Words and Actions in our Books

Dear Grade 4’s,

In class we have had a lot of discussion about how words and actions affect us. We have looked at how positive words and actions lead to positive feelings and how negative words and actions lead to negative feelings. We have drawn upon our personal experiences and the experiences of characters in books we have read such as “ish” by Peter Reynolds and “Thank you Mr. Falker” by Patricia Pollacco. In our lives and in both books we have seen the power of words and actions. Can you think of any books you have read or are reading where the emotions of the characters were affected by the words and actions of others? Try to make a connection with the character and think of how you would feel if the same thing happened to you. Can’t wait to hear about what you are reading…

Ms. Panagopoulos

Grade 3 Extra Computer Time

The Grade 3 classes only have computer time every other week. Because of this, I am using my partnering time for the first 2 weeks of next term for them to have extra access to get the blogs up and running.

Here are the slots. Choose 1 (Natalia can take 2). You claim it (by leaving a comment), you get it. Check that no one else has claimed the one that you want. I will update this post periodically to show which slots are still open.

Tue Jan 13 Day 1 Cycle 1 period 3 ABEL
Wed Jan14 Day 2 Cycle 1 period 3 NATALIA
Wed Jan14 Day 2 Cycle 1 period 4
Thu Jan 15 Day 3 Cycle 1 period 6 SARAH
Fri Jan 16 Day 4 Cycle 1 period 2

Accepting your Invitation to be an Author on the Websites

You need to do this for both your grade blog and the CrescentTown It (teachers) blog. You only have to create an account once.

1. find your invitation email


2. click on the longer link


3. if you don't have a google account click on "Create your account now" (if you do skip to step 7)


4. use your tel email address (fistname.lastname@tel.tdsb.on.ca)


5. display name will be the one that the kids see


6. if you make a mistake (maybe with the word verification) you have to redo the page


7. sign in


8. view blog allows you to read the blog


9. new post appears at the top right corner of the page.

Moderating Comments

I have created a gmail account for each grade. To access it, go to the Google home page and click mail. Fill in the username and password in the top right hand corner.

usernames = ctgradethree, ctgradefour, and ctgradefive

I have emailed the passwords to you through tel.

When you get to the inbox, you will see that the messages about comments seeking approval have the blog name of the writer of the comment. If we make sure that the kids use firstname initialoflastname (Hugh C) as their blog name, you should be able to identify the kids from your class while maintaining a reasonable level of anonymity for the students.

Inside the body of the email you have the choice to reject or publish the comment. After you publish it you have to log in to blogger (do so as yourself). I hope that this is not necessary after each approval.

There is also the opportunity to reply to the writer of the comment. I have yet to explore this but it would seem to offer a way of giving feedback and avoiding the loss of a rejected comment. Presumably the reply would go to the writer's TEL inbox.

Please add any extra information, questions, solutions about moderating comments as comments to this post.

Who's In?

Add a comment here so we know who is part of the project.
Maybe you could also say what experience you have with blogging.

Introduction to the Process

What Is A Blog?

• interactive website. authors write posts. Readers respond to posts with comments.

How Are We Going To Use Them?

• grade3, 4, and 5 have a blog in which to discuss their big ideas (follow Crescent Town's Big Ideas link)
• interested teachers will work with me and their students on the blog.

What are the Benefits?

• metacognition
• collaboration within and between classes
• literacy

What are the Responsibiliites?

Hugh is responsible for:

• introducing blogs as a genre to students
• discussing expectations with students
• setting up accounts with students
• giving students time in computer class to read blogs and post comments
• helping the teacher approve the comments (when possible)
• writing 1 post per blog per week
• creating permission forms and giving one copy to each teacher

Classroom Teachers (if they decide to be involved) are Responsible for:

• approving comments - after students write a comment the comment is emailed to a moderator who reads the comment to make sure that it is appropriate. I have included guidelines for a good post in my posts on the Big Idea Websites. Classroom teachers would be the primary moderator for their class.
• writing posts (1 a week?)
• copying, distributing and keeping track of permission forms

Students are Responsible for:

• reading some of the blog each week
• writing comments (one every week? every 2 weeks?)
• following the guidelines for comments
• using the blog safely and appropriately

When do we start?

• I aim to have the students set up before the holidays
• I want to have started with one class before the holidays to test the process
• Everybody will start after the holidays and we will rock it hardcore during the OFIP 6 weeks.

Big Idea Blogging

Welcome to the Blogosphere!

The purpose of this blog is for teachers (not students) to communicate about the big idea blog process (not the content of the big idea blogs) here at Crescent Town. Any teacher who is interested will be given author permissions to make posts (email me on tel).

I will be using this blog to store practical/technical information about the process as well as for discussions around decisions that need to be made.