0 Monday Nov 25th Substitute Class

Hello 7th Graders! Please complete the following tasks in order;

• Explore Mrs. White's student blogs by taking this link.  Leave great comments following commenting guidelines.
• Write a new post on your blog, have a classmate peer edit.
• Explore Feedly or Pinterest
• Work on your Blog

0 Happy Pinning!

Image Source

 Hello 7th Graders! Today you will be creating a Pinterest account.  Pinterest is one of my favorite sites EVER! I started on Pinterest back when it was in a Beta testing mode and you could only join by invitation! 

Some of you may already have a personal account, but the account you create today will be your school, or professional account using your mybps email address. 

You will use this account to create boards for school.  You will be able to organize resources for school projects on these boards.The first board you are going to create will be for your blog. You will then search for resources to use for future blog posts.Please watch this video for some tips & tricks for using Pinterest.  In addition, please use the Pinterest help center as another resource.

Have fun!!

0 RSS Feeds & FEEDLY

You may have seen the symbol below and asked, "what is that?!"

It represents an RSS feed, and you will be creating a Feedly account in order to receive these feeds.  Confused? Let me back up, please watch the videos below, read my facts, and check out all the resources before you create your account and find blogs to subscribe to.

Feeders and Readers Some Facts:
(How to find and follow other blogs)

• Get updates from a variety of websites, pick and choose which sites you want to visit, and skim posts for the ones you want to read. 
• If you end up "following" a bunch of blogs or sites, Feedly allows you to organize them into folders and create categories so it doesn't get overwhelming.
• Keeps you connected to other bloggers, whether it's a classmate or another student across the country.
• If you aren't interested in reading a post you subscribe to one day, just scroll past it!
• Share posts you like with others.

Video Source

Video Source

0 7th Grade Checklist

Hello 7th Graders! I'm very sorry I am missing you today! Please make sure to follow all the instructions carefully on here to complete all tasks.  **At the end of class, please be sure to complete a "Stick-it to Leave" stating everything you have completed.

Link to Student Blogs  

Please complete all tasks in order.  Checklists and resources for each task are also located in the 7th grade folder by your computer. 

1.Make corrections to the first blog post that the substitute will hand back.  To do this, you go to the list of posts and click edit.

2. Adjust your About Me if needed.  Remove ANYWHERE where it says Cape Cod.  I do not want Cape Cod on your blogs-to personal.  

----Some of your about me take up to much space on the side of your blog because the section in introduction is too long.  Fix this by clicking edit profile. (look at directions in red folder)

3. Create a new post, include images and what you have learned from the corrections of first post.  Have a classmate peer edit before posting.

4. Look at the new blog design rubric in the red folder.  This is how the overall blog will be graded in a few weeks.  Check to make sure you have everything.

5. Check out other student blogs and leave appropriate comments.  The link is here

6. Add widgets & gadgets to your blog.  I am requiring that you add three.  You may also create a Voki and add that too.  Do not add games to your blog.  We have found them to be very distracting for your readers.  Instructions in folder & on my blog. ( More gadget options in previous post, scroll down)

7. If you haven’t done one already, you may take a web camera and upload and edit a photo for your blogger profile.  Instructions in red folder.

8. EVERYONE must add a sticky note to the back board with your name listing everything you completed.

0 Blog Commenting

Please Watch the Video below & be ready to discuss.

Commenting Resources

Mrs. Yollis, a third grade teacher and blogger in CA, created this fantastic video of her kids talking about blog commenting.  They have great ideas and suggestions for any age blogger, please watch!

(Source: http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-compose-quality-comment.html)

0 Wednesday & Thursday Substitute Class

Hello 7th Graders! I'm very sorry I am missing you today, especially those of you I also missed on Friday! Please make sure to follow all the instructions carefully on here to complete all tasks.  **At the end of class, please be sure to complete a "Stick-it to Leave" stating everything you have completed.  

Please complete all tasks in order.  Checklists and resources for each task are also located in the 7th grade folder by your computer. 

1. Complete your first post.  Have a classmate peer edit, and check it against the rubric. (Click here to see rubric)

2. Print your first post and hand in to Mr. Frazier so I can grade it this weekend.

3. Post your first post to your blog.  Click here for instructions on this if you need help.

4. Add your "About Me" to the profile section.  Click here for instructions on this if you need help.

5. Share the link to your blog with me.  To do this click View Blog on your blogger dashboard.  Then type your name and copy & paste the link onto the document here.

6. Add widgets & gadgets to your blog.  I am requiring that you add three.  You may also create a Voki and add that too.  Do not add games to your blog.  We have found them to be very distracting for your readers.  Click here for instructions on adding the required Gadgets & Widgets.


More Blog Widgets & Gadgets

Widgipedia - Huge widget gallery

Cluster Maps - See where people are viewing your blog from around the world 

Voki
Video on adding a Voki to your blog. (Student created)
**You do not need an account unless you want to save**

Google Translate - Add a translator widget to translate your blog into any language for world-wide reading.

7. If you finish EVERYTHING above, you may take a web cam from the front and take a picture of yourself and edit it to add to your Blogger profile.  Instructions on this can be found here.  Web Cams are in the front, and you must show Mr. Frazier everything else is done. 

8.  EVERYONE must add a sticky note to the back board with your name listing everything you completed. 

0 Some Helpful Links for Blogging

I am posting some links below for those of you that want/need more help with your blogs.  I especially like the blog post that contains the "10 Writing Tips All Bloggers must Adhere to."  I am not the only one who cares about spelling and grammar, please take some time to check out the links below.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/successful%20blog

• Spice Up Your Blog's Guest Post by Ken Myers, "10 Writing Tips All Bloggers Must Adhere to."

• Blogger Buster offers a free e-book on Blogging Basics.  You can download it right into your Google Docs account.  Check the table of contents first to see what you want to know.

• It is pretty neat to see who and how many people are viweing your blog.  Check out some of the gadgets below, that you can add to your blog!  (At least one is required as part of your blog design grade)

                 Cluster Maps -*Make sure you follow directions on the page to put on your blog!

                 Hit Counter -Show off your page hits count with the simple counter to count the number of page views of your profile or any web page. (* Copy & Paste code into the HTML Gadget on your Blogger Layout)

                Page Hits- Show off your page hits count with the simple counter. It remembers the URL of the page that contains it and starts displaying number of page views immediately.

               Visit Counter - Simple Black and White Counter.  Copy & Paste the code into the html gadget on your blogger layout.

0 Blog Links

Click Here and paste in your URL

0 Creating Your "About Me"

Hello 7th graders! I'm sorry I am missing you today.  Please follow the directions of Mr. Frazier and below.  You are creating your "About Me" section on your blog.  When you finish you will have a few options to start planning the creation of your blog and your first post.

• Log in to Google Apps
• Take out the packet I gave you during class one and go to the About Me example
• Follow the directions on this page to create an "About Me" that speaks to your readers.  Use humor and creativity.  Show how interesting of a person you are! Make sure to break each section up like the example, because that is how it will be pasted into Blogger. Do not use your last name or personal info like addresses please.

Here are some examples of the "About Me" section

Christo's Blog

Iheart Organizing Blog

http://blogs.goaj.org/gamekid/about-2/

http://lauren2110gs.edublogs.org/about-me/

http://jadensawesomeblog.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html

http://www.blogger.com/profile/02403934389697665281

When you are done, please be sure to drag and drop this doc into your tech folder so I can give you credit for it.

Next, I would like you to either watch some of the blogger videos below, or take a packet on creating your first blog post. I want you to start brainstorming ideas for your first post.  

Find images you like and save them to your P-Drive (save links to a Google Doc) Figure out what your blog will be called and what it will be about. Do research, check out other blogs, Google Blog Search Click Here- start planning your blog. I want you ready to create after the quiz next week! Stick a post it to the back board with any questions you have for me.

Have a great weekend!!

Video Links Below:

How to Create a Blog

Creating A Blog Tutorial

Writing and Publishing Your First Blog Post

0 What is a Blog?

Blog Links and Blog Search

"Zoe's Blog"

"About Me Examples"

0 Blogs to Check Out

Please explore a variety of blogs to get ideas for creating your own. Pay attention to the design, the topic, and images.  What do you like or dislike.  Please take your time looking at each one. Take the links below to see the lists!

List of  Student Blogs Click Here!!

List of all 2012-2013 blogs

Click Here to see a list of other cool blogs around the internet!

0 Email Activator

image source: techcrunch.com

Today, I am having my 7th graders take a link to Padlet (formally Wall Wisher) to complete an activator in preparation for their school email accounts.

7th Grade please click here

I will have them post to the wall to answer the following questions;

1.) The last time you used email, what did you use it for?

2.) What should an email in school sound like & look like?

0 Google Demo Slam: Epic Docs Animation

Since my seventh graders will be logging in to their School Google accounts for the first time this year I thought this video would be a great activator to get them excited about Google.  It's yet another example of the amazing things you can do with Google Docs!

0 Survey

Survey Link Click Here

0 End of Year Checklist

Please Click the Checklist Link Below & complete all tasks.

End of Year Checklist

0 Survey

Please take the survey below

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/G23L7NJ

0 Google Earth Tour

http://www.schooltube.com/video/fd4b59e72cce7ed4bce2/

0 Digital Story Resources

Check out some of the links below for resources and inspiration when working on your project.

Visu Words- online graphical dictionary.  Gives you synonyms for any word, try using this instead of just using words like sad, depressed, mean etc

Videos for Inspiration

Be the Difference

Dodgeball: A True Bullying Story

Cyberbullying

0 Quick Survey 7A ILT 3

Please Click on the link below to choose how you will present your project.

Survey Link

0 Embedding Surveys & Podcast

Podcast Powered By Podbean


Link to 7th Grade Blogs

Google Spreadsheet Info. & Challenges