Blogging with Young Children!?!

As I began this assignment, I searched the internet looking for blogs created by teachers of young children. I had a hard time finding any. Then I tried looking for blogs that were created for young children to use. Again, I found very little. Most of the blogs I found were created for students in upper elementary grades or teachers of these children. I can honestly say that I spent over 4 hours looking at many, many blogs. The experience gave me a much better understanding of blogs. I found blogs that review children's literature (mainly for young adults), character education, safety for children using the internet, poetry blogs, literature response blogs, family activities, home schooling, children with special needs, and so on. I realize that the using blogs with young children (grades k and 1) is an untapped resource.

I will be looping with my kindergarten class next year. I have been thinking about the idea of traveling across the United States as a central theme for my first graders. I will be using read-alouds as a way to bring these places into our classroom. I believe blogs will be a useful tool as well. Creating pen pals across the country will provide them with first hand information about each destination. Pictures and podcasts can personalize the experiences and interactions. Does anyone else have other ideas for how I can use the blog to support this theme? How could I connect with students from different places? I look forward to comments on this. I am very excited to use blogs next year. It is as if I am exploring a new frontier.

I Did It!

I created my blog. I called it Technology for Thinking and Learning because it is my hope that I will improve thinking and learning of students using this new technology! Thanks for this great opportunity!