Take out your digital cameras and sharpen those drawing pencils for Tikatok’s Fourth of July Challenge!  This holiday weekend, be on the lookout for the items on our scavenger hunt list.  Take a photo, or make a drawing, of as many of these items as you can.  Upload your photos or drawings to a Tikatok book, send us the link, and if you score 20 points we will send you a special certificate you can print out, and a coupon for $5 off your next book purchase.

July 4th Scavenger Hunt List

Easy - 2 points for a photo, 3 for your own drawing

• An American Flag
• Fireworks
• Holiday cake or cookies
• A dog out for walk
• A pair of sunglasses

Medium - 3 points for a photo, 4 for your own drawing

• Food from a BBQ
• A beach umbrella
• Red, white, and blue holiday clothing
• Someone in a military uniform
• City decorations

Difficult - 4 points for a photo, 5 for your own drawing

• Someone dressed as Uncle Sam
• A band playing 4th of July music
• A 4th of July parade
• Decorations on a state capitol building

Extra Credit - 5 bonus points!

• Write a 4th of July story to connect all of your photos and drawings

That’s the list, now get out there and have fun!  Please upload only YOUR OWN photos or drawings.  To submit your book just email the link to neal at tikatok dot com.  Please submit your book by July 13th to receive your certificate of achievement and your $5 coupon.

And have a great 4th!

*Fireworks photo by Mr Magoo ICU

Summer is finally here, and many Tikatok members begin to look forward to a season filled with fun outdoor activities.  If you’re a member of an organizaton such as the Boy Scouts of America, the Girls Scouts of the USA, or one of the many other scouting organizations around the world, the summer may be a time for you to go camping with your troop, or to work on earning those merit badges.

Did you know that both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have badges for scouts who can demonstrate an ability with computers and the Internet?  That’s right, you may be able to use Tikatok to earn a merit badge.  Here are some suggestions for projects you might try - but be sure to ask your counselor first.

Girl Scouts

The Girl Scouts have a few insignia related to computers, the Internet, and storytelling.

For Brownie-level scouts, Point Click and Go is a “Try It” insignia awarded for basic computer skills.  One of the activities required for this award is to use a computer to write a story.  Or, you can write a story with your friends.  Of course with Tikatok you can do both at the same time.  Just add your friends as co-authors of your book and you can all write together.

For Junior-level Girl Scouts, the Women’s Stories Badge is awarded to scouts who consider the role of women in history.  A few of the activities could be completed and shared using Tikatok.  For example, “Display It” asks you to create a display of pictures and information and present it at a group meeting.  The “Creative Control” activity asks you to create a story about one of these prompts - each would make an amazing Tikatok book:

• The first female President of the United States.
• The life of a woman 100 years from now.
• A country in which women own the businesses and control the government.

For 11-17 year old Girl Scouts, Exploring the Net is an interest project all about safe and responsbile use of the Internet.  One thing you can do to help earn this insignia is to develop a “scavenger hunt for peers” - a guide to the Internet for your friends or younger Girl Scouts with examples of safe sites and some questions that they can search for answers to.  Imagine creating this as a Tikatok book and asking them to message you with the answers to the questions.

Finally, the Computers in Everyday Life interest project is for Girl Scouts who can demonstrate how computers are used at home, at work, and for the community.  There are a lot of options for using Tikatok here.  You can create a troop newsletter for the Skill Builders requirement, you can review the site as part of the Technology requirement, or you can design a flier about the Internet use to satisfy the Service Project requirement.

Boy Scouts

For Boy Scouts, the badge that fits best with Tikatok is the Communications Merit Badge, which is awarded to scouts who demonstrate knowledge and mastery of different media.  One of the requiremens can be fulfilled by describing yourself in a creative way, for example using “a collage, short story or autobiography, drawing or series of photographs, or a song or skit.”  Of course you can use Tikatok to put together your story with your illustrations and pictures.  If your story is personal you should set the permissions on that book so that only you and your parent can read it.

Another part of the requirement can be met by creating a newsletter, brochure, or flier for your Scout troop, or your class at school.  With Tikatok you can “publish” your newsletter every week and send it to your Scout leader or teacher to distribute.

There are so many Boy Scout Merit Badges with fun activities and valuable skills to learn.  You may be able to use Tikatok as part of the Computers, Art, Photography, or other badges.

Have you used Tikatok in your scouting activities?  Tell us how!

Last month, the winners of Tikatok’s National Writing Contest were announced and Sharon Kan, Tikatok’s CEO and co-founder, had the pleasure of interviewing this talented group of kids. Here is what Westlake Elementary ’s third grade class had to say:

We are sending your book to President Obama and are writing a letter to ask him to read your book. Can you help us suggest why he should read this book?

We think the president should read this book because it is an amazing book, and it is about the President, and it has questions, concerns, and ideas!  It could give him ideas about making laws and it could be a good bedtime story for his daughters.

Have any of you thought about writing another book? Can you share with us what the book will be about?

Yes we have.  1) A book about saving and protecting the natural environment around us so that we can keep it clean. 2) And maybe one about saving schools by donating money. 3) Donating money to the poor!

Tell us what it feels like to win a national writing contest.

We feel great and honored to win the award. It inspires us to be writers. We feel like we are famous because Obama will read this book.  Our principal has even mentioned us on the intercom!

How did you get your inspiration for your letter?

We had just watched the Inauguration and that was what got us going. It also was happening in our lives. And watching the news gave us great ideas and we had a class brainstorm.

What was your favorite part of the project?

We liked putting our personal problems and families into our letter and knowing they can maybe be solved, and we loved illustrating.  We loved illustrating because we all like to draw and use our imagination but also using reality.

Today I would like to share with you an example of how gracious the kids of Tikatok are.  What is very exciting to me is that our authors really seem to understand the mission of our company: to give everyone the chance to express themselves, collaborate, be safe, and just have fun.   It’s so nice to know how much these kids care about Tikatok, because we care so much about these kids!

Let me take this opportunity to personally thank these authors, and every other child who has written a book on Tikatok.

I hope you will continue to teach us what Tikatok is all about.

Best,

Sharon Kan, Co-founder of Tikatok

You wrote your heart out. You drew some amazing illustrations to go with your story. You adjusted the page color and the text size so that the layout of your book is just perfect. Your book is going to take the world by storm. You wait to receive your first comment… and wait… and wait.

What happened? Usually the answer is simple: you need to share your book! On Tikatok there are many ways you can share, from putting your book on the Tikatok homepage for all to see, to sharing a private link with your friends by email, to posting your book to other websites. In this post I’ll explain the ways you can share your book on Tikatok… and beyond.

Permission Settings: Sharing with the Tikatok Community

The first thing you should do after you finish a book is decide how you want to share it with the rest of Tikatok. By default new books are shared to just the people on your Friends list. That means that only those people can read your book - other people who try to read it will see the message that they “do not have permission to read this book.” How do you give them permission? Change the permission settings.

From the book view page, click “Share” and then “Change sharing permissions.”  The next page you see will look like this:

To unlock your book so that anyone can read it, and to publish it to the Tikatok homepage, set “Who can read this book” to “Anyone.”  For your privacy, you should only do this for books that have absolutely no personal information in them!  Here is a summary of what the other permission levels mean:

• Anyone - Anyone who visits Tikatok can read the book, even people who aren’t members of Tikatok.  The book will appear with the “New” books on the homepage. 
• My Friends - Only Tikatok members on your Friends list can read the books.   Add Tikatok friends from the Friends page.
• My Family - Only Tikatok members on your Family list can read the books.  Family members have to be approved by parents before they are added to your list.
• Only my co-authors and I - The book is totally locked down to just you as the author, any co-authors of the book, and your parents

Even if you share your book with anyone, your real name will be hidden on the cover and title page, and the back cover will be removed (so that you can add your “about the author” information).  Only yourself, your parents, and approved family members will be able to see your real name.

Sharing a Private Book

What if you want to share your book with a few friends who aren’t members of Tikatok, but you don’t want to make the book visible to everyone?  It is possible.  In this case use the other options under the Share menu.

Send book via email - From here you can write in an email address and Tikatok will send to that address a special link to the book that is visible for 30 days.

Link or embed this book - If you’d rather use your own email program to send the link, click this button, copy the link, and paste it into your email message.  Again, if the book is private this link will only be valid for 30 days. 

Sharing Outside of Tikatok

Now if you really want the most people to read your book as possible, consider sharing it with other sites and social networks out there.  Kids, please get your parent’s permission, and their help, if you want to do this.

There are a lot of social networks out there where you can share cool stuff, and they are all different.  So I’ll give the example of Facebook.  Again, this is FOR PARENTS to do.

Sharing a Tikatok book to your Facebook Wall:

1. Make sure the permission settings on the book is set to “Anyone,” or that you have copied a temporary link to the book (see instructions above).  Otherwise your friends will not be able to read the book!
2. Sign in to your account on Facebook
3. At the status update prompt - “What’s on your mind?” - type a short message about the book.
4. Click the button below the update to add a link, paste in the link to the book, and click “Attach.”
5. Click “Share” to post the update to your Wall.  Your friends will see your update the next time they sign in to Facebook.

While you’re there, don’t forget to become a fan of Tikatok’s Facebook page!  And feel free to post your book to Tikatok’s wall.  We always welcome showing off from our authors.

Of course there are a ton of other places online where you can share your book.  How have you shared yours?

Around this time, most teachers are getting ready to end the school year and start their summer. It’s a very hectic time, between finishing projects, preparing report cards, and packing up the classroom. There’s also the emotional toll that many people don’t consider. These students have been your children for the last year, and even the ones you say you can’t stand have found a place in your thoughts, if not your heart. So, how to make all this easier? 

Kill the rat! The pack rat that is. Teachers are notorious for hoarding EVERYTHING. Hey, we have reason. We never know when our budgets will be cut, our programs will switch, the old “new math” will become new again. But seriously, you know you have things you will NEVER use again. Spend 10 minutes a day between now and the end of the year throwing out stuff: one cubby hole, file drawer, cabinet section, whatever you can manage. Just be honest when you look at that purple-ink ditto. Then, when it’s time to really leave, you can do it with a lighter load, literally!

Maintain contact - Before you leave your school site for good this summer, ask your school office to print a sheet of address labels for your students. Buy (curse those feds for removing our deductible expenses!) prepostaged postcards from the machine at your local post office. Sometime during the summer (on a plane ride, long car trip, hot day at the beach), jot a note to each student. The postcard format ensures brevity, but sending it will make you feel good, and receiving it will make your kids feel great!

One of the things I love about good teachers is that they are always willing to share good ideas. I would love to hear yours. How do you get ready to close the year?

You know that you can create your own books on Tikatok using Build-A-Bear Workshop® artwork, characters, and special StorySparks. Now we are proud to announce that books appearing in the Build-A-Story Libeary on Tikatok will also appear inside Build-A-Bearville itself!

Build-A-Bearville is an award-winning virtual world “stuffed with fun” where millions of kids and their furry friends explore new virtual spaces, play games, and safely chat with each other.  With Tikatok books now appearing in Build-A-Bearville, your book has the chance to be read by more people than ever before!

Where do I find the Tikatok books in Build-A-Bearville?

Go where you would expect to find books: the Libeary of course!  Just sign in to Build-A-Bearville and either enter the Libeary on foot near Bear University, or click on the map icon and go right to the Libeary.  Once inside the Libeary, click on the open book that is on the center table with the title “Build-A-Story.”  And there you have it!

How do I add my own book to the Libeary?

Only books created in the Build-A-Story Workshop can be submitted to the Build-A-Bearville Libeary.  After you create your book, be sure to click “Submit to Libeary” to have your book considered for “cataloging” within the Libeary.

The Libeary will not accept every book submitted.  Here are some of the things we are looking for in your submissions:

1. Books that display a lot of imagination and creativity.
2. Original stories and illustrations, or interesting uses of the StorySparks and Build-A-Bear Gallery images.
3. Books that express the friendly spirit of Build-A-Bear Workshop.

 Here are some things that we WILL NOT accept:

1. Aside from on the back cover of the book (which is hidden to the public), books with any personal information about the author or other children such as real names and personal photos.
2. Books with illustrations not created by the author, or not available through the Build-A-Bear Gallery on Tikatok, including any image captured from another website.
3. Books that appear incomplete, or do not add anything to a StorySpark template.
4. Books with violence, profanity,  or other violations of Tikatok’s Community Guidelines.

Show Your Character Name

If you are a member of Build-A-Bearville, you will want your book to show your character’s name in the Libeary.  You can now add your character name to your Tikatok profile so that it will appear on your books in Build-A-Bearville (you will still see your Tikatok nickname when you’re on Tikatok).  If you are registering for Tikatok for the first time, just add your character name in the correct place on the registration form.  If you are already a member of Tikatok, sign in and go to the Profile page to add or change the name.

Chat about Tikatok with your Furbulous Friends

Now that you’ve created your book and it’s appearing in the Build-A-Bearville Libeary, let your friends know about it!  You can chat about your book using the Instant Chat box.  Here are some of the ways to tell your friends about your Tikatok book:

“Read my book in the Libeary!”

“I wrote a book, you can read it in the Libeary.”

“Did you see my book in the Libeary?”

Now go write those stories!

OK, you should now have all of the information you need to write your stories, see them in Build-A-Bearville, and share the experience with your friends.  You can always join the Official Build-A-Bear Workshop Books Club on Tikatok to share your ideas and completed stories.  Hope to see you there!

www.tikatok.com/build-a-bear

The National Classroom Writing Contest just wrapped up and Tikatok is proud to announce the classroom winners for 2009.

Please join us in congratulating Westlake Elementary School in Santa Cruz, CA as the winner for the topic “My Advice to the 44th President.”  “Dear Mr. President”, which can be found here, is a compilation of letters from Alyson Diebert’s Third Grade class to President Barack Obama.

The winner of “My Idol” is Piedmont Academy in Monticello, GA. The students in Beth Galloway’s language art class each wrote a story about their idol and what would happen if they had the chance to meet that person.

The winning classrooms will each receive free copies of their students’ books. The winner of the “My Advice to the 44th President” will also have a copy sent to The White House!

As a literacy program used by classrooms across the country, Tikatok gives young writers the tools to write, illustrate and publish their own original stories as well as gives teachers the support they need to make writing fun for their students. 

Haven’t tried a classroom project with Tikatok yet?  The end of the year is the perfect opportunity to create a classroom yearbook or memory book. For more information and some inspiring ideas, visit our Yearbook Page.

Congratulations again to this year’s winners of Tikatok’s National Classroom Writing Contest!

For teacher’s appreciation week we decided to ask one of Tikatok’s fans, 7 year-old Leia, to interview her wonderful teacher, Ms. Sweet. Here is the full interview:

Leia - How did you decide to become a teacher?

Ms. Sweet - I didn’t know that I wanted to be a teacher, only after college I realized that I love to be around kids and help them to learn.

Leia - If kids would like to choose teaching as a career, what do they need to do?

Ms. Sweet - This is an excellent question. I think first they have to ask themselves: do I really want to be a teacher? And then, I suggest they try to find opportunities to work with kids before they make this important decision. It will help them to understand kids better, and how they can help children to learn.

Leia - What are the most important skills that you teach children in first grade?

Ms. Sweet - I think that there are two important type of skills: Academic and social skills. Teaching the children to read in first grade gets me excited every year, to see how one day it is just clicking and they start to read.

Also, social skills in my view are equally important. Teaching children to be part of a community and how to respect each other is a key to their development.

Leia - What role do teachers play in children’s lives?

Ms. Sweet - I find myself in many situations playing different roles. First, as an educator and also as a parent, I get called mom many times during class… I try to help the kids to learn how to interact with each other in a respectful way. So in many cases, I guess I am their friend too.

Leia - Twenty years from now what will be the challenges of teaching?

Ms. Sweet -  That is a hard question. I think when I was a kid I remember that there was more distance between kids and teachers. In our time there are fewer barriers, but I think academically we demand more from the kids and as technology advances, social skills will get less attention. I think that the children of the future will have more social challenges and more demand in terms of their academic achievements. 

Leia - Who is your idol?

Ms. Sweet - When I was younger, I had my own idols, but as I became a parent, I think I appreciate my mom more than ever. She raised 4 kids. She is taking care of her sick mom. So my idol is my mother. Her name is Sue.

Leia: Thank you for being my teacher, and please check out Tikatok’s “Best Teacher Ever” Hall of Fame at the Tikatok Facebook page . I nominated you for best teacher.

Ms. Sweet - Oh, thank you , Leia. This is very flattering. 

Now this is probably the part of the new Tikatok homepage that I am most excited about. Tikatok has always allowed you to share your books with a special list of friends, join and create your own clubs, and co-author books. But now we make it a lot easier to keep up with all of the activity by your friends and in your clubs.

Here is what my recent activity looks like today:

Wow, I have a lot of new books to read and threads to follow!

The Recent Activity section is only for registered members of Tikatok, so you will see it on the homepage after you sign in under the row of featured books.  If you don’t have any recent activity it means that you probably have not added any friends or joined any clubs.  Add friends from the “Friends” page, and join clubs from the “Clubs” page - of course!

If like me you have too much recent activity, well, I guess you have some reading to do!