We're working on Google Maps to show the locations of our commenters. We think this tool is so cool and we are thinking about other ways to use it! We'll keep updating the maps as they are completed. Got any ideas to share on how Google Maps could be used in our classrooms on our blogs?
Student Blogicians
- Anni's Free Mind
- Eddie's Rainbow of Thoughts
- Johnny's News
- Victoria's Dreams of Wonder
- T.K.'s Blogging Ring
- Mary's Magic of Fame
- Mia's Hall of Fame
- Emmy's Corner
- Leslie's Center
- Dulce Maria's World
- Cena's "Champ of Champs"
- M.V.'s Blog
- Michael's Magical Blog
- Lindsey's Wonderful Thoughts
- Tina's Blog
- Rosalinda's Magical Thoughts
Connections to Conversations
- , Mr. Brune's 5th Grade Class at Mamaroneck Avenue School in Mamaroneck, NY
- Excellence and Imagination, Clarence Fisher's grade 7 / 8 class in Canada
- From the paws of--
- Mighty Writers 2006-07, Mark Ahlness' 3rd graders in Seattle,Wahington
- Possibilities Abound--
- Pre-Cal 40S (Winter '07), Mr. Kuropatwa's Class in Canada
Current Events Resources
- CBBC Newsround
- CNN Student News
- Fact Monster from Information Please
- Global Gang
- Kids Search Tools
- KidsPost
- National Geographic Kids News: Top Stories
- Quintura for Kids
- Scholastic News
- Science Daily
- Simple English Wikipedia
- The New York Times Learning Network: Student Connections
- The Weekly Reader
- Time for Kids
- Yak's Corner
Visitor's Map
« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »
April 27, 2007
April 23, 2007
Revisiting Six Traits of Writing
Check out these Six Traits of Writing Posters.
Enjoy former students PowerPoint on the Six Traits of Writing.
Listen to this podcast about the Six Traits of Writing from Radio WillowWeb
Then take a good look at the evaluation rubric for 6 Trait Writing in Blogging from our webquest on blogging.
Wow! The conversations we are going to have!
April 16, 2007
April 11, 2007
Let's have a little fun with words!
UPDATE: We have had a lot of fun blethering. Is there such a word as blethering? Emmy says yes. Everybody is posting about this. Now we're trying to guess what the picture actually is. Here are their guesses:
mouse pad, table, podium, book, sticker, television screen, music stand, cell phone, laptop, power button, a stone, tablet, counter, inside of a car, a speaker..............
This is too much fun so I am directing the kids here.
Who will be the first one there?
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
Yesterday we made a second try to Skype with Mr. Fisher's
class. We still were not successful. The connection would start out ok but then
it would fade out. We could hear here in
The day was not a loss though. Here's a quick review. You entered the lab and I did a quick run down of what we needed to do before the call. You were to pick one of Mr. Fisher's students, read the blog post where our questions were answered, and then think about how you would respond if you got a chance to talk with the student who authored the post. You were hooked. We decided to do a draft first in Word so that we could fine tune it later but this thinking and writing would help us focus for the Skype conversation. You got to work! Each of you had different students so each of Mr. Fisher's students would receive a response, if not on Skype later in our blogs. Johnny and M.V. even volunteered to do two so everyone would receive a response. We even squeezed in a couple of practice sessions where you came up front and we role played your “talking”. Now that was interesting. One question, why is it so hard to talk loudly? You even had the teacher's OK to talk loud! I know you can do it. But I also know how hard it is on the first few tries. It really makes you feel self conscious. But speaking a little louder, a little clearer, and with emphasis will help you get your voices heard! We had fun! You regrouped, got right to work and came up with some good blogging.
Then we enjoyed watching the movies I had made of you talking about blogging - with music and accolades for all of you! Another question? Why did most of you bury your faces in your hands when your movie came up? (Grin!) That was your very first try! You did great for a first try. Now you know what to work on to make it better. Those were practice! No we won't publish them all over the net! (Smile!)
Guess what! I have a back up plan that I will share with you Friday! There's another Web 2.0 tool that may let us have those conversations with Mr. Fisher's class and other classes. We won't give up! We will persevere! I just wanted to let you know that I was proud of you and your flexibility!
I thought it would be helpful to give a quick run down of who got what done on the posting so that we can maybe finish up on Friday. We’ll give it a try.
Eddie completed his post to Darren.
Emmy finished her post to Katie.
Mia got all of her post done with the exception of a link to April.
Anni needs to complete her post and make a link to Elaine.
Johnny blogged about Josh and Dustin but needs to add the links to their blogs.
Lindsey needs to do her post and link to Anna.
M.V. had a good post and links to Derek and Matthew but is nowhere to be found? It's probably still on Word? We'll check.
Mary was one of the first to finish and has both post and link to Ashley.
Michael has a tribute and a link to Randy.
Tina has her post ready for Shyla but needs to include the link.
Victoria has both link and post ready for Ashley H.
T.K. needs to finish his post and link for Tyler
I will see you Friday. Can't wait!
Flickr photo credit to http://flickr.com/photos/sposnick/422851157/
April 09, 2007
Answers to your blogging questions
Mr. Fisher’s class have composed
answers to your blogging questions. They have done an outstanding job and I
know these answers are going to be most helpful for you. We appreciate all of
them taking the time to provide such terrific answers. Mr. Fisher highlighted
some of the answers here. You will have the opportunity to read all
of them and then respond.
I would like to highlight Ashley M
and Derek’s great replies to the
question on proofreading. I picked this topic because it is an area where we
still need to work and should be doing much better.
Ashley's tips:
- Copy and paste it into word. It
will show you the things that need to be corrected.
- Read it over again.
- Make some changes/add more things.
- Try and think of things that will
make it more interesting.
- Try and organize it in different
groups.
- Make paragraphs.
- Use punctuation properly.
- Take some things away that don’t
make sense.
- Make spaces so people can actually
read the words.
- TRY YOUR BEST!
When I write a post I usually write
it in Word first before I put it in my learnerblogs so it shows all the
mistakes and so I can fix it. Then I re-read it and take things out and add
more things in if it don’t make sense. All you have to do is make sure you read
it carefully and read it over maybe 2 times.
At the beginning of the
school year, when we first started blogging, Mr. Fisher gave us numerous tips
on blogging. He told us that writing a blog post is different than writing a
story. This is because people tend to read differently online than reading a
book. In books, authors write in paragraphs. Online, people usually don’t write
in paragraphs. Also, Mr. Fisher said that using links is important because it
almost lets your blog “grow” in a way. Other than that, nobody else has given
me advice on blogging.
There are many, many, many
tips I could give on blogging. The three most important tips on blogging would
have to be the following:
Keep it Organized- As I said before, people read
differently online than reading a book. So, keeping your posts organized when
you write a blog post is very important. One way of keeping your posts
organized is using subtitles.
Using subtitles makes it easier for your reader to read your post. When you keep
your posts organized, it is more likely for the reader to be interested in your
post and they may even leave a comment on your blog! So, keeping your posts
organized is a very important tip.
Use Pictures/Videos- Using pictures and videos allows
your reader to fully understand what you are writing. Although, whenever you
use pictures, you should always have words to go along with it. Otherwise,
people won’t know what the picture is or what it means in your post. Sometimes,
using pictures/videos isn’t necessary when writing your blog post. For example,
if you are writing about your weekend, you don’t need a video to go along with
it.
Be Safe- My final and most important tip is to be safe. Be careful not to put a whole bunch of information about yourself on your blog. You never know who is going to read it. Also, you should try to say positive things on your posts, rather than negative things.
Aren't those fantastic tips? I can't wait for you to read all of the replies. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to Skype his class. I am going to email Mr. Fisher and see if we can work out the details!
These fine young Canadian bloggers have taken you blogicians under their wings. In turn we take off our "blogging" hats to them and we will show our appreciation on our blogs!
More snow for Lani!
Take a look at this! In an email from Lani she said:
I've been out shoveling snow and just took some pictures. Unbelievable!!! And we are still under a storm warning with 6 more inches expected! This is more than in February!!
Would you like to get that much snow and if you did what do you imagine you would do?
About "Blogical Minds"
Relevant Class Links
May 2007
Recent Posts
- A Tribute to the Blogicians
- Canada/Georgia Connection - Podcast 8
- Canada/Georgia Connection-Podcast 7
- Canada/Georgia Connection-Podcast 6
- Canada/Georgia Connection-Podcast 5
- Canada/Georgia Connection-Podcast 4
- Canada/Georgia Connection-Podcast 3
- Canada/Georgia Connection-Podcast 2
- A special bond is noted on the first Gizmo podcast
- Tribute to Harley
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