Great Summer Writing Idea

When most teachers talk about working on skills over the summer, they usually focus on reading and math. Well, if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not like most teachers. In fact, I think a good summer learning program should focus on reading, math AND writing. And I think I've found what could be a great project for summer writing...blogs!

I love blogging. I currently have 3 blogs (this one, my blog about poetry, and my blog about using technology in the classroom). I really enjoy the satisfaction of writing for an audience. Knowing that someone out there (even if it's only one someone) is reading what I write makes me try to be a better writer. I think this can work for kids, too.

So I've found a safe and free website that allows me to create blogs for each of my students. My idea is that each student should try to blog once a week (or more!) about what they're up to this summer. Doesn't have to be anything exciting, just write. Hopefully they'll keep in mind that they are writing for an audience and that will push them to write their best.

I'll be going over all of this in class tomorrow, but just so you have them, too, here are instructions for students on how to write a blog post:

1. Go to www.kidblog.org/mrcurransclass
2. Click "Log In" in the upper right hand corner.

3. Choose your username from the drop down menu. Then enter your password (it's the same as your edmodo password)
4. To make a new post, click "New Post" at the top of the page.

5. Then give your post a title and type your post in the text field. When you're done (be sure to proofread) click the "Submit for Review" button. No one will be able to read your post until I review it and approve it.

So now that you know HOW to blog, the question is WHAT should you blog about??? Here are some ideas:

• Write about places you visited
• Write about things you do
• Write critiques of movies you see
• Write critiques of songs you like
• Write critiques of websites you use
• Write a post about something that's your favorite. (example: favorite cereal, favorite restuarant, etc.)
• ANYTHING YOU WANT

My best advice for starting your blog is to check out this blog that's written by a 6 YEAR OLD boy in Iowa: http://haganssummerofawesome.blogspot.com/  Once you read it, you'll definitely understand what to do. 

Just remember, two things...

1. Your writing can be viewed by everyone with our blog address. Make it your best! Especially capitalization, punctuation, spelling, etc.

2. Nothing you write will be posted until I approve it. I'll do my best to approve it quickly, as long as I feel it's your best work.

Finally, students are able to view each other's blogs and leave comments. From the blog homepage (http://kidblog.org/mrcurransclass), click on any of the student names in the list:

Then you can read what they're writing and leave friendly, positive comments or ask questions, just like on Edmodo.

I can't wait to read what students write. Please encourage them to spend some time blogging about their awesome summers. I'll be following along very closely and leaving lots of comments.