Kindergarten

Kindergarten
Our Class

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Creating a Class Blog - Yes or No?


A class blog was never really something I thought about creating before taking this class.  Now, I keep coming up with arguments with myself FOR a class blog – and my arguments with myself against a class blog seem to be fading (and losing the battle)!  

My students are 5- and 6-year-olds who do not always have access to a computer at home, so making the blog comments a must would be difficult and unfair.  However, I can see using a class blog to interact with parents as well as other classes around the world.  Parents could come for information about class events, as well as for an update on our class (without having to press 5-year-olds for details!).  If we started communicating with another class across the world, blogs would provide a great way to keep them updated – or even to monitor class projects (such as the growing and changing Darkling beetles we currently have!).

I can see having students design and come up with a short post about our day (or realistically, week) would be a great writing motivator.  My students love typing on the computer, and I could see a blog as being a great outlet for their creativity and writing skills.

We will have to wait and see which side of me wins – stay tuned!

Do you use a class blog?  What works – or doesn’t work?

6 comments:

  1. Elizabeth,

    I love the idea of having your kids come up with short posts for a class blog. It is a way to get the young kids involved with blogging without worrying about their tiny fingers typing or having access to a computer. Building this foundation will really help the students when they become older and are held more accountable for blogging and similar activities.

    I do not currently have a class blog, but I'm considering starting one for parent involvement, as you mentioned. I'm not sure that a parent blog would work with the current population I'm working with, but if I ever get back into a heavily parent-involved population, I'll certainly create one! It'll be a way to replace my (difficult to keep up) classroom website.

    Kate

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    1. Kate-
      I definitely agree that a blog provides a place for quicker updates than a class website. Getting parents to use the blog, however, would be a challenge for me as well.

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  2. Elizabeth,

    I am in a same boat as you. I like the idea of blogging, but not sure how to approach it with my 7-8 year olds. My kids are a little older than yours, but the difficulties that you have portray to my students as well. I have my class website which I use to update both my students and their parents. Blogs are great for discussions, but I am not sure what would I want to discuss with my parents over the blog.
    I loved your idea of using blogging to connect with other students; it might be very doable with my second graders. We can do it as a class at our computer lab so none of my students will feel left out.
    I should try that . During the second part of this quarter, we are going to learn about fairy tales – Cinderella Stories Around the World in particular. The kids might enjoy learning from other kids about their favorite fairy tales.
    Thanks,

    Lilit

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    1. What a great opportunity to use a blog to connect with other classes around the world!

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  3. Sorry, Elizabeth, not trying to hijack your blog but Lilit, we could try to do something between our classes about fairy tales. When will you be teaching it? We plan on starting folktales the week of 2.27 and comparing folktales the week of 3.5. Any of those dates align?

    I think kids would love the chance to respond to other students at a different school, even if it's just a few towns away.

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    1. Hijack away! This is what blogs are all about, and it would be great if you were able to do that! Let me know what you guys decide!

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