Resources

How to teach blogging to grade 2/3/4's

1. Choose a platform – Decide how much, if any, of the blog should be private. Due to the age of the student the teacher will be choosing the platform
2. Set guidelines for students - Topics used? Do they need approval to write/comment? Is grammar/spelling important? Choosing just to focus on content for now, we do not want to hinder their creativity.  
3. Teach your kids – Explain what blogging is and how it works, show them other student blogs, explicitly teach how to contribute quality comments to other blogs. We want them to be commenting on their own with minimal parental assistance. We will be briefly teaching them on how to comment on a blog. The focus on these lessons will be on providing positive comments.
4. Define a purpose for each blog – Create a focus for the student
5. Emphasize content over form – Blog must be readable, but should be an informal writing process. Due to the age of the students we will be putting more emphasis on creativity and less emphasis on spelling, grammer, etc.
6. Don’t forget multimedia – Teach how to embed photos, videos, add links. We will be teaching a full leason on adding photos, videos and links. We will not be assessing this, we are assuming that some students will find this easy and some with find this challenging, they can help one another. We will talk briefly about copyright but not enforcing it strictly, just encouraging it.
7. Put safety first – Teach the difference between criticism and commentary. Students are responsible for everything that they write. Talk to students about posting private and personal pictures. Send a letter home regarding this.
8. Look for inspiration – Read other blogs for inspiration.

Things to consider when setting up blogs for grade 2/3/4
1. Your students could be at very different levels in your class. Consider setting up learning partners in your class.
2. Students may inadvertantly make unwanted changes at home. Reserve some time each week to help students troubleshoot.
3. Ask for support from your librarian or IT teacher during troubleshooting time.

Link to a working blog for a grade 2/3 student