“Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.”-Willa Cather
This week, I stepped into the world of blogging on the iPads with my kindergartners. Through KidBlog students can blog in a safe and secure way. The website states “Kidblog’s simple, yet powerful tools allow students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs. ”
What could kindergarten students possibly have to say in a blog? Seriously? Have you been in a kindergarten classroom? They ALWAYS have something to share. This forum allows them to share as much and as often as they like. Blogging supports writing and reading skills as well as digital literacy.
I showed my students this blog and then talked with them about what they might want to share on their own. We brainstormed different ideas and then off they went making lists on their iPads of possible blogging topics. I posted to the class and then had them read and respond to my post first. Then I had them write their own posts. Next, I had them choose some of their classmates posts to read and respond. This all happened in one day! Since then, each day, they are asking me if they can please write in their blogs. My next step is to connect with a first grade class in our building and become Blogging Buddies.
Obviously, I am monitoring all posts and comments. I am also posting on the blog site and responding to their blogs. This modeling is important. The students get excited when they see I have responded to their blog.
One student's thoughts about blogging
Blogging is allowing my students to bring their own voice alive in the classroom and construct their own learning. It gives them an important sense of being a writer. After all, we are what we think we are.
iTeach with iPads 
Perhaps you can contact other schools and have their students read and comment on your students blogs.
That’s a good possibility. We will see how well we can handle moving beyond our own class and blogging with another class in our school. Moving out of our close circle could allow us to learn about other children in other areas…like old fashioned Pen Pals.
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This is awesome! I am so excited for the children!
Thanks LaTisha. The kids are very excited. They beg me all throughout the day to please let them blog!
Kristi, we are looking at using a blog in our CDC special education class to let their parents know what has happened duri9ng the day since many of these children are unable to communicate the days events to their parents. We are going to use this in connection with a 1:1 ipad program in the two CDC classes at our Middle and High School.
That is awesome! Blogging is a great way to keep parents in the loop. Thanks for sharing!
I can’t wait to try blogging in our Kindergarten class. Sometime in the future, it would be fun to have your class blog with ours. I teach in California, so it would be fun to blog with a class from another state!
I promise that I’m not a stalker. I discovered your blog yesterday and decided that the best way to soak up the knowledge would be to start from the beginning. Please forgive me if I comment too frequently. As a fellow blogger, it’s in my nature.
I wanted to say that I had my 11th and 12th graders blogging my first year of teaching. As you said, they were excited when I commented on their writings, and commenting on each others’ blogs provided peer support. It was a wonderful experience and one I want to continue again.
Thanks for the site recommendation. I’m looking forward to exploring it further!
Feel free to comment any time! 🙂