BLOGGING ACTIVITIES
(http://classroomblogging.wikispaces.com/Blogging+Activities) * A first week diary for those early days in January/February.
* Publishing daily work in shared writing during the literacy hour - possible uses of a Wiki to develop a longer piece of writing.
* Record and publish video to the blog.
* Book reviews, share thoughts and comments (positive and negative) about books recently read - it will encourage reading!
* A photo blog - upload favourite images linked to a theme eg. harvest, freezing, new life. Ask students to comment on reason why it's a favourite.
* Comments about which leisure/ after school activities they are involved in - It might encourage other kids to have a go at something new. Provide some structure to the blog eg. Activity?, Times?, day of week? would you recommend it? star rating etc.
* A daily weather blog - accurate records (eg. temp., rainfall, wind direction) through description and photographs. Just taking the old weather records to a different level!
* Community of Practice - learning new software
* Pupil feedback on units of study
* Podcasting in a foreign language
* Podcasting weekly newsletters for parents
* To get a few children started blogging use template based poetry useful.
* Book reviews can be illustrated with scans of children's art work, children seem to find using a scanner to scan there own pictures motivating
* Posting homework tasks every week - eg. maths problems, children to comment as their task.
* Ask teachers within the school from other classes to comment on work - a weekly principal blog would be a nice way to comment on work across the school.
* Concept Cartoons for science posted prior to a lesson or a week of work. Children are asked to comment on what they think will happen and then these can be used as a start to the first lesson or as an intitial assessment.
* Post of video of SMARTBoard or IWB session during a maths lesson. For example the strategies for multiplication and the children can use it as a revision aid - the parents get to see how the school wants it set out AND the children get to comment on their favoured method/strategy.
* "All about me - I am unique" posting simple CV work in the first few weeks - links to autobiography in Literacy.
* Post homework maths problems to solve.
* Local history - family members can be asked to help blog their memories of how the town / area has changed over the years. Perhaps post an old image from the past and ask grandparents etc to comment with children from your class.
* Posting images from a digi microscope for the children to comment on. "What is under our microscope?" - or even asking for people to guess what the image is and to comment on the suggestions.
* Post a health or ecological "problem" and have students come up with innovative solutions with proper research to back up the solution's feasibility.
* Establish some safe guidelines then simply let the kids write about their world and ideas and thoughts.
* Put up a blog post on a specific issue and invite students to contribute comments on the issue. As comments can be moderated before going live this is a simple and safe way to blog
