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Computer Lab Favorites from Scholastic

This is an awesome resource for those of you looking for center ideas on computers, laptops or Chromebooks (and I know there are many of you in search of a solution for this)! Scholastic has put together a website with computer lab favorites that is sortable by grade band. Students can choose any of the 15-30 minute activities from the wheel above. Excellent, engaging activities for computer lab or center time. Thanks to Sara Malchow @smalchow for sharing this resource!

Kidblog in 1st grade

Mr. Anderson's first graders are off to a great start using Kidblog as a digital portfolio of their work. We introduced Kidblog whole group (this can be done using iPads, Chromebooks or Macbooks) and he has since introduced Kidblog into literacy centers.  Students work on writing (creating a story, posting reflections after a Lead 21 differentiated group lesson, etc) and post to Kidblog at one of his iPad centers.  At another iPad center, they will engage in word work using apps like Writing Wizard, Word Wizard, Sight Word Ninja and then take screenshots of their work and post to Kidblog.  This will build their digital portfolio, which can then be shared with parents, as well as classroom connections (other classes using Kidblog).  It also creates a really helpful portfolio of student work that Mr. Anderson will be able to use as he is analyzing student progress and growth.

Yay, Kidblog!  Great job, Mr. Golden Apple and your amazing Golden Firsties!  :)

Here are a couple of examples from his students:

There is a previous post on my blog about Getting Started with Kidblog, if you're interested.  You can also check the Kidblog website resources for some great tutorials.  You can also invite me in to help you get started - I love using this tool and I am happy to help classrooms incorporate it into their classrooms.  It is also nice having an extra person in the room the first couple of times you are walking through this process with your students!

Getting Started with Kidblog

One of my favorite digital tools is Kidblog!  I think a piece that we often miss when we are using technology to learn and create is that we also want to SHARE!  Kidblog provides a wonderful platform for developing a digital portfolio of student work, that is accessible by you, classmates, parents and any other connections you make (such as with other classes).

Kidblog is free for 30 days, and after that requires a subscription.  A teacher subscription is $29 per year, but there are also administrator pro licenses per school, if your school might be interested in saving money through a bulk purchase (minimum of 100 students at $2 each).

To sign up for your Kidblog account, go to www.kidblog.org and under "Teachers" click "sign up for free".  From here you can create your account, then you will click "Create New Class" from your dashboard.  This is where you decide on your class name and URL (don't make it too long, in case you ever have to type it in)!

To add students to your class, you will click "Users" when you are in your dashboard.

If you teach older students, you can click "Join Codes" and generate codes for your students to create their own accounts.  However, if you teach younger students, it may be easier to click "Create Students" and add your students yourself.  You can change avatars and add student pictures, if you'd like.  I often have my students take selfies using their iPads, and they add this as their avatar.  This is our first task as we get to know how to use Kidblog.

Another area you will want to check out is your privacy settings.

When students publish their posts, they will be asked which audience you would like them to publish to.  Choosing "Connections" allows all connected people, including classmates and you, the teacher, to view their posts.  If you'd like to change any of these settings, you can do so in the privacy area of your dashboard.

The last thing you may want to do as you get started, is connect parents to student accounts.  Parents need to be invited directly from the student account - so if you have older students, they can click "Invite Parents" from their dashboard, and enter their parents' email address(es).  For younger students, I recommend logging in as each child and entering the parent email address(es) yourself. This generates an email to their parent(s) with a link and instructions to set up the account.  They will be able to see their child's digital portfolio.  So cool!

I created this "how to" manual to guide your students through publishing on Kidblog.  If you'd like to download a copy, click here: Kidblog How to Manual.  Kidblog also has some wonderful tutorials on their site.  You can view those by clicking here.

Happy Kidblogging!  Please contact me with questions.  I have also found that Tweeting to @KidBlogDotOrg works great and they respond very quickly with support questions.