Using Kidblog in the Classroom

I first found Kidblog last spring and decided to give it a try.  I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to use it at first, but have since found ways to incorporate this into our every day lives.

I quickly found that the students in my classroom enjoyed using the computer to write using Kidblog. I appreciated the way you could set up each student with his/her own secure blog by password protecting all of your posts!  As well as having an e-portfolio for each of your students.  In the previous years, I started out the year saving each student's work to a folder, but when my computer crashed I lost all of their hard work!     :(

I have used Kidblog in various ways.  For example, we have been able to discuss chapters in a book we read aloud; using metacognitive thinking stems to start our sentences, writing prompts, collaborative class projects, online weekend journals, reflections on learning, field trip recommendations as to whether or not they will tell someone to go to the Liberty Science Museum and Statue of Liberty.  I love how one of my students was responding to this post on the bus on our way home!  I was even able to stay connected to some of the students over the summer.  :)

I think this year I will be posting more about science on Kidblog to activate their prior knowledge or schema and to find out if there are any misconceptions before a lesson.  Also, I think this may be one way to use the computers during Work on Writing time in Daily 5.


Lastly, what are your thoughts about Kidblog? Have you used Kidblog in your classroom? If so, how have you used it in your classroom?  If not, would you try it?
Would you recommend this to others?  Why? Why not?

I hope to find new ways to continue to use Kidblog this year!
Thanks for reading!