It's a marvelous opportunity for us to become familiar with the many aspects of blogging and, we think most importantly, to connect with other classes around the world.
We are in the second week of the ten week challenge. Week One focused on "About Us" and Week Two asks us to share "About My Place". The amazing thing is that these two weeks are fitting perfectly into our inquiry question for CULTURE & IDENTITY, "what makes us us and what's unique about ourselves as Room 24, students of TIS, from Hawke's Bay, and as Kiwis (New Zealanders)?" ... whew, what a big question!
So far in the Challenge, we've had comments on our blog from Ohio and Maryland as well as new visitors from around the globe. Yesterday, we connected with Room 6, St Mary's School in Mosgiel, NZ, and Mrs Jundef's Tech Class in New Jersey, USA. One of our class goals this year is to be involved in a global project with other classes from around the world, so Room 24 sees this as the first step in achieving our goal.
The Student Blogging Challenge has been on the go since 2008 and runs biannually in March and September, so if you're not involved in the March challenge we really encourage you to enter the one beginning in September.
Have you connected with other classes from within your country or around the world?
What global projects have you been involved in, if any? And what are the benefits of global projects?
Have you any ideas or plans for future global connections?
Room Twenty Four
ReplyDeleteYou should consider signing for Quad Blogging, which is similar to the blogging challenge, its a great way to network. I'd think you'd also get your teacher onto Twitter, or other message places, that really helps (and she is already online its how I found out about your class page). Maybe upload videos to Youtube and consider some of the Skype networking groups (we'd be very keen to Skype your class during the school day to collaborate).
Mr Webb and Room Five, Melville Intermediate, Hamilton, Waikato.
Hi Mr Webb and Room 5
DeleteThanks for your comment. The great thing about your comment is that you are always suggesting terrific ideas. We are already quad-blogging, well actually tri-blogging as no-one has heard from one of the classes. We really enjoy receiving comments from our blogging buddies and enjoy the window into their learning that we have when viewing their (and others) blogs.
Skyping sounds brilliant! I have spoken to our local tech-expert and that's something in the pipeline for us. Hopefully, we could look at something next term. Mr Webb, you and I follow each other on Twitter so we could communicate further there.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment. We trust you're all having as fantastic a term as we are!
Miss McLeod and Room 24
Hello Room 24,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Mrs. Watson and I am a grade 2/3 teacher in Sointula, British Columbia, Canada (You'll have to zoom way in on a may to find us!) We live on a small island off the west coast of Canada. Living on an island we are fairly isolated from other schools, but through our global collaborations the world really is our classroom. The students in our class feel like they have great friends all over the world that we share and learn with through our global connections.
Because our school is small students are often in the same classroom for a number of years. The current grade 3s have been in my class for three years now. They have been a part of many collaborative projects. A few would be:
*Flat Canada-a project we organized with classes from the other provinces and territories in Canada
*Quad Blogging with our buddies in the United States and Australia
*Our World, Our Stories with 6 other classes around the world
*Skyping with many different classes
Have you been involved in many global projects?
I know that you will all love being a part of the Student Blogging Challenge. The benefits of flattening classroom walls, authentic audience, and global collaboration can't be beat! What is your favourite part of blogging?
Keep Blogging!
Mrs. Watson
www.mrswatson.ca
Hi there Mrs Watson
DeleteThis is Room 24's first blogging experiance and one of the few classes in our school that have a blog. I'm really happy i'm in one of the classes that are doing a blog as it's so much fun to talk with all sorts of people across the globe. For example: You and your class! I personaly think that all this blogging is really cool. I'm glad that Miss Mcleod is so into blogging because I really enjoy it. My favourite part of blogging would have to be replying to people and having a conversation with them through the blog. What is your favourite part of blogging?
Your kiwi friend,
Molly
Dear Molly,
DeleteThank you so much for your reply! I love blogging too. We started blogging at the end of January 2010 (so just over 2 years now).
There are so many things I love about blogging:
-I love that parents can see what we are doing in the classroom even if they can't make it in
-Families and friends who live far away can feel like they are a part of the classroom too
-Making new friends around the world has been amazing
-Learning how our area and school is similar and different to other places in the world has been very interesting. I am always learning new things!
-Collaborative projects are probably one of my favourites
I look forward to learning more about you and your class!
Your new friend,
Mrs. W :)
Dear Mrs Watson
DeleteToday (16th March) we looked for Sointula on Google Maps and we got to see your island. It's so small! New Zealand is small too.
One day I want to travel the world and gather different items that represent each country I visit. My four favourite places that I really want to go to are: London, Fiji,(I went there when I was about 1) Paris and Sointula.
Keep in touch.
Your blogging friend
Molly
Dear Molly,
DeleteI was excited to see another reply from you last night, but it was too late to write back. I think you are going to be a fantastic blogger. You are definitely a pro at writing quality comments already!
I am so glad that you were able to find Sointula using Google Maps. I wasn't kidding when I said we were small :) You might be interested to know that we don't have lines dividing our roads into separate lanes, traffic lights, or public transportation of any sort. We also have to take a ferry boat to get to the closest hospital and don't have any fast food restaurants either. What is your town or city like? Do you have these sorts of things where you live?
What we lack in those areas we make up for in the nature department. We are very fortunate to be surrounded by ocean, mountains, and forests. My family and I love going to the beach for walks and we have some amazing hiking trails too.
I think you picked some great spots to visit. My list is too long to blog about, but New Zealand is definitely near the top.
Looking forward to your next reply!
Your friend,
Mrs. W
Hey Mrs Watson,
DeleteIt's Molly here again.
In Napier it's completely different to where you're from! We have pretty much everything you just named that you don't have, but as you said the nature side of things must be wonderful. Every year my family goes to a place in New Zealand called Ohope. It's a beautiful beach! We stay there for a week and nearly every night we walk along the beach to the playground and have a go on their flying fox, and then walk back to the house we always rent out. Do you have a holiday home?
Now that you've told me more about your island it makes me want to go there even more! In Napier we live in a place called Taradale (it says it in our school name:]) and it is very very little, not very well known to people. But it is always a fun place to hang out with friends. But in town which is the main part of Napier, it's usually VERY busy, it's where all the girlies can buy their clothes and accesories, boys can skate in the streets, and everyone gets a little time off at the movie theatre. Do you have a movie theatre?
Also in Napier is a thing called the Municipal theatre where I just did a ballet recital yesterday! It went really well and I had so much fun up on the big stage dancing away! It's my main hobby, what's your favourite hobby?
Blog back soon!
Molly
Dear Rm 24
ReplyDeleteHello, I'm Mrs Mckenzie from 'Open the Door to B4'. Our school is an area school in the South Island. We have students from Year 0-13. We have an area School because our town is quite small, only 900 people, and it's an hour to travel to a big town.
The children in B4 are 6 and 7 years old. We have been involved in a few global projects over the last 2 years. One that we really enjoyed was writing Storybirds with Mrs Watson's class (I see she has left a comment too!).
We also enjoyed the Our World, Our Stories project and the Postcard Project. Maybe you would like to swap postcards with us!
Have you read 'Flat Stanley'? It's about a boy who gets flattened by his bulletin board and while he is so thin he gets to travel to lots of places and have lots of adventures! Maybe you could do a Flat Stanley project with your tri-blogging buddies.
Check out our blog if you want to find put more about these projects.
I agree with Mrs Watson that you will have a lot of fun doing the Student Blogging challenge!
warm wishes
Mrs McKenzie
Dear Mrs McKenzie
DeleteThank you for your comment on our blog. Since I’ve been at Taradale Intermediate School, I have learnt a lot about blogging and blogging challenges! We are involved in the class blogging challenge.
I haven’t read “Flat Stanley” but it sounds like a good book! I might have to have a hunt for it in our school library!
The student blogging challenge is fun even though I haven’t done a lot of work on it but I’ve looked at it and it seems fun! The reason I haven’t been doing alot on it is because every time we go to do it I have to go to radio DJ cause me and my friend Sam are talking on the radio for our school. You can listen to us on Tuesday at about 12.40pm on 106.9 FM.
Keep in touch.
Cody
Dear Cody
DeleteI would love to have the chance to hear you on the radio station but I'm not sure that I will be able to pick up the frequency in the South Island!
I see that you and your classmates are already writing quality comments, so well done for that.
Did you just start doing the radio this year or is it something you have done for awhile? What do you talk about?
Mrs McKenzie
Dear Mrs McKenzie
DeleteYou are right, I’m not sure that you will be able to pick up the radio station signal in the South Island either. We pick a subject each week and talk about that subject and include information. This week Sam and I were talking about movies but it’s raining today so there’s no radio.
Yes I did just start doing the radio this year because I’m a Year 7 student. Miss McLeod said the radio station only started last year in Term 4. I think it’s great that our school has a radio station. It’s also fun being a DJ and having people listen to you live.
Thank you for the compliment that we are already writing quality comments. I also agree that our class is writing really great quality comments.
When I reread your first comment, I read your idea about swapping postcards with you. I reckon it is a great idea and it’s something our teacher would love to do.
Your blogging friend
Cody
Dear Cody
DeleteI think we've made a plan! I will contact your teacher so I can swap school addresses with her and hopefully we'll do a postcard project before the holidays.
I can't believe there are only two weeks of term left after this one!
Do you feel like it's been a great term of learning for you?
regards
Mrs McKenzie
Dear Mrs McKenzie
DeleteMiss McLeod said it would be a great idea to swap post cards, she said she has your address and you have ours, I can't wait to receive a post card from you!
Its been a fabulous term, I've loved it, it's really different to primary school. It's been cool this term because I've settled into Intermediate and started a new learning process!
Have you had a fantastic term?
Can't wait to hear from you
Cody
Dear Room 24,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Mrs Morris and I teach Grade Four in Victoria, Australia. I team teach with Miss Jordan and our class is called 4KM and 4KJ.
It's great to hear that you are a part of the Student Blogging Challenge. I have had students take part in this and they have loved it!
My class has been blogging since 2008 and we've been connecting with other classes since 2009. Mrs Yollis and her class were one of the very first classes we became "blogging buddies" with. We have worked together on many projects. Right now, we are QuadBlogging with Mrs Yollis' class and we have skyped with them twice in recent weeks. It's so fun to learn with friends on the other side of the world!
You already have quite a few visitors on your ClustrMap. What country would you like to get a visit from?
Keep up your great work!
Best wishes,
Mrs M☀rris
http://4kmand4kj.global2.vic.edu.au
Dear Mrs Morris
DeleteThank you for commenting on our blog. It’s really cool that some of your students do blogging. I’m really interested of how many in your class do it, how much they like it, what’s their favourite blog to look at, and what’s the best part for them? I’m excited to hear from you again.
Thank you for commenting.
Yours sincerely
Kate
Dear Kate,
DeleteThank you for your reply.
We have 52 students in our class (it's a double class with two teachers). We all blog every day. We have a class blog like you and some students can earn their own blog. The students will start earning their own blogs in a month or two.
We are part of a Quad with Mrs Yollis' class, Mr Salsich's class and B4. So I guess they're our favourite blogs along with Mr Avery's blog and Mrs Watson's blogs.
I think the students love having an audience for their work. And they love showing their parents what they are doing at school.
Best wishes,
Mrs M☀rris
Dear Mrs Morris
DeleteIt's a different student here, I'm Molly, a Year 8 student.
You sure do have a lot of students in your class, but understandable considering it's a double class.
I wonder what it's like having your own blog, I bet it would be a lot of hard work, just like the class blog but your doing every-single thing that goes on the blog.
Our class has visited all of your quad blogging classes, including Mrs Watson's and Mr Avery's blog. My favourite thing about blogging is that you can reply to people on your class blog. What's your favourite thing about blogging?
Keep in touch
Molly
Dear Molly,
DeleteYou are a great blogger! What a quality comment.
It is a big responsibility to have your own blog but it is very rewarding. I have a former student called BB who has been blogging since 2010. You comment on her blog sometime if you want to know about having your own blog http://biancasblog.global2.vic.edu.au/
My favourite thing about blogging is meeting great people from all around the world!
Best wishes,
Mrs M☀rris
Dear Mrs Morris
DeleteI like having responsibilities so I bet I'll love having my own blog. My teacher says I'm well on my way to getting one. I'm so excited! My favourite part of blogging is having long conversations with people in different places around the world, like my conversation with Mrs Watson above.
I've only just started blogging this year but hope to get my own blog by the end of this year so I can carry on blogging for more years. Next year I'm going to high school. I don't think the high school I'm going to has blogs. My school only has a couple of classes blogging ... I'm so happy I'm one of them!
Your kiwi friend
Molly
Dear Room 24,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is off to a fantastic start!
I am a third grade teacher in Connecticut, USA and I have been lucky enough to be involved in quite a few global projects. Right now we are Quad Blogging with 4KM & 4KJ in Australia, Mrs. Yollis' class in California, and B4 (also from New Zealand). We have also done global projects around sharing information about our schools, local environment, and recess activities.
Next month we will be working on a global project about building kites and learning about kite traditions around the world
Global projects are a great way to learn about the world, but also about yourself and your own community. And they also teach valuable skills in communication, collaboration, and technology.
Keep up the great work!
Your new friend,
Mr. Salsich
Dear Mr Salsich
DeleteThank you for commenting on our blog. You are right global projects are a great way to learn. I
think it’s really cool to be able to do that kind of project.
Thank you again for commenting on our awesome blog. Hope to hear from you again.
Yours sincerely
Kate
Dear Mr Salsich
DeleteI think our blog is off to a fantastic start too!
My class has visited all of your quad blogging buddies, isn't that funny!
At my old school we had to make kites. Mine didn't go too well, as my group found it hard to keep it in the sky!
Keep in touch
Molly
I hope you guys had a lot of fun interacting over the web with other classes, last year we contacting a school from Kansas and we had a lot of fun. What times do you guys talk with your other class friends?
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Emily, Halcombe School.
Dear Emily
DeleteThank you for commenting on our blog! I personally have had a lot of fun, globally connecting with other people and their blogs. We get to communicate with our friends at school during morning tea and lunch and when the teacher says just chat quietly, she normally says this when she needs to do something quickly or answer the phone. We normally answer the phone but if the person calling wants to talk to her, she also normally says chat quietly.
When do you and your friends get to chat?
Keep in touch
Cody
Room Twenty Four - you have the most amazing comments on this post, from some of the best Blog Educators in the world, so you are very, very lucky (and I'm not talking about myself of course, its the other teachers!) Yes sometimes with Quad Blogging and Tri Blogging you don't get the best responses (we're doing the Quad Blogging, we've heard from one of our buddies a bit, the other two not really at all, they've visiting, but we're not getting any comments and we have left a few), but when you think about the progress that you've made this year its pretty amazing. Well done etc. (PS make sure you all visit Mr Salsic, Mrs Morris, Mrs Mackenzie - they have the most amazing blogs).
ReplyDeleteDear Room Five
DeleteThank you so very much for your comment. I am a 12 year old student and I think that our class has come a long way already as well. I'm glad that our blog has had lots of vistits because I love blogging back to people like this. What's your favourite part of blogging?
Lately we have been focussing on typing good comments. Now I can recognise what a good comment looks like thanks to my teacher. I have done a lot of learning doing this blogging and I've probably learnt some things that I don't even know I've learnt.
Keep in touch
Molly
Dear Melville Intermediate
DeleteThank you for the compliment. We were pretty excited to receive such quality comments from these blogging teachers. Your blog has some awesome quality comments from people, this is good to see.
I agree that sometimes you don't get the best responses. It seems that a lot of people look at a blog without commenting. Over time people will add more comments. We have made good progress so far and I am enjoying it!
I visited Mr Salsich's and Mrs Morris' blog and they are fantastic blogs. Thank you for encouraging us.
Keep in touch
Johanna
Hi Melville Intermediate
DeleteThanks for making comments on our blog, we could not have done it without you guys. And to our teacher Miss McLeod yesterday I wasn’t into blogging, now I love it because of her. My goal is to make at least one blog comment a day.
Your friend
Ben
Dear Room 24,
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you who posted on our blog. We liked to hear how much we have in common with you guys even though you live on the other side of the globe. We all think your blog looks really cool. We love the glitter text at the beginning. It was interesting to hear about all the different sports you play. We don't play cricket nor canoe polo. Sounds like fun. We also have a competitive gymnast in our class who travels around the US to compete. We have a few baseball players, swimmers, musicians, artists and a computer programmer. We would love to collaborate with you on a global project. Come back and visit us again!!!!!
Mrs. Jundef's 4th Grade Class