Week 5: Free Choice
This week’s activity is free choice
Have some interesting posts for your visitors to read when they get to your blog. I am not going to give any clues as to what to put in your posts but remember the following, especially if you want a post flipped to our magazine. Also take note of the page titled ‘Post ideas’ above my header.
Having read many student posts, I came up with the following essentials in a great post.
- catchy title
- includes at least one visual (with attribution) whether photo, cartoon, video or another web 2.0 tool like padlet or glogster
- interesting topic with the passion of the author coming through
- well written and not copy/pasted from somewhere else
- shows it has been proofread and spellchecked
- written in paragraphs – at least three of them
- includes links to other websites on similar topics – at least two of these
Those posts covering the seven things mentioned above will be added to the flipboard magazine. Many students are forgetting to add links to other websites relating to the topic they have written about. Remember links show you have researched your topic well and found opinions of others to include in your post.
Still more time left this week
- Read some of the posts in the flipboard magazine – your teacher might want to create a class flipboard magazine to add to your class blog
- Visit other classes this time in the lists above the header of the challenge blog or in the list included below
- Reply to any comments left on your blog especially if from a commenter.
- Check out the posts written by classes and students that are in our Google spreadsheets (Your posts on sidebar)
Remember YOU have to visit other blogs, leave comments and the URL of your blog before you will get any comments on your blog. This is how the conversations and connections get made – by visiting and commenting on other student and class blogs.
Check out these class blogs for students aged 7-9. Many students have their own blogs in the sidebar.
Creative thinkers, Penguinville, Mrs Avnor, Smith Kid Bloggers, Mrs Kundhi, Mrs Moore, CW East, Friends of 3rd Dimension, 3E News, La Decouverte – leave comments on the Welcome post for this blog
Remember YOU have to visit other blogs, leave comments and the URL of your blog before you will get any comments on your blog. This is how the conversations and connections get made – by visiting and commenting on other student and class blogs.
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Week 4: Global Issues
Activity 1: For this challenge we are looking at research skills, attribution, links and creativity in how you have presented the work.
For the topic you have chosen you might want to create two or three shorter posts rather than one very long one. [You may do ONE post covering TWO global issues].
In your posts, include links to where you researched and some images with attribution. You might also want to include a poll or survey, a collage of images, a slideshow you have created. You may have found a great video you could also include.
Teachers – Here are some links to where you might get some ideas – ACEE – student voices, Global Oneness project – bringing the world to your classroom, students and teachers becoming Global Citizens
Activity 2: Global issues in your classroom
Have you or your class taken part in some work associated with a global issue? Create a post about what you were involved in. Maybe it was a global activity rather than issue – eg Pi day, Global Read Aloud, Earth Hour
Here is a wonderful newish website about projects students and classes can join in.
Activity 3: Visit other blogs
Visit at least ten other blogs not from your country. Ask questions about some of the issues they might have in their country. Make some comparisons between the countries taking part in the challenge. Write a post about your findings.
Activity 4: Be creative
Use a web 2.0 tool to be creative about global issues. This might be a poll or survey, a quiz, write a poem, create a poster, draw a picture, write a story or cartoon about a super hero saving the world – just be creative. Check out the tools to use on the sidebar of the challenge blog.
Activity 5: Do something
Do something about a global issue. Here are links to games and activities for kids about global issues. What did you choose to look at? Write a review in your post.
- Kids go global – website
- Free Rice – we have a group you can join here
- Check out the habitat of two different cities – how does it compare with where you live? – primary/elementary students
- Environmental Intelligence – traffic, trash and pollution – primary/elementary
- We Stories– website
- Generation On – make your mark on the world
- Youthink – stories and ideas of how youth are changing the world
Still more time to spare?
Visit students and classes from the other countries involved in the challenge. Leave a comment or question relating to a global issue that might be affecting them.
Leave a comment on this blog telling Miss W. the global issue you think is most important to be solved. It might not be one of those mentioned in the post. Give reasons why it should be the first issue solved.
Fill in the form with the URL of the post you have written. Remember blog URLs will be deleted - only POST URLs are accepted.
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Week 3: Images, Videos and Music
Activity 1. Do some more research on the topic of attribution and licenses and perhaps create your own class video about using images, music and videos in class.
This video is the reaction of students in Mrs Yollis’ class when she mislabelled their artwork. How would you have felt?
Activity 2. Take a photo or find an image or piece of music. Add it to your post (with attribution) and write a poem relating to the image or music. Invite your readers to write their own poems. Here is Fernando’s example, Samantha is confused
Activity 3. Similar to activity 2. Take a photo or find an interesting landscape image (include attribution) or create the beginning of a video. Write the beginning of a story relating to your image or video. Remember to include a conflict of some sort between your characters. Invite your readers to finish the story. How many different endings can you get? Which ending do you prefer? You might need to visit some other bloggers and invite them to finish your story. Remember to leave the URL of your post for them to click on.
Activity 4. Write a sentence using just images – no words OR find 5 images that create a story – again no words only the attribution for each image.
Activity 5. Create a slideshow, photo gallery or poster about your interests to add to your about me page or as a separate post. Your final slide should include attribution for each image. Noah created a great gallery with captions
Activity 6. Create your own images and add to a post of your choice. In your post add a link to the website or tool you used to create your image.
Other options for creating your own images include:
Mixing up your images using these types of tools can really spice up your posts! Leave a comment on this post, if you or your class can recommend some other image sites to add to this list.
Activity 7. Zoom out from an image
We first tried this activity in the challenge in September 2010. Choose a picture, and have your readers zoom out, so to speak, by leaving comments. Check out the example from Huzzah who finished their story. If doing this activity, include the word ‘zoom’ in your title so I can find it easily. Remember to give attribution. Most important here is to read previous comments, so you can add to the story.
Activity 8. Go back to previous posts
If you have used images in any previous posts you have written, then you are ethically obliged to give the correct attribution or take the image out of the post if it does not have the right creative commons license.
Activity 9. Create a jigsaw from your image. Mrs Schmidt’s class has done this using Jigsaw Planet . Here is her explanation
Last week (2014) my students made some jigsaw puzzles about famous places in our area. First each student created one Power Point Slide showing a photo and some facts about a location in our area. They saved the slide as a JPEG and then uploaded it to Jigsaw Planet. Once the puzzle was created, they published a link to it on their Kidblog. Click on Niamh’s puzzle link. Maggie created a tough jigsaw. Anisha created a jigsaw from her avatar.
Activity 10. Make a game using images. This class in Australia based their game on 4pics 1 word app.
Still got time left this week:
- Check out posts from other students and classes – see link in sidebar – any with a yellow cell has not had an official commenter visit yet
- Check out some good avatar posts I found in the list and I mention below
- Teachers – have you started visiting blogs listed on the class list of blogs? Maybe pair up your students with those on the other class blogs.
- Reply to comments on your own blog
- Start using tags and categories with each post you write to make it easier for people to find posts on certain topics. Make sure you have the tags and categories widgets in your sidebar.
Student posts
Some class posts
If you speak and write Spanish or want to use a translate widget, why not visit Doctora Merrills blog to leave some comments?
Here are the instructions for adding links to your sidebars.
Have at least five other student and/or class blogs linked on your sidebar – students from other classes and schools – not your own. We will need this for a game we play in a couple of weeks.
Try to have a few different link categories like
- My Overseas Friends
- Other Class Blogs
Having lots of links to student blogs from other countries will help spread the game.
Last week (2014) my students made some jigsaw puzzles about famous places in our area. First each student created one Power Point Slide showing a photo and some facts about a location in our area. They saved the slide as a JPEG and then uploaded it to Jigsaw Planet. Once the puzzle was created, they published a link to it on their Kidblog. Click on Niamh’s puzzle link. Maggie created a tough jigsaw. Anisha created a jigsaw from her avatar.
Flipboard magazine – are you in there yet?
I will only be adding posts to the flipboard magazine that:
- are written in paragraphs
- have been proofread
- include an image, sound or video with attribution
So make sure you have taken note of this week’s learning about creative commons.
Most important learning from this week’s challenge is:
Use creative commons images or public domain, not just any image on the net. Always include attribution of where you found the image. Compfight plugin does this for you.
PS If you have done the blogging challenge before, you will find these activities are nearly the same each time. If you have ideas for different activities please leave a comment on this post.
Credit:
Information taken directly from this blog:
PS If you have done the blogging challenge before, you will find these activities are nearly the same each time. If you have ideas for different activities please leave a comment on this post.
Credit:
Information taken directly from this blog:
Week 2: Writing Comments
Activity 1: Create a ‘How to comment’ page on your blog
Many themes and blogging platforms have different ways to leave a comment. You might need to click on the title of the post, or click on a number in a circle or click on the words ‘Leave a comment’. Write a page for your blog explaining how to leave a comment. You could write it as a set of steps or perhaps create a video showing what to do. Be creative. Here is an example on my family history blog. Mrs Yollis created a video showing how to comment on her blogspot blog. You might prefer to add the instructions in a text widget on your sidebar instead of a page.
Remember, though, if you change themes you might also need to change these instructions. Also if you want a comment left on the page make sure you have followed the instructions in the admin area for this week about ticking boxes for Edublogs blogs.
Activity 2: Make a set of commenting guidelines – you might be able to combine this with activity 1
Explain what you expect when someone leaves a comment on your blog.
- What type of comment is acceptable?
- Which type of comment will you put in the trash?
Here are some examples:
Huzzah commenting guidelines, a Glogster poster about commenting, WarriorKat used a variety of tools for her guidelines, notice how Sophie included a link back to Mrs Yollis’ blog where she got her information from, Hunter created a PowToon, Alane has some commenting guidelines, Sophia included extra info about commenting, Alicia has written in a great format for easy reading, Kate has used two web tools to create her commenting post, Pinky created a commenting recipe, Summer was very creative, Fiona explained her tips in detail.
Activity 3: Leave a comment on THIS post – you might be able to combine this with activity 4.
Each week the best posts published in the Student Blogging Challenge are featured in our Flipboard magazine.
So your activity is to practice leaving a comment below with a link to your post for an activity you’ve completed this week or last week.
But first you need to know the difference between your BLOG link and your POST link
- Blog link: http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org
- Post link: http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/2018/01/19/looking-back/
If your teacher is moderating and approving your posts, you will need to wait until this has been done before leaving me a link in a comment.
Activity 4: Use some HTML in a comment
Did you check out Mrs Yollis’ blog? She includes a page with some HTML (code) you can use when commenting especially on blogspot blogs. If leaving a comment on an Edublogs blog, here is a post explaining the HTML to use. If you want to leave a link to your blog that looks neat and tidy, check out this post.
Activity 5: Visit other student or class blogs
Visit 4 other blogs on the lists above the header area. Leave a quality comment on one post on each blog. Might be the About Me page or another post you found interesting. Write a post on your blog mentioning who you visited, which post you left a comment on and why, then include the comment you left. Hint: make sure you copy the comment before you hit the submit button. Here are some examples from other students: Allegra , Izzy, Callie , Sally but try to include a link to the actual post you left a comment on.
Will visitors to your blog find it easy to search for a post they might be interested in commenting on? Maybe you need to start using Categories and Tags or Labels (blogspot) or Categories (weebly) or Categories (Kidblog) or make sure you have an archive section.
Got more time to fill this week?
I have started adding posts to our Flipboard magazine for #stubc – check in the sidebar.
Check out other student and class blogs located in the participant tabs in the header area.
Check out the page above my header called Post Ideas. Lots of topics and special days to write about in your blog.
If you want a commenter to visit your blog, remember to fill in the form on the page. Make sure it is a post link as I will be deleting any that are just blog links.
Credit:
Information taken directly from this blog:
http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/2018/03/11/week-2-make-comments/
http://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/2018/03/11/week-2-make-comments/
Week 1: Let's Introduce Ourselves
You might want to do this on a computer and not on your iPad.
Before we begin, check that you have done the following (the highlighted points are not optional - you MUST do these):
- Add the challenge badge to your sidebar.
- Subscribe to this challenge blog so you get the posts immediately they are published
- Write a great first post so your visitors have somewhere to leave you a comment?
- Check out the help guide for Blogger.
- There are six activities this week. Most weeks there will be lots of activities to choose from. You don’t have to complete them all. A commenter will visit to give you some clues about blogging, reminding you of the challenge as well as carrying on conversations in your posts. Remember to read and reply to their comments politely and in a timely fashion.
- Once you have done your activity for this week, remember to go and fill in the Google form at the bottom of this page: https://studentchallenge.edublogs.org/
Looking at avatars
Activity 1: Create an avatar to use on your blog. There are many different avatar creation sites on the web. I have been to many of them and created lots of different avatars. Some you just save and download to your computer to then upload into your blog. Others you need to use the snipping tool to save a square image of your avatar. It is always best to save as a jpg format.
Here is a symbaloo of websites to use for avatar making. Along the bottom are pages where teachers have listed lots of sites as well as shown examples. The easiest to do are on the right hand side and look like my avatar.
To add your avatar to your blog, if using Blogger, check here.
Activity 2: For classes – Add your new Avatar to this Google Slide Deck.
Did you find a great avatar site not mentioned here? Leave me a comment mentioning the site so that it can be added it to the Symbaloo.
Activity 3: Write a post about your avatar and how it represents you. Include a link to the website where you created the avatar. Remember to include your avatar as an image in your post. If writing a post about your avatar, choose an interesting title not just avatar as this will cause an error on your blog.
Activity 4: Create a series of avatars to represent your family members. Use different avatar websites depending upon the person’s interests. Write a post about your family and include the avatar for each person and explain how it represents that person.
Remember – be internet safe, no personal information.
About Me page
Activity 5: Write or update your About Me page.
Whenever I visit a blog for the first time, I always check to see who the person is that is writing the blog posts. Do they have similar interests to me?
If you already have an About Me page, you might want to create an About my State or Province page as well. Be creative:
- Write a poem
- Write an A-Z paragraph eg I am an athletic, yet brainy child who decided that saving the environment is one of my future goals. Check out how one of the mentors created her about me page especially for the student blogging challenge.
- Create a list of things people might not know about you like Ms Herring or write a Who am I like Mrs Keane or Mrs Lyttle
- Students in Ireland paired up to create their about us page, Ms Seitz’ class did the same, Mrs Moore’s class wrote about their school, from Mrs Essen’s class and Mrs McKelvey’s Blogging Frogs
- Warrior Kat, Harry, Daniela, Rajyashori, Jaslyn
- Brianna (ex student mentor) has a great favourites about me page, as well as an A-Z post
Visiting other blogs
One important aspect of blogging is commenting on other blogs. Classes and student participants are grouped according to similar ages. Look HERE for other classes in the C 10-12 age group. Visit some other blogs, read posts, get ideas from them, leave a comment. Make sure you include your blog URL (click on View Blog and copy the URL of your blog), so they can come to visit your blog. Are there any students with interests the same as you?
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