Mexico

First graders have begun studying Mexico! When we studied mapping earlier in the school year we learned where Mexico in on the map and this week we talked about borders and using passports to travel to other countries. I showed the class my real passport and the kids made pretend passports as well as a packing list of things they would need to bring if we were going to visit Mexico (there are some photos of them working on their passports below). We have also been comparing weather forecasts here and in Monterrey, Mexico, connecting to our previous weather unit, and helping us to notice differences between where we live and Mexico (today's forecast in Monterrey was 100 degrees!). We chose Monterrey because, as an exciting new element to our Mexico country study this year, we have a buddy class there! Technology is now helping to form a global community and this year I used a wonderful teacher resource called ePals to connect with a teacher in Monterrey Mexico. She teachers a kindergarten class there and for the past week our two classes have been emailing back and forth, learning about each other, and comparing/contrasting life in Colchester, Vermont to Monterrey, Mexico. We are planning to have our classes Skype next week and are very excited about this incredible opportunity to learn by meeting kids in the country we are studying! It makes our unit so much more meaningful. Stay tuned for more on Mexico!

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Kid Blogs are up!

This afternoon our class got to try out using their Kid Blogs for the first time. Kid blog is an app that you can download for free on your ipad, or you can access your child's Kid Blog by visiting my blog on your computer, ipad, or wherever you have the internet. You will notice a sidebar on the right of my blog with a list of all student names in our class. Simply click on your child's name and he/she can log in to write a post and you can read what he/she wrote and leave a comment! Each child's password is their last name (several students told me that theirs didn't work today and I reminded them that their last name begins with an uppercase letter so please remind them of that if logging in at home!) and, should you need it, the class username is mrskellysclass-19, though the blogs should be all set without it. Today we practiced typing our passwords and logging in. Some students had time to try writing a post, too. You are welcome to blog with your child at home through their Kid Blog (these are very easy to access from my blog home page) and kids will have begin having more opportunities to blog in class as well once we set up a blogging routine!

Quad Blogging -- Learning to Make Quality Comments

As we have continued our Quad Blog experience, our class has begun to focus on making quality comments to others' blog posts. We watched the great Youtube video below and then discussed what makes for a "quality comment." After our discussion we tried our hand at making a few quality comments to Mrs. Darling's Class blog (the class in our Quad who is this week's "spotlight class"). If you'd like you can have a look at the comments we made by checking out her blog. Learning to write quality posts and quality comments will help our students prepare for successfully blogging on their own as we will soon be launching our Kid Blogs in class!

Video on writing quality comments

Mrs. Darling's class blog - England

Quad Blogging

Our class has begun an exciting project called Quad Blogging! To gear up for creating our own student blogs this school year we are trying something new -- the Quad Blog. Quad Blogging is a great project that connects classrooms and students around the world via blogs so that we can see what others are doing and practice posting and commenting. This summer my friend Mrs. Pariseau (a first grade teacher in Essex) and I signed up for a "Quad Blog" together, and we were grouped with two other first grade classrooms (to make our quad), one in England, and one in Wales! For three months (October, November, December) the four of our classes will take turns reading each other's classroom blog posts and leaving comments. This will both help us to learn more about students our age in other parts of the world and will help us learn how to write blog posts, comment on other's blog posts, and reply to comments left for us! Our four classes will rotate being the "spotlight" class for the week, meaning that during our week "in the spotlight" we will focus on posting new photos and information while the other three classes read and comment on our posts. On weeks when we are not the spotlight class we will focus on reading posts written by the class who is "in the spotlight" and leaving quality comments for them! Below are the blog web addresses for the other three classes in our quad, if you would like to have a look!

Mrs. Pariseau's class, Essex VT

Mrs. Darling's class, England UK

Mrs. Thomas' class, Wales UK

After we get under way with Quad Blogging Mrs. Pariseau and I have the goal of having our students become blog pen pals (once the students have learned to post, comment, and have set up their own Kid Blogs)! Students in my class last year blogged each week as a kind of online journaling (to practice writing skills but also 21st Century technology skills) and they loved it! This year Mrs. P and I plan to add the element of having our students blog with specific first grade pen pals to give our students. This will give our students a specific and regular audience to have in mind when posting and a regular partner to practice commenting with. Mrs. P and I are hoping that this will make blogging this year even more fun and dynamic than in the past!

Stay tuned for more information on our Quad Blogging, Kid blogs, and blogging with pen pals.