Goal: Blogging for elementary students

As part of my technology plans for the 2009-2010 s.y., I would like to start BLOGGING for the elementary students. Starting small is always a good idea. Starting perhaps with just one elementary teacher/class would make it simpler.

I would like to get ideas from teachers/tech coord./tech curriculum coord., etc. as to what would be the best way to go. I do have a few questions:

1. Which blogging platform would you recommend? Blogger? WordPress? EduBlogs?

2. Do you provide the students with their own email? Which email service?

3. How do the school administrator's feel about teacher blogging for the class? Need approval for postings from school administrator? Should there be a "disclaimer" on the teacher's blog site? Example "Opinions reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of school."
But what if the school website's is link to the teacher's blog?

These are just random thoughts that I have about blogging for elementary students. As part of my job, I need to conduct workshops about BLOGGING but to make it simpler, I believe I will start with one willing teacher and hoping it will create a ripple effect.

Tags: blog, blogging, elementary

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rashidah Tutashinda on August 29, 2009 at 6:40pm

Our school has use https://www.gaggle.net/gen?_template=/templates/gaggle/html/index.jsp
You can start with the free account and test drive it to see if it works. You can apply for the entire school.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jonathan Wylie on August 30, 2009 at 2:25pm

Just started this myself this year with 4th grade, and also starting small. So here is my answers to your question.

1. I use Weebly for our class website.

2. I don't give students email addresses. I have one student each week write a blog article. They can either email it to me, or can type it up in class. I put it on the website for them, so maybe, technically, they are not blogging?

3. I put them on a class website, and have permission from parents to publish their work. The district were cautious of my plans but did approve them if I had the appropriate disclaimers signed by parents.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lauriene Tschang on September 2, 2009 at 7:09pm

Thank you for sharing this. Our school is starting small so we will not have students blog yet. Teachers will start blogging using Edublog. With good/great reviews from parents, we might move on to having students blog before the year ends or early part of next school year.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grace Gorman on August 31, 2009 at 9:31am

I am very interested in doing this too. I found some great blogs by going to Google and typing in "first grade blogs" There is one by a Mrs. Cassidy that is great - check it out