Welcome to our Blog site!

What is Blogging?
A blog is a contraction of the term “Web log.”  According to Wikipedia, a blog is a “Website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogging)

Click here to learn more

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=12423

Lets Talk about how this will look in our classroom.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1899020/Synonyms_for_Big

Please post a question or response to the story today.  The story was entitled  The Very Happy Lion, by Louise Fatio.   It was a story about a very friendly lion who lives in a zoo in a lovely French town.

Students, as you review a book you’ve read, be sure to include the following in your blog post:

• Title and author of the book. Don’t forget to underline the title and capitalize the author’s name.
• What the book is about. This doesn’t need to be really, really long, but it does need to be long enough to explain the basic idea of the story.  What is the genre of the story?  Is it an adventure book?  A mystery? Remember – don’t give anything away that would spoil the book for someone who hasn’t yet read it.
• Your opinion of the book. Did you like it?  Would you recommend it to others?  On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate it?  What type of person do you think would enjoy this book?  Remember to be honest.  If you didn’t think it was a really terrific book, don’t rate it a 10.  It’s okay not to love everything you read.
• Proofread your post. In addition to running a spell check, be sure to carefully read over what you’ve written.

Here’s an example of what a review of Among the Hidden might look like:

Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type is an amazing book written by Doreen Cronin. It kept me laughing the entire way through.  Farmer Brown thinks it’s odd when he hears typing sounds coming from the barn. But his troubles really begin when his cows start leaving him notes. First they demand better working conditions, then they stage a strike. Cronin’s understated text and Lewin’s expressive illustrations make the most of this hilarious situation. Full-color illustrations.

On a scale from 1-10, I would definitely give it a 10.  If you love books that have animals that talk, farms, and funny plots, you have to read this book.  It is also a Caldecott Honor Book, so if you like it as much as I did, you can continue reading other top selling picture books by Doreen Cronin.

If you have any questions, please let me know.  Happy blogging!

Our Book Blog is a brand new blog designed to give students a place where they can review and recommend the Reading Counts books they’re reading each week.  Each time a student finishes a book during the school week, he or she can log-in to the blog and write a short post about the book, giving a brief summary along with his or her opinion of the book.  In doing so, we will be able to track the types of books we are reading throughout the remaining days in school.  Hopefully, we find that our selections are covering a variety of genres.

The blog is hosted by a really nice website called Kidblog.org.  The site is designed to provide free, easy-to-use blogs for elementary and middle school students. All student accounts are password-protected, and student posts and comments are sent to Mr. Thompson for approval before they are published.  This ensures that only appropriate content is published to the blog.  No email addresses or personal information is required, and there is no advertising of any kind on the blog.  We hope you enjoy reading about some our great treasures we find this year.