Materials/Resources: laptops or computer lab access, paper, pencil, digital camera, Microsoft Word, our classroom blog, projector, Airliner
Sample classroom
blogs:
http://jmyrmel.edublogs.org/
http://www.2mgems.blogspot.com/
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?
blogger_id=70186&blog_id=&listclass=10047
Time Frame: 1 hour
Instructional Elements:
Lesson: I will begin by showing them our classroom blog that I already started. I will also show them some other blogs, some that are interesting, and some that are not as interesting. I will ask them to tell me what they notice about all of them and compare them. If necessary, I will point out features that I especially like.
I will explain that we will be taking turns writing about our week so that they can share with their parents and relatives. We will write the first week’s paragraph together. We will write one to two sentences about each main subject – math, reading, science, and social studies. I will ask them to think about one thing they learned that was especially interesting, fun, or new to them. We will brainstorm together, then vote on our favorite. We will then type it into Word using the Airliner. We will make sure it is a complete, grammatically correct sentence.
After we have written sentences about each subject, I will ask them to think about how they can visually show our week, either through clipart or photos that I have taken. Again, we will brainstorm ideas and vote on our favorites. I will save those in Word.
I will use the Airliner to copy and paste our paragraph into our blog and upload our pictures, then we will discuss the finished project.
I will write the blog for the first few weeks of school. Then we will work as a class for a few weeks. Finally, most of them will be able to work in pairs to write and choose the pictures.
Adaptations:
Low readers can dictate their paragraph to me or another student. I will write it down for them to type into Word. This would probably be done as a small group during our guided reading on Fridays.
Gifted or higher students (or other students who choose to) will be expected to write more. I will also teach them how to add the paragraphs and pictures to our blog. I will also let them write more often, possibly about special classes, field trips, book reviews, etc.
ELL students will be paired with an English-speaking student for added support.
