Inspiration, Imagination, Innovation!
Posts tagged Blogging Buddies
Vote for Books to Africa!
May 28th
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Our friend in Washington, Julia, left us a comment that caught our attention.
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Julia is a student at Mrs. Hembree’s school. They have been working very hard on a Books to Africa Project. Check out their links HERE and HERE.
These students have been fundraising and collecting books to send to children in Africa that do not have books. We don’t always think of how incredible it is to be able to get any book we want. This is a wonderful opportunity to be grateful and help make a difference in other children’s lives.
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Please join with us in supporting the Bell Bulldog Readers!
Here’s what you can do:
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1. Go to ChangeMySchool.com
2. Click on the Books to Africa video.
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3. Click on the blue button that says, “Vote for this Video!”
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4. You can vote 1 time, from each device, each day until May 31st.
Every Child Deserves a Book.
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Help make a difference the life of a child!
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International Show and Tell
May 24th
Well, that was fun.
Today, we were able to meet Mrs. Monaghan’s class in England through Skype. During our blogging conversations, we discovered words we didn’t know and items we hadn’t heard before. We found out that we sometimes call the same things by different names. So, we decided to play a game of International Show and Tell.
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Middleham started us off, “We think you might not know what a Fat Rascal is.” And, we didn’t. When they showed us what it looked like, we yelled, “It’s a cookie!” They told us it was actually a scone. None of the children in our class eat scones, but adults sometimes have it with coffee.
They continued to challenge us with
Flat Cap
IRN BRU
Double Decker
Rugby
Teletubbies
& Freddo
We knew 3 of their terms.
The Techie Kids tried a few of our own terms too. We asked if they knew
Gatorade
Skylanders
S’Mores
Vernors
Band-Aid
Barrette
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They knew or were able to figure out most of these terms. We loved hearing what they called some of the items. We found out that the drink we call pop, they call “fizzy drinks.” They call Band-Aids, “plasters” and barettes, “hair-slides.”
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Here’s an Animoto of the excitement.
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Only 1 student in Mrs. Monaghan’s class had heard of a S’More before. They told us that they would be going camping soon. We thought it was important that they knew how to make these delicious snacks before they left!
Here’s our Snapguide teaching you how to make a S’More.
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There were many more items we wanted to share, but didn’t have time.
Here is a SlideShare game we made for you. See if you can figure it out before clicking to the next slide.
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Thanks for a super fun game!
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Which items did you know by name?
Which items were new to you?
Did you have any other items you wanted to ask us?
Ballet: A Student Post by Emily & Claire for Mr. Mannell
Apr 26th
This is a student post by Emily and Claire for Mr. Mannell (and a short video for all of our readers!)
You can visit Mr. Mannell’s site, Extended Comments for Students, by clicking here. 
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We are so thankful for the video you sent us! The student performers did a great job! We can tell they had practiced.
The costumes were magnificent. We loved the way they portrayed their characters. We noticed their feet were pointed and this showed their marvelous technique. We liked how they expressed their character. This interpretation seemed less traditional and formal than other ballets we’ve seen. It made the story more unique and interesting. We also have to applaud the choreographer for being able to pull it all together in a beautiful production.
As part of our thank you, we would like to share a little bit of ballet foundation with our readers. Please enjoy our short video of ballet’s basic feet technique.
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What did you think of how we explained the basic feet positions?
Could you share a story about dancing with us?
Do you have any questions about ballet?
Mail from Mr. Mannell
Apr 3rd
Today, the Techie Kids had a wonderful surprise! We received a package in the mail from the fabulous, Mr. Mannell (@RossMannell). He has been doing an amazing job of supporting my 3rd through 8th grade bloggers.
Here are the first comments that we shared on our Winter in Michigan post.
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Here are the links to additional posts that were kicked off by these comments. Please explore them! I’m sure you will love them as much as we have!
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We were thrilled when we opened the Australian package and found a book, Wombat’s Secret, a wombat figurine, and a token from Potoroo Palace, an animal sanctuary where Mr. Mannell took many of his incredible animal photographs.
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Here are some of the amazing images taken by Mr. Mannell that he shared with us and gave us permission to use.
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We found out that it took 14 days to travel from New South Wales, Australia to Michigan, USA. If the package could travel in a straight line, the total distance traveled would be about 9,600 miles.
View A Wombat’s Journey in a larger map
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Mrs. Moore is an Indiana Jones fan, so she was excited to share this Google Map, Treasure Map style!
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Since Australian animals were a big focus of many comments and posts, we’d like to share some pictures of animals in our area with you. Click on the book cover below to read our Michigan Animals book.
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We are so excited that blogging has allowed us to connect with new friends around the world!
Thank you, Mr. Mannell, for all that you’ve shared with us!
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Please tell us something that you have learned from Mr. Mannell.
What animals live in your area or are unique to your area?
What animal is most interesting to you and why?
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Skyping Mrs. Kistler & the 49′ers
Mar 9th
Hooray! Hooray! It’s Skyping Day!
Today our first group of Techie Kids had their first chance to Skype while they were at school. We were able to meet Mrs. Kistler and the 49er’s. We were so excited!
This year, 3rd graders learn about our great state of Michigan. We have worked hard to find out about Michigan’s natural resources, symbols, and landmarks. Today we were able to learn about Texas from kids who actually live there!
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This is a Google Earth screen shot of the 49er’s state taken by Ben.
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Madisyn used Google Maps to calculate the distance between our schools. We found out that we are 1,469 miles away, which was about a 22 hour drive. We thought we’d need to pack some snacks, like pretzels, for that drive!
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Here is some of what we learned:
One of Texas’ natural resources is oil.
They use salsa as frequently as others use ketchup.
The bluebonnet flower is a symbol of Texas and you better not be caught picking one on someone else’s land!
Summers in Texas are very hot.
Dr. Pepper was created in Waco, Texas.
The Alamo, Sea World, and the River Walk are some of their landmarks.
One of their state symbols is a Cowboy!
Ants in Texas bite!
You better double and triple check your backpack before you go anywhere…you just might find a stowaway scorpion!
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Check out our backchannel!
Today's Meet with the 49'ers by
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Our student photographers and videographers did an excellent job capturing the excitement!
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Thanks for a great learning call, 49’ers!
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What will you remember most about our Skype call?
What new facts did you find out?
Do you have any other questions you’d like to ask?
Thank You!
Mar 6th
Blogging is simply amazing! Thank you for helping us learn about our world and how technology lets us make connections in ways that weren’t possible before.
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Our Winter in Michigan post received 86 comments. Our readers commented from 15 different locations, 6 different states in the U.S., 6 different countries, on 4 different continents.
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Mrs. Yollis shared information about the weather in Southern California with us on her class blog.
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Mr. Webb in New Zealand created 2 posts for us, 1 with a photo slideshow and 1 with weather report videos.
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Ross Mannell’s excellent comments and replies led to even more shared learning as he posted to his Extended Comments for Students blog.
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Here is a Google Map we created showing where each comment was written. We added some highlights about the weather in their area at the time of the post.
View World Wide Weather in a larger map
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Our students were amazed at the response and the facts that you shared! They were very excited to reply to you. We searched each state or country noted in the comments on Google Earth. Our classes were delighted to see the Earth spin and “fly to” each location. They loved seeing photographs taken in each area. We took note of landforms and compared and contrasted them to our own. Our classes are buzzing with adventure as they share places they want to visit and learn more about because of your comments.
A bajillion (yes, bajillion=considerably more than a million) thanks to all of you!
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We are excited to see what we will learn from you next!
Winter in Michigan
Feb 19th
As we have been discovering different blogs around the world, we began to notice a few things about the weather. Some of us were talking about the cold temperatures and all the snow we’ve been getting like, Mr. Avery’s class and Mr. Salsich’s class, and the snow we are hoping to get, Mrs. Watson’s class. But then, we noticed some blogs talking about warm weather, 4KM and 4KJ, and swimming, Mrs. McKenzie’s class.
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Our students decided they wanted to share some pictures of what it looks like in our area right now and invite others to compare. Here are some pictures that reflect our cold weather during our current season of Winter.
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Click here to see Snow Falling
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Will you help us learn about our world by sharing about life in your area?
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What season is it where you live and what seasonal activities do you currently enjoy?
Can you tell us what that season looks like where you live?
What are some of the characteristics of different seasons in your community?
Here We Go!
Jan 14th
The Techie Kids have been working hard in our computer lab. We’ve learned about Internet Safety, avatars, digital footprints, keyboarding, word processing, presentations, animations, spreadsheets, research skills, images, and citations. Whew, that’s not bad for only 40 minutes once per week!
We are finally ready to begin blogging!
Last week, we discussed some of the features of our blog. This week, we will get to leave our first blog comment. Let’s look at the Quality Commenting poster shared with us by Miss Jordan from 4KM & 4KJ in Australia.
Thank you, Miss Jordan!
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Now let’s go straight to some blogging experts to see what they recommend for leaving a quality comment. After you watch them, go ahead, give it a try!
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How to Compose a Quality Comment
By Mrs. Yollis’ Third Grade
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How to Comment
By Mr. Salsich
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How to Comment
By Mrs. Morris
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How do you feel about learning to blog?
What do you think was the most important advice to remember when leaving a quality comment?
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