International Blogs in Classrooms

The first blog that I located was of Amanda Marrinan's year 2 class (6 and 7 year olds) in QLD, Austrailia. She had named her class blog 2M Gems. She has implemented the blog using the blogger program. Her blog is filled to the brim with useful tools and helpful ideas for the students. She includes a routines to remember section that reminds students of homework, important dates to remember, the local weather and the weather of cities around the world, links to helpful websites, her blogs to the class, and a live walkie talkie like device that allows you to chat with her and her class called Yack Pack. Her students have a wonderful resource at their fingertips that will allow them to succeed in their studies. The link to her blog is: http://2mgems.blogspot.com/

The blog that I found was from New Zealand. It was Room 9 Nelson Central's Blog . Rachel Nelson was the teacher and her class was comprised of year 2/3 children (6 and 7 year olds). It had posts called "The Lorax Speaks For". These posts were drawn and narrated by students in the class and they we about a subject that interested them. They were fun to watch and showed how much knowledge the children had on these subjects. A child named Sam did his post on different animals and how we should take care of them and protect them. The blog also included helpful items such as a writing spot where children can post their works, links to the childrens blogs, helpful and educational links, and a photo album of the children in the class. I thought this blog was creative and insightful. I like the fact that she implemeted the children in an integral way. The link to this blog is: room9nelsoncentral.blogspot.com/