Challenge2011 #4

Blog tags

Picture created by Pam Cranford

Search:

The Challenge2011 #4 asked how a visitor would find a topic on our blog, or in essence, how would you find your way? After taking a closer look at our class blog, I moved the Category widget to the top left side making it easier to use the drop down box and find the desired category. If you prefer, you could use the Cloud Tags for a more direct search. In addition, we also have a search bar at the top of our blog.  For seasonal postings, visitors can use the Archive widget  to search by Month and Year.

Links:

We have grouped our links under the following headings in an effort to make our blog more easily navigated.

  • Hometown Connections – These are links to our schools blogs
  • Blog Challenge – Links to our current and past participation in the student blog challenges
  • Blog with Students – Links to our own students’ blogs. Please visit and leave them a comment. They would love it
  • Blogs We Love – Link to all the blogs we have connected with around the world. If you hover your mouse over the title of each, you will see a brief description of the blog

HAPPY BLOGGING!

Challenge2011 #3

globe internetOur class is not unfamiliar with global collaboration activities. Per the Challenge2011 #3, we will list and link just a few:

Included on the left sidebar is a translation widget that our readers can use to translate our page into 37 languages. We have used a widget similar to this when reading and commenting on Stora Ines classroom blog from Portugal.  Our students have been amazed at how this translator works.

So off we go to visit blogs from ten different countries. Below are listed the blogs on which we have left comments as part of the Challenge2011 #3:

  1. Ric MacDonald – Australia – Great Avatar Picture Trail
  2. Sue Williams – New Zealand – Excellent use of Wikis to set up an online learning environment
  3. School in Paranaque – Phillipines – A little difficult at first to find the posting, but some really unique ideas.
  4. Jayme Johnson – United States – A third grade teacher who is obviously building 21st century learners in the classroom. Kudos.
  5. Section 6-Sabanci University – Turkey – An interesting mix of ideas and a good use of Glogster posters in blog postings.
  6. Laura Chesebro – Thailand – What a wonderful idea to include pictures of parents from parents’ night right on your blog! Doing that!
  7. Climb High – Canada – Focused on Students.
  8. Brilliant Bloggers – United Kingdom – It is fun to read beginning bloggers. Good job here.
  9. Aurora Risdon – Malaysia – I particularly loved the “comment scale” rating on this blog and the resources for students with special needs.
  10. Jon Hoff – Vietnam – A small American school in Vietnam. It is intriguing to read about other schools

Challenge2011 #2

Rules for Commenting and Posting

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Our outstanding Computer Lab Teacher, Nina Peery, has established the Intermediate Students’ Rules for Commenting for our campus.

Mrs. Peery’s Lesson on digital citizenship is published in her Moodle Course, Technology with Mrs. Peery, under Digital Footprint Lessons. As a reminder of what she has taught, you may want to watch a review of Get Cybersmart with Phineas and Ferb.

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Before posting a comment on someone’s blog or creative work, read the comment and ask yourself these questions:

(If you cannot answer each question according to the answer given, change your comment or do not post!)

1) Would I say that to the person face-to-face? Yes

2) Would I say that to the person’s parent? Yes

3) Would I say that to the principal or teacher of this person? Yes

4) Does my comment make sense? Yes

5) Is my comment useful? Yes

6) Is my comment kind? Yes

7) Did I read over the comment and correct spelling and punctuation errors? Yes

Never include your last name or any other personal information about yourself when you leave a comment!

We hope that the students and classes involved in the Challenge2011 will benefit from some of our guidelines.

Challenge2011 #1

blog challenge 2011

We joined the Challenge Yourself to Blog but have gotten off to a slow start. Our state assessments are upon us and we have been concentrating on some required skills. Today we begin to play catch-up with our challenges beginning with Challenge2011 #1.

We were challenged in the fall to change our theme, and after giving it great consideration decided to give it a face change. Each month we create a customized header to reflect both our class personality and the season. It has really brought an interesting aspect to our blog from our perspective, and hopefully it has attracted new visitors to our site.

Our “About Page” is entitled Meet Our Class and is located across the top of our blog page.  We really would love for you to visit and read a little bit about the history of our beginning with our most recent students. We have so many helpful widgets on the sidebar that we have decided to utilize the page tabs across the top of the page instead of a Page Widget.

Why should you visit our blog? There is just not enough space here to list all the reasons. First of all, the pages across the top tabs.

  • Assignments – On this page students are given opportunities to use a student database for online research. They visit our subscription site after printing out their questions. Students are self-guided and actively engaged while learning to use the web to find information.
  • Commenting – Our computer lab teacher, Nina Peery, does a fantastic job of introducing our students to internet safety. Her course has earned a spot on our blog pages. If you do not have a plan for keeping your students safe, I highly recommend her site.
  • Games – Sometimes our students have a few minutes at the end or beginning of class and we have found a way to use every spare moment for engaged learning. On this page there are over 85 games and educational sites in all core subjects. Our students love it and know that as long as this page is present they never have a reason to be “bored” —at school or even at home.
  • Holiday Heyday – This page is quite unique. We discovered that some of the basic calendar skills which we assumed our students knew, they in fact did not. This page gives them an opportunity to review these by using a printed pdf and the current calendar. Also by following the hyperlink for each month, the students (and teachers) have uncovered some unusual national holidays. Seasonal games sites are also linked to this page to accommodate those students who work and finish more quickly than others.

In short, You should visit our blog because it is full of educational opportunities that go why beyond the regular blog posts. All you need to do it just turn the page.

Thank you, Miss W, for a chance to share our blog with the world.

LIVE Nesting Eagle Cam

The Eagle is our national bird and here we have the rare opportunity to see one on the nest. We know thousands of you have been watching the live nesting video feed from Decorah, Iowa through KLTV.com. We thought you would like to know one of three eggs hatched Saturday morning. The second and third are expected to hatch soon. These eggs have been in this nest since late February/early

PLEASE CLICK http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14360982 TO WATCH THE LIVE FEED.

eagle

Simple Machines

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Questions Written by Laura Odom

If you have not visited the page at the top of our blog, ASSIGNMENTS, then you are missing out on a great opportunity to incorporate those Technology Application TEKS seamlessly right into your core curriculum.

Each month, we try to write some questions in a PDF format that will provide students direction when utilizing our annual subscription to FACTS4ME. Just click on the tab at the top of the blog and you will be taken to the research page of our blog, Probe, Dig, Find. The topic of the questions is listed underneath the image of the globe. You will then see three buttons: A, B, C  By clicking on each letter, a document for printing opens. Students then login to FACTS4ME by following the directions listed on the page and answer the 5 questions.

  • Group A questions are Multiple Choice.
  • Group B questions are Short Answer.
  • Group C questions are Essay.

Consider the levels of your students and assign them to the appropriate level of questions.