I reflected this week on how I could integrate the use of a blog in my classroom. I teach first graders, so more than likely they have had little exposure to blogs. I think that a more appropriate approach to a blog for this age group would be a direct way to talk to parents. This blog could show what we are doing in the classroom, as well as work the student have created. I think that the parents would greatly appreciate this contact and enjoy seeing their students work. Also, this could be a helpful tool for parents to see how they could help their students at home.
Also, another use I thought for blogging could perhaps take place after first of the year. My students usually have a pen pal program set up with students in another state. With a lot of instructional help from myself, I feel that we could set this up as a blog page with the class we pen pal with.
These are just a few ideas I have for blogging. I am interested to hear from others about ideas for blogging with younger students, so please feel free to comment!
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I agree that with first grade students you would probably want to use the blog as a communication piece with parents, and a way to share student work with parents.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to a blogging program that claims to be good for elementary students because it allows them to paint picutres in their blog as well as use text:
http://kidzblog.en.softonic.com/
That is an evaluation version - apparently the real version has a cost, but a review said it was "affordable". It might be worth a look.
Thanks! I really like how user friendly the kidz blog program sounds. Blogging seems daunting with my little ones and this seems to make it similar to KidPix (something my students love and navigate with ease). I am considering talking to my computer coordinator at my school and seeing if it is something we could adopt for the younger grades.
ReplyDeleteIn schools today, more and more parents I find are being disconnected from their child's school work. There are so many options out there for parents to check up on their students and see how they are doing in class and even what topics they are covering in class. I feel as though a blog with updated work from their students would force parents to be an integral part of their child's education.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it would make it much easier for them to be connected, especially the parents who want to be. Unfortunately, I would be interested to see if all parents would use this available tool even if they had easy access to it.
ReplyDeleteI do think it would be helpful to communicate better with parents by using the blog. I know that my children who are entering 3rd and K this year would have been too young to use a blog in 1st grade. I would have loved to have a way to find out more about the class by having a blog to access versus the weekly newletter. I think I could have followed up better with my children and I think that is an excellent way to use a blog with young children & their parents.
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