Friday, September 21, 2012

Kidblog

Wow....I have been very busy.  I know I have neglected my blog but I hope to get back on track.
I wanted to share with you guys about a wonderful blogging platform that I have used for the past two years. On Friday I introduced my students to Kidblog.  If you haven't checked it out you really should!  Last year my students really enjoyed blogging and I could not wait to get it underway this year. 
Kidblog is a free, safe, and user friendly blogging platform.  Last year I reasearched several blogging sites and even seeked the advise of the technology experts in my county, Kidblog is by far the best platform for students to learn about and experience the blogging world

I plan to use blogging in my class weekly and assign blogging as homework from time to time.  This is a great way to have students respond to literature as well as create great conversations among students in a variety of subject areas. Below is a sneak peek at what kidblog looks like. This is a post that I asked my students to respond to.
 Last year we blogged alot about our science and social studies topics as well as other subject areas.  This platform allows you to add videos, pictures, and links to your blog.  This is a great way to have students respond to videos, pictures, or information from a website.  I also plan on using blogging to have students explain their thinking. I can see this being a great platform for math discussions.  The possibilities are endless!

Kidblog also enables you to add students so they have their own blogs.  What I love about this is that you are not asked to give any personal information on the students and Kidblog does not require each student to have their own email address.  Below you will see a student blog page. This student decided to post a blog about something he was interested in and then asked a question to encourage conversation among his peers. 

In the blog below the student wanted to suggest a book to the class.  You will notice that I commented on his post and encouraged him to give additional information about the book.

I hope you get a chance to check out Kidblog and incorporate it into your classroom.
You can learn more about Kidblog HERE.