Activity 1: Blog Bling

I'm all about making a good layout, adding better fonts, and adding some gadgets too! This is something I would have done even if it wasn't part of the assignment...I'm seriously nerdy about how things look!! :) Check out "The Daily Puppy" down below, a new picture of Gus, my "Followers," and the "Translate" option (I actually took this idea from a colleague... she had mentioned this would be a great feature for parents of ELLs!  I thought so too!).

Here is a video that I've used in my classroom.  It's the Schoolhouse Rock video about nouns.  I'm sure many have seen it.  We talk about nouns (...or naming words if you're a first grader!  I use both terms...) A LOT in first grade.  For the lesson, I also read A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What Is a Noun? by Brian P. Cleary.  Typically I've played this video for the kids during work time or as a follow up.

I'm hoping to use a blog for the parents in my classroom.  We have webpages, but I'm hoping that I could use a blog to add more info, have a better layout, and possibly something that the kids could look at too - if we discuss in class first.  I'd like to inform parents about things going on in class, upcoming events, maybe post a few links/videos for what we're teaching in class.  I don't know if I'd have my first graders doing any blogging yet... unless it would be a part of our new Tech specialist for next year - taught by Jenna! :)  There would be a TON of teaching needed for keyboarding, appropriate/not appropriate things to comment, etc.

I took a peek at the couple of blog videos.  I like KidBlog for doing some type of class blog and having students each create their own blog site... good privacy controls.  Not sure I'd use that with first graders, maybe higher elementary or middle/high school.  Edublogs seemed okay,  but for the same features, it seems like other sites would be better... maybe it was also the fact that the video seemed really dull, so I didn't get through the whole 7 mins! :)  To me, Weebly looks cool!  I'd look into that for creating my own blog for parent/student viewing and use.