C4K #2

Over the past month, I've had the opportunity to comment on some great blogs made by kids from New Zealand. It's always inspiring to see children learning about technology at such a young age. They are learning to do some pretty great things. I don't even know how to do some of the things that they create! I wish that I had learned what these guys are learning when I was in elementary school. I commented on three different blogs and I really enjoyed what I saw.
The first blog that I commented on was a class blog called Room 14 Explorers. This is a blog written by students in years 5 and 6 in Tauranga, New Zealand. The post that I commented on was a slide show that they created about integrity. The students asked several people to make a sign with a sentence that describes their definition of integrity. Some of the definitions that people gave include "treat people how you want to be treated" and "be truthful". I thought that this was a great project for the students because it taught them how to make a slideshow and post it on a blog. This project also taught the students to think deeper about what being a person of integrity means. I commented on this post and told the students that mu definition of integrity is to always do the right thing, even when it is difficult.
The second blog that I commented on was created by a first year class at Pt. England School in New Zealand. This blog is called the Team One Rock Stars. This blog was really fun to look at because it had a lot of posts with pictures that these students made using paint on the computer. Then, they would describe their pictures to their teacher and the teacher would post it for them. It was really cool to see that these five year old students are already learning about blogging. The post that I commented on was a picture of a boat floating on the ocean created by a boy named Bobby-Jon. Bobby-Jon said that he had seen a boat the last time that he went to the beach with his family. I left the following comment:
"My name is Rebecca Warnberg and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I really like the picture that you made. I went to the beach yesterday and I saw a sailboat! It's pretty cool to watch the boats sail on the water! Good job!"
I hope that Bobby-Jon sees my comment and is inspired to keep learning more about blogging.
The third blog that I commented on Mr. Harris' Year 7/8 blog. These students are from Pt. England School, also. The post that I commented on was called "Good bye books, hello NETBOOKS!"was about the new netbooks that the school gave to each student in Mr. Harris' class. I think that it is amazing that this school is so dedicated to incorporating technology into the classroom. I left this comment:
"My name is Rebecca Warnberg and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am also taking a class where we use computers instead of books to do our work. I think it's great that you all are learning about technology. I wish I could have used a netbook when I was your age! Have fun with your netbooks and remember to take good care of them." The students who wrote this post seemed very excited to have their Netbooks. I hope that this will encourage them to study and learn more.
I hope that I will have the opportunity to allow my future students to create great blogs like these!