Blogical Minds

Relevant points from the students

• We think that writing our weblogs is going to be very exciting because it will make us better at writing and commenting.
• We write good stories so that it can catch the reader’s attention.
• You might want to use the six traits of writing in your weblogs.
• Write good stories so that it can catch the reader’s attention.
• Use the six traits of writing in your weblogs.
• Blogging is cool because we can write blogs that people can read next year.  
• It can help us be better at writing.
• The fifth grade is pretty tough. It has a lot of new things. You will always wonder about middle school and other students’ blogs. It teaches you to grow with what you read.

Hitting the blogs!

Today we started off with a wonderful display of your work from Tuesday. It was fun looking at all those thoughts posted all over your diagrams. You sure were wearing your thinking caps. We saved the best part for last so just to keep your "anticipation" wheels awhirl I'll post that last.  Good things come to those who wait!

Then we hit the books, oops I mean hit the blogs! I know this was the best part of the session for you. All of you were glued to your screens as you read the posts of former fifth graders. You had four class blogs to choose from and an even greater number of student blogs on each of the class blogs. You were busy copying and pasting clips of points of interest to you from the student blogs. You toggled back and forth from Microsoft Word to your blog. I have to say you were quite skilled  copying and pasting but the way you zeroed in on important parts was outstanding. We teachers  wandered around the room stopping to have conversations with you to  listen to the reasons for the choices you were making. This was a very important part and you spent quality time enjoying the reading.  Remember how important the reading is to the ability to do good blogging.

Then you spent a little time thinking about a very short summary of your reading. You were to decide what you thought was relevant. Then you  got into pairs and decided what you would share with the group.  The plans were to share this last part with the whole group but we decided your ideas could be transferred to this class blog. This decision was made because our time was running out and we didn't want to miss the best part.

Are you ready? Here comes the best part! COMMENTS! Can you believe it? Everyone received a comment from the world's best  student commenter "Lani!" We were thrilled and honored to have her comment ! So with minimal directions, it was off to reply to the great comments! Now you were glued to the screens with your blog reading earlier but this time you were deep in thought from reading  the comments. You really took them to heart and spent time and were so very thoughtful about replying.

We went over the 5 W's assignment that you will be creating concerning some aspect of your learning in school.

Your "I Am" poems look good and we will begin work on them after you get back from your break in a week! You'll be creating your own blogs then! Hooray! Have a great holiday!

Featuring Group 4 Blog Brainstorming

Again, congratulations is in order for all of you!  Can't wait to see you again in the morning! We'll continue the WebQuest with our tour of student blogs!

Displaying Group 3 Blog Brainstorming

Announcing Group 2 Blog Brainstorming

Presenting Group 1 Blog Brainstorming

Great beginning!

Greetings students! We certainly had a great beginning! We were so proud of you. We could not have asked more from a class. You jumped right into the WebQuest full of enthusiasm and a sincere quest to learn. You listened so attentively as we browsed through the attributes of blogging. Reflect for a moment on each attribute:

Read.....
Question.....
Think.....
Write.....
Collaborate.....
Reflect.....
Commenting.....
Linking......

Next, we moved on to explore the  "Blook on Blogging." It was so much fun watching your expressions and hearing your  enthusiastic responses It was a delightful way to get an overview of the blogging experience directly from former fifth grade  bloggers. After you read through the "blook" you put your shoulders to the wheel in your groups and began brainstorming about blogging. There was a steady "click, click, click" in the air as you captured your ideas on an Inspiration diagram. The 'rapid fire' tool was firing away.  Wow, I could tell that you took in a lot about the process of blogging. We are going to celebrate the first day by publishing the four groups' brainstorms. You did this so well in a short amount of time. I think they are worthy of publishing. There are only a few minor errors that came from your quick typing. You may discover them as we recheck our work.  You really picked up on some important aspects of blogging. Your thinking is impressive!

So, on with the Celebration.......

Welcome blogicians!

 Welcome to Blogical Minds! This is the class blog for a group of amazing fifth graders who will be known as the blogicians. We are on a purposeful journey to discover what happens when fifth graders blog about what they are learning in class. Conversations, both verbally and on blogs, will be explored to encourage students and teachers to think deeper about what matters for our learning.. We want to write to learn and see what opening our doors to a wider audience offers.

Everyone in this group has willingly decided to participate. We will use pseudonyms to protect the privacy concerns for a fine group of learners who are willing to be studied in order for those of us in education to learn. Our hats are off to you! We ask our readers to respect that.

So now a “most excellent adventure” is about to begin. We must first learn all about blogging and we are going to use this WebQuest, Blogging: It’s Elementary! We can’t wait to share what goes on in our minds as we enter the world of blogging. We will chronicle the journey on this blog as we go along. Meet Mrs. A, Mrs. B, and Mrs. C! They are the teachers who will be guiding this journey. Mrs. C is the classroom teacher. Mrs. B is the instructional technology specialist. Mrs. C is the blogging teacher.  Students will be choosing their pseudonyms today and we can’t wait to introduce them on this class blog.