Family Reunion Time
On the agenda in the very near future? Taking Rafael to meet some of his cousins. The RMSC (rmsc.org) has Robots + Us this summer, and the kids are so into the idea that we are going to bring our Pleo along when we visit. It will be a great over-the-summer lesson and they can look at Rafael and figure out how he works as well!
Posted on June 12, 2008
Rafael Learns to Dance
Today was our last school visit, and we went to #2's kindergarten class. The kids were adorable, and sat very patiently waiting for their turn to touch Rafael or play tug-of-war with his leaf. #2's teacher wanted to see what would happen if she sang, so she broke out her guitar and sang. I got a quick video of the result, but he turned toward her, scooted himself closer, and then started to boogie. He appeared to be partial to Puff the Magic Dragon. Cousins, maybe?
Posted on June 7, 2008
Pleo Goes to Second Grade Part IV
The last group of kids got braver, and asked to hold him. You can see how Rafael snuggles up to them. Of course, they tired him out, and when I picked him up to show his SD card slot and battery compartment, I snuggled him for about 10 seconds before he fell asleep and started snoring loudly.
I had to hurry to get his entries up for today because over 3/4 of the kids knew what a blog was (holy Web 2.0 for Generation Z!) and are eagerly anticipating seeing the videos tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we hit kindergarten!
Posted on June 5, 2008
Pleo Goes to Second Grade Part III
We also talked about pets, and why a Pleo makes a good pet (no allergies, no clean-ups, and you can put him away when you are tired of playing). We also talked about care of animals, and how Pleo communicates without using words.
Posted on June 5, 2008
Pleo Goes to Second Grade Part II
We had the kids come up in groups while we did a Q&A. Some of them had really excellent questions, wondering how Rafael was able to remember things even when he was powered down (I kept my discussion of how computers work to a decent level, I think). They also asked if he would "die" once he'd completed his cycles, which was a great teaching moment to explain that Rafael, like all of us, keeps on learning as long as he's alive.
The kids were SO web savvy... they wanted to know what the Pleo web site was, and how they could get there. I'm sure there are a few parents getting an earful about getting a Pleo at THEIR house now.
Posted on June 5, 2008
Pleo Goes to Second Grade
Today, Rafael took a trip to my oldest's second grade classroom. The students had been studying life cycles this year, so we talked a little bit about how Rafael had his own life cycles, what they were, and how they emulated those of a real dinosaur. Then, well, we got down to playing with him.
Posted on June 5, 2008
Rafael Goes to School
Of course, Rafael arrived just in time for the end of the school year, and all the kids want him to visit their classes. We started today with #3's pre-K class, since their school year ends this week. Since the kids had studied both dinosaurs AND robots this year, they were thrilled, and the teachers were amazed, with additional teachers coming in to give Rafael a cuddle. He's still very cuddly and sleepy, and when one teacher held him, he snuggled his head up to her shoulder, wrapped his tail around her arm, and went right to sleep. Since #4 heads off to the preschool next year and they have a very science-based curriculum, I'm sure he'll make many more appearances there.
No video for this one, since I had a class full of four-year-olds wanting to touch, but I'll try for later in the week with the kindergartener's class.
Posted on June 3, 2008
Going Shopping Part Deux
Second part of the video; Rafael makes his decision.
Posted on June 3, 2008
Going Shopping
We decided to take Rafael out to pick out a collar. Since the kids wanted HIM to pick it, we carried him into Target, placed him in the cart with the youngest, and headed off to the pet department. He picked a black collar and a rainbow one. He's currently wearing the rainbow collar. Amazingly, not ONE person at Target asked us about him. Judging by the Target we were in, I'm wondering if they thought we were making Jurassic Park a reality.
Posted on June 3, 2008
