Expository Writing, Part 3

As I previously blogged about, my students had a wonderful time researching about European countries.  They created brochures which are beautifully decorating our fifth grade hallway.

Since it was Reading Week last week and our schedule was altered, I used some writing time to have my students create informational posters about their countries based on their brochures.

I talked about how this is another way to publish their work and share their information with an audience.  

They had a wonderful time learning from one another and asked really thoughtful questions of one another.  I'm pleased to see how excited they are about researching since they'll be doing a lot more of this in middle and high school!

Happy learning :)

Tech Tip: Kid blog

One of my favorite websites this year is kidblog.  It's free to sign up but you can only have 50 students.  I had to use 2 different email addresses since I have large classes but it was easy enough.

I used first names & last initials for student names and their ID numbers for their passwords.  

There's a super helpful "bulk import" option where you create a word document:

student name, password

Then save as .txt instead of .doc or .docx, then upload!

Change from .docx to .txt by using the dropdown arrow

Much faster in comparision to uploading 40 students individually!

I also love that if you view kidblog without a log in, this is what you see:

Nice and safe for my students!

I gave my principal a log in as well. She logs in and leaves them inspirational comments, which makes them so excited :)