of the students shared how does it feel to leave school after the classes are finished.

A new school year has began. So the new group delivers their first post on March 24, 2010.

Students from last year initiated this blog, and we continue this in 2010. We are a tight group of 13 girls and 16 males. We like to participate in mixed games. Our favorite music is ‘cumbia eg La Zorra’.

Now let us look at the blog of Escuela 34 de Young, 6to año- (School 34, Young, 6th year) from Salinas, Canelones, Uruguay. The pupils posted the history of Salinas town in that blog.

beach day salinas school

The whole class went out one day to enjoy the beach.

ensayo4

In this post you will find some photographs how the students are learning to dance. Here are some videos of their (tango la cumparsita) dance rehearsal .

This is the blog of pupil Maximiliano Angel Brun. He likes soccer and Taekwondo.

And last but not the least this is the blog of Escuela 93 de Maldonado, 5to año B – (School 93, Maldonado, B 5th year).

healthy food

On October 15, 2009 the students of classes 3 to 5 of the school visited a doctor to learn about healthy food. The students interviewed Doctor Julio Orsi about healthy eating.

He told us to eat a variety of foods, preferably homemade. A tip for buying – we should look on the packaging whether the food is made with animal fats. Also we should take a pint of milk daily.

The school now has a new blog. To celebrate the March 8, International Day of Women, the students interviewed Mary Bordon of auxiliary service of their School.

15 year celebration15 year celebration2 [640x480]

The photos of the celebration marking 15 year of the school were also posted in the blog.

What we are witnessing in Uruguay is a new phenomenon. The students of grade 5 or 6 are expressing themselves via blog using their XO laptops. I wish if other countries could follow Uruguay.

2 comments

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.