1. Blogging in the
Elementary Classroom
Presented By: Emily Schmidt
Coltrane Webb STEM School, Cabarrus County Schools
June 18,
2013
2. What is a blog?
• A blog is an online journal that can be
used to share news, ideas/thoughts,
photos, and much more.
• Blogging allows students to post
entries, upload pictures and video.
3. Why blog?
• Blogging gives students an authentic
audience.
• “Research has long shows that students write
more, write in greater detail, and take greater care
with spelling, grammar and punctuation, when
they are writing to an authentic audience over the
internet.” ~Lorrie Jackson, Education World
• The blog entries that they write can be
read and responded to by classmates,
teachers, and parents.
4. Benefits to Blogging
• Students develop technological
literacy.
• Students learn to be ethical
digital citizens
• Students develop writing skills
and voice
• Students are engaged
• Students can make global
connections
• Students practice typing skills
5. Benefits to Blogging
•
Image from: http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/12/25/creating-an-outline-for-blogging-unit-plan/
6. Blogging Websites
• KidBlog.org - My Personal Favorite!!
• You can use your cabarrus apps account to
log in to Kidblog
• EduBlogs
• Classblogmeister
• 21Classes
7. Class or Individual Blogs?
Classroom Blogs
Individual Blogs
•Teacher can write posts and •Students have ownership over
students can add comments. all content on their blog.
•Students can be guest
bloggers.
•This is a great way to keep
parents/families informed of
classroom news.
•Ideal for K-1
•Create an online portfolio of
work and shows evidence of
student growth.
•Students have more freedom
in what they choose to write
about.
8. Blogging Tips
• Establish Rules/Procedures
for posting and commenting
to posts
• Model how to write a blog
post or show students
examples of student blogs
• Make blogging a part of your
regular schedule (rotations,
center, morning work).
9. Blog About...
• Books - Reader Response
• Science Topics
• Writing Prompts
• How to Articles...
• Free/Creative Writing
• Field Trips
• Respond to a content related
question
10. K-1 Ideas
• Fill in the blank prompts
•
Today, we learned about _____.
•
My favorite food is ______.
• Video Blogs
• Upload Pictures of student work/drawings
• Student Photographer - Assign a student to be the class
photographer daily or weekly.
• Students write captions to go with the photos.
14. Questions??
• Any questions??
• If you want to create a blog for next
year, I’m happy to help you set it up
once we get our classes next year. Just
let me know.
15. Just A Few More Things
The next few slides have examples and a
few tips for blogging.
16. A Few Examples
• Kindergarten
• Rubrics for Blogs
• Blogging Ideas
• More Blogging Ideas
17. Establish Rules for Blogging
Be Safe
Don’t use your last name.
Don’t give specific details when writing about yourself.
Never give out your address or phone number.
Do not post pictures without permission.
Be Respectful
Don’t say anything taht might be offensive to someone else.
Be considerate of others. When commenting, show others that you have read what
they have written by saying more than just “good job.”
Be Literate
Write in complete sentences, using correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Notas del editor
Discuss how we used blogging this year as a part of our reading workshop rotations.
Discuss how we got other teachers involved in blogging. Mrs. Phillips was great!
We need students to be well prepared for tomorrow’s job force. We know that technology and typing skills are important. Rather than typing, just to learn how to type, students can learn how to type by blogging.
Students need to be comfortable with technology – blogging is one way to get them on computers/ipads more, so that they are.
This is a great visual!
Blogging hits all of those higher order thinking skills (creation, collaboration, ect).
Show Kidblog – how would the students log on.
I haven’t used the other blogging sites listed, but they may be a better fit for you/your class.
Class Versus Individual Blogs
We started in September and my students each had their own blog.
Individual blogs are probably not practical in K-1.
The first few times of blogging, it was whole class. Patience is KEY! The students are slow typists, terrible with punctuation, and have a lot of questions the first few times. Very quickly they became very comfortable and after a few whole class sessions, students began blogging once a week as a part of their reading rotations. Students were required to write a post about the text they read, but they could also respond to their classmates’ posts. Students LOVE it! Often blogged at home!
The possibilities are endless! Students need to view blogging as a communication tool. Many of my students would blog at home about their birthdays, families, hobbies, anything really. They just wanted to share. This created true dialogue between students because their classmates would respond to their posts (making connections).
I don’t pretend to know anything about Kindergarten and I know very little about 1st grade, so these are just a few ideas I thought you might be able to try. Responsibility for many of these will fall back on the teacher – at lease a the beginning of the year.