Using Blogs in the Classroom

Why should you blog in the classroom?

• Students need 21st Century skills as they become college and career ready and enter their post graduate world.

 

• Blogging incorporates reading, writing, and critical thinking skills for students.

What is blogging and how do you get started?

• Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.
• In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.
• A 60 Second Guide to Use of Blogging in Education

My classroom Blogs

• Nuss Book Blog
• Blogs I follow: This is a good place to start with grade level blogs. This link takes you to the 5th grade list, but above it is the different grade levels.
• 5th Grade Blogs

Click on the image below for information on math blogs

Ideas for using blogs:

• Blog-Pals Enlist a teacher at another school who is willing to have students blog with your class. Identify an instructional unit or activity you'll be teaching at the same time such as a weather study or reading a specific book. Take turns posting activities that students from both classes respond to online. Encourage students to comment on posts from other students.
• Web Site LinksIn addition to the static and dynamic information you post on the blog, adding links to content areas or research Web sites can be helpful. Make a list of the sites you want substitutes to use and add them to the links area of your blog.
• Conduct an Online SurveyThe next time you need to survey parents, use a free online survey such as SurveyMonkey.com or Polls (zoho.com) to create the survey and link it to your blog. This encourages parents to visit the blog and allows you to collect, tabulate, and report survey results online.
• DiscussionsA class blog opens the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Students have time to be reactive to one another and reflective. Teachers can also bring together a group of knowledgeable individuals for a given unit of study for students to network and conference with on a blog.
• Create a Blog for Problem Solving Assess and monitor your upper elementary students' problem-solving skills using a special blog you create for this purpose. Post a weekly challenge, like a riddle or brainteaser, that requires your students to think creatively in order to find a solution. Ask students to post their solutions on the blog, then discuss the solutions with the whole class at the end of the week. Each week's post and comments will be saved in the blog archive for later reference. Expand this activity by inviting students to find and share challenges with the rest of the class. This special purpose blog can be linked to your general classroom blog for easy access.
• Classroom ManagementClass blogs can serve as a portal to foster a community of learners. As they are easy to create and update efficiently, they can be used to inform students of class requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or act as a question and answer board.

Click on the picture below to read about Blogger in the classroom

Click on the picture below to access a step by step user's guide of how to use Blogger

 

 

 

 



5th grades Veteran's Day Field Trip

We went to the Heritage Park and the Buffalo Soldier Memorial as a field trip. At Heritage Park we saw the Kansas  Vietnam Memorial Wall. The wall is made out of  black granite that when it rains the names go away. Then when its drys you can see the names again.  You can also trace those who's names you know. We learned a lot about the wall and all the sacrifice that were made by all.


We also visited the Buffalo Soldier Memorial.It was built to honor all the Black Horse Soldiers and the sacrifice that they made.It shows a mounted soldier on his horse with his gear.The Buffalo Soldier Memorial also had red bricks with the names of those who donated to make it happen.The Buffalo Soldier was a very important part of Fort Riley and Junction City during that time. 

A Day at Munson Angus Farms! Written by Katie and Lexi

 We went to Munson Angus Farms in October. We learned about how to measure a horse in hands.(Big Ben was 19 hands tall!) The smores and lemonade were really good,messy and refreshing. Exept for the ashes blowing in our eyes(me and my friend picked the bad spot to sit by the fire) it was super fun!Next our class was going to go in the corn maze but instead(there was something that was fun and different) we had to take the nature trail because there was a drought and the corn maze had to be cut down. Then we went to the pumpkin patch and the pumpkins were taken over by the 3 other grades. But we got some good pumpkins and even some of us got corn,squash and gourds! Then on the horse ride we saw the house that was said to be haunted! We also saw The Liberty Bell.This was a very fun experience for the whole school!!!

Block C Students by Lauren and Ashlie

       In Miss.Nuss's class their are some students from K State that have been working to become a teacher. They have been teaching us some math and  Social Studies. They have been teaching us the three branches of the government in Social Studies. They have been working very hard in our classroom.

       In Social Studies they put up a tree in the hallway. It has the three branches of government on it.On the tree we have leavs on it.The leavs have facts about the three branches of goverment on them. 

       We appreciate them spending their time and helping us out!Thanks for all you do!!!!!!

Newsletter Nov. 16, 2012

Here is the classroom letter for this week. I thought it would be helpful to start sharing these on here.

 Newsletter 11-16-12

Weekly Happenings in Room 117 Nov. 12-16

Another Friday is upon us and another week has passed. I don't know where the time goes. We have been very busy again this week. Don't forget that next week is a short week due to Thanksgiving break. Please take time to enjoy with your families and make a point to share with your children what you are thankful for.

I am so thankful for the my students and their families. We couldn't be as successful as we are without you. Thanks for all you do!!

See the comments below for an update on our classroom from my students.

Lit Circles-Meet the author

We are reading books by the author Jerry Spinelli. There are three different groups: Stargirl, Maniac Magee, and Loser. The students selected the book that interested them and have been discussing them with each other. I found this video on YouTube by adlit.org where the author is interviewed. I thought it would be neat for you to watch it and maybe talk to your kids about what they are reading during their Lit Circle time.

What's going on in RM 117?!

We have been busy learning and participating in different activities. Check out the comment section below to see what has been going on the week of November 5-9.

REMEMBER: NO SCHOOL MONDAY 11/12/12

This week in our class

Thank you to those of you who have attended your child's conference. If yours is coming up, I am looking forward to sharing what we have been doing in class.

Even though it is a short week, we have had lots of things going on. It seems like the first quarter just flew by, I am excited to see what second quarter will bring us.

Don't forget to check the comments below to see what we have been up to!

Beginning our blog

Students seemed to be excited and engaged about our blog.I really am excited about the opportunities it can provide for us and helping our students become 21st Century Learners.

This week in our class

This week in our class has been very busy, even though it's a four day week. Don't forget next week is conferences. I am excited to share your child's successes. See the comments below to find out what we have been doing!

Welcome to our class!

Welcome to Miss Nuss' 5th grade classroom. Come back periodically to see what the happenings are in our classroom. I will try to post pictures and newsletters of our events. On Thursday or Friday our students will let you know what is happening that week. You will look for the post "This week in our class" and check out the comment section as this is where students write what is going on.

I am excited to try this technology with our class. Hopefully it will make for a more engaged classroom. Feel free to share this with your grandparents or friends.