We are going to take a break from the blogging for a couple of weeks and do some good old fashioned story reading and face-to-face discussion in class. We'll return to the world of blogging in January. Until then, here are some of the helpful links to give us a better understanding of "the blog" when we return.
First, is a video simply describing "blogs in plain english," no fancy talk, just plain english.
Second, take a look at book reviews online (Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Scholastic.com, etc). Look up a book you like or don't like, or are just curious about whether you would like... read the reviews and see what other people say about the book. If it's a book you've read, think about whether you agree or disagree with specific things the people said in their reviews. Did they address everything you thought they should? Is there more you could add without ruining the book for people who haven't read it yet?
Then, we'll discuss in January what are good rules of blogging "Netiquette," that is, how to write a great post. We'll go beyond the discussion of how to be safe online and talk about what would make your writing great. Until then, continue to play around with posts on
kidblog and see what you can learn. Try writing about something that matters to you.
Before we spend time on the Internet, it's important that we understand how to be safe and appropriate in that environment. So, we've been learning about how to be safe online. First, we watched YouTube clips about online safety (see post from earlier this year) and had great discussions about what that means to us. Then we created a list of what we know about safe online behavior.
Now, we are taking that list and turning it into a rap. We spent our half hour this week writing rhymes for using in our rap. It's been great fun listening to the kids make the rhymes and helping to come up with a final product we're excited about.
Next week we will have a "celebrity" guest rapper to help us with our Online Safety Rap (we need a catchy title for it!).
