Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Evaluating Classroom Blogs

I chose to concentrate on third grade teacher blogs since I am a third grade teacher. I felt that this would give me a better idea of how to create my classroom blog and what I should include in my blog.

The first blog I chose is a Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog. I have seen her name on Twitter and thought she may have lots of good information. Her blog URL is: http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/. This site has a lot of links for teachers and students. It has videos and it has a visitor map widget that I really like. I do think the set up could be a little better. The links on the top could have an icon or something to make it more eye catching, but the information on the site it great!

The second blog I chose is Year 3 Superstars and it is from a classroom in Australia. It is neat that it has music that plays when you go to this site. Gorgeous layout makes you want to visit this site! This site is more like I would like my site to be. Each entry is about what the classroom is doing in the room. Each one has a video showing the students in action. This is a great way to let parents and other visitors see into your classroom! The URL is:http://cvivian.edublogs.org/.

The third blog I chose to investigate is one from Canada. It has the greatest title: 3 Is the Magic Number, which makes me think of the School House Rock Video. Great site that is structured like the site from Australia  This site has a topic and then a video of what the kids have done. The URL is: http://www.forestburg3.blogspot.com/. I can see this class took part in the Global Read Aloud like we did! Very active classroom.

The fourth blog I chose to peruse is from New Zealand and they are called the SPS Superstars. The URL for this site is: http://sps-superstars.blogspot.com/. I like this site because it is very colorful. The same format as the former two sites with a lot of videos of what the students are doing in the room. This site also has the newsletters, which is one thing I want to have available for my parents and students. This site is very appealing with all the colors it has. I also like the widget that has the pictures of the bloggers, the students, but I am afraid my district would not let us have pictures with the names on them.

The last blog I chose to look into was another American classroom. I love the title of this site: Third Graders, Dreaming Big. This site is definitely a site for parents to keep informed and every post has a newsletter. This appears to be a weekly entry of what happened in the room and of what things are to come. I like this format, but it is not as engaging as the others. Both of the blogs from the United States have giving the information as their main purpose. The blogs from other countries seem to focus more on entertaining the reader and drawing them in. The URL for this site is: http://blogs.falmouth.k12.ma.us/simplysuzy/.

Looking at all of these sites had given me some inspiration on what I want to do with my site. I think looking at other sites is a great idea before starting your own classroom site so you can see what you like as a reader and what you do not like as a reader!

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