Poems, Inferring, and the I-Pad!

This is the video with first-graders using their I-Pads to infer meaning from a poem read by their teacher.

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Benefits of Blogging

I have posted some benefits of blogging with elementary students.
Karen Lirenman.  Check out the section on, Why Do We Learn On-line?
This will help with my presentation to parents about the benefits of blogging personally or in school.
We have a school pet frog named Jake.  The have raised him in a terranium since September.  I would like my students to learn how to blog about their care and maintenance of Jake and his home.  It is a learning experience for them and this would be a great way to get the parents involved with their student's school life.

Reading Reflection Ch.3&4

There were some interesting calls for the use of wikis and blogs in the classroom in chapters 3&4 of Richardson's Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, (2010).  The chapter spoke about the positive use and safety features with these technology tools.  My question is on organization of the wikis and blogs in regards to parental approval.  It is hard to present a tool like this to parents who do not want their children "out there" on the web.  One parent does not allow her daughter anywhere near the internet because of an identity theft nightmare when she was only five.  Any thoughts?  How do we include students on wikis or blogging for which there is no support from the parent?  These tools are not mandatory but more of an enhancement to learning and not necessarily written in the curriculum in which they are required to follow.