C4K- April

I read four different class blogs this month for my comments for kids assignments. I got some really great ideas by exploring these blogs and I will discuss them here.
The Unicorn Blog- This is Miss Pike's Year 6 class blog. The blog I was assigned to read class blog has a list of links to the students personal blogs. I was assigned to comment on a student named Zakee. However, Zakee's blog was not working correctly, so I decided to comment on Shreya's blog instead. Shreya made a post called "Did You Know?" which listed several interesting, obscure facts. I left the following comment:
"I think that this was a very interesting post! I learned many things that I never knew before! Where did you find all of these fascinating facts? I especially liked the last fact that you listed about the elephants and the ants. That was a very shocking fact! Keep up the good work on your blog."
Room 14 Explorers- This is a blog made by a a year 5/6 class from Tauranga, New Zealand. I commented on a post entitled "Unpacking Integrity". This post include a slideshow which two students made using slideshare.com. This slideshow featured pictures of posters that different people made expressing their definition of integrity. I left the following comment:
"I really like this slideshow because it shows many different people's view points. I think this is a great question to ask people because it will cause them to consider if they are a person of integrity. My definition of integrity is always doing the right thing, no matter how difficult it may be." I really like this blog because this teacher makes her students think on a deeper level about many subjects and employs different educational tools.
Mr. McClung's World-The third blog that I read is called Mr. McClung's World. I made a blog post earlier which thoroughly analyzes this site. I commented on one post entitled Lessons Learned: Lesson Three- The Quest for the Perfect T-Shirt. In this post, Mr. McClung discusses a contest that his students were competing in to design a t-shirt for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. I left the following comment:
"I think that your class fundraiser is a great cause. It’s good to see that you are encouraging your students to give back to others who are in need. I also think it’s great that you are allowing your students to express their creativity by creating t-shirt designs. I hope that these t-shirts will increase your students morale and dedication to your cause. I also hope that your fundraiser is very successful." If you are interested in learning more about Mr. McClung's blog, you can read my previous post entitled "Special Assignment: Mr. McClung's World".
Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog- Mrs. Yollis is a third grade teacher from California who is dedicated to giving the best education to her students through incorporating technology in her classroom. This blog had been nominated for best runner up for Best Classroom Blog in the 2009 and 2010 Edublogs.
Mrs. Yollis encourages parents to get involved in the learning process, too. Parents are asked to comment on their children's blogs. Mrs. Yollis gives instruction for how parents should leave comments. Here are Mrs. Yollis' rules of thumb for leaving comments:
1) Make a personal connection with the post
2) Add some factual information about the topic in your comment
3) Make sure your spelling and grammar are correct
I think it's great that Mrs. Yollis includes so many informational videos in her blog. Some of these videos include a tutorial on how to comment and a tutorial on how to create a hyperlink. These videos are useful for both Mrs. Yollis' students and the parents of students.
Mrs. Yollis uses her blog to help both her students and their parents get involved. She creates blog posts that discuss topics that she is currently teaching about in class. Her students are able to comment on these, and their parents are, too. All of her students' personal blogs are linked to the class blog, as well.
I commented on one of the students' blogs called "Hannah's Hacienda". Hannah made a post called "Leila Donates Her Hair to Locks of Love". This was an inspiring post in which Hannah described the Locks of Love program. Hannah and her sister Leila take turns donating their hair every other year to this program. I left the following comment for Hannah:
"This is a wonderful post! You have provided a lot of information about the Locks of Love Program. I had heard of this program before, but I didn't know all of the specific details. My sister Caitlyn has donated her hair to this program before. You have inspired me to donate my hair, too! Great job!"
Hannah's post was well written and very informative. I was very impressed with her work.