Yesterday, we completed an activity in Science class where we calculated our Ecological Footprints.  We looked at different areas of our lives: transportation, lifestyle, food, etc. and calculated how big of a footprint we’re leaving on the earth by how we live.

Today, I’d like you to write a post on your blog describing and summarizing what you noticed about the different areas of your life and which areas caused the size of your footprint to increase.  Also, I’d like you to write about some ideas in which you and your family could help to reduce the size of your footprint.  Don’t forget to include your ecological footprint size in your post. 

Your post should be at least 2 paragraphs, with a minimum of 10 sentences. Remember to check for spelling, grammar, mechanics BEFORE you publish your post.

From time to time, I’d like to give credit to those of you who have gone “above and beyond” what’s been asked of you with your blogging.  Most of you are putting a great amount of thought and effort into your blogs.  I’m also seeing a lot of you commenting on each others’ blogs, which is good to see (and an important part of blogging).  Some of you are starting to get comments from international students.

For this “Honourable Mentions” post, I’m going to focus on those posts which have a great amount of detail and are very well written.

Brianna wrote an excellent and very important post on Internet Safety and what the government is trying to do regarding people downloading illegal images on public library computers.

Cheyenne wrote an interesting post on a group that visited her church called “The Power Team.” I’d also like to commend Cheyenne for always having her posts completed on time; also, she writes many extra posts on her blog as well.

Ariel wrote an excellent post on pollution and has asked for comments. Ariel is also a very busy commenter and has made many connections with students from all over the world.

Austin provided a great explanation about a sport I know nothing about – football. He’s also got some great surveys on his blog which you should try to fill out.

Kayli wrote a great post on “Vampire Diaries,” her new favourite show.

Morgan wrote about Stephenie Meyer in a post on her blog. She included a link to her official site as well.

And finally, Matthew taught me a few things about chickens in a great post on his blog.

If you get a chance, check out these posts and leave a comment. I also like that you are all getting better at including relevant images with each blog post and are beginning to use proper crediting for the source of the images.

Keep up the great work, everyone!

Today, you’re going to write about something you know a lot about – your favourite hobby or interest.  You’re going to create two posts today- one with writing and one without writing.

1. Write a post about one of your favourite interests.  In this post include at least two links to great websites or blogs that are also about that topic. Your post should be at least 7- 10 sentences in length.
2. Visit one of the image sites and choose a great image. Write a post about that image and remember to include the attribution. This means you have told readers where you got the image from.
3. Choose five images which, put together, tell a story without any writing from you. Remember to choose a great title for this post. Remember also to give attribution for the images.

Image Source:cstmweb
Idea for Post: Week 5 Challenge

Adding a relevant, eye catching image to your posts makes your blog even more appealing to readers from around the world.  Right away, it will grab the readers’ attention and hopefully, draw them to a particular post.

First, go to this website for a detailed, step-by-step set of instructions on how to add images to your posts.

Here are some websites where you can find images for your blog.  Hopefully, most of them will not be blocked at school.

http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/

http://johnjohnston.name/flickrCC/

http://compfight.com/

http://www.behold.cc/

http://www.pics4learning.com/

http://www.morguefile.com/

http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp

http://www.imageafter.com/index.php

http://www.djusd.k12.ca.us/technology/images.htm

http://www.photoree.com/photos/start

I always use Flickr from home to add images to my posts. If you use this website from home, make sure you change your search results to “Creative Commons” results only.

Finally, make sure you always give credit to the source of your picture. You’ll notice at the bottom of my posts with pictures, I have “Image Source:” and then an embedded link to the source I found my picture. That way, if you like a certain picture, you can visit that website and see more of photos by the same person. To do this, simply have the webpage open where you found the picture you’re using, and copy the http:// link. Then, at the bottom of the post you’re writing, embed the link and have as the label the name of the source or the name of the person who uploaded the photo to flickr or another website.

**If you take an image from Bing or Google images,  look at the URL for the image – this does not mean Google search images but the original site where the image was put on the web.

Image Source: alt text

Post Idea and Link Sources: Kids in the Mid

Here’s a summary of what I showed you in class today. I’d like ALL of these tasks to be completed by the end of the period today. You’re going to need to be focused and on task throughout this period!

Please complete the tasks in ORDER:

PARTNER

1) On ONE computer – you and your partner finish your Geography Power Point presentation.

2) Go to the ELearning course and log in under the student’s name whose G Drive the Power Point is located.  Submit your Power Point in the Dropbox.  Don’t forget to write a short message to me telling me who your partner was.

INDIVIDUALLY

3. Create a new post for your blog and upload your Power Point Presentation for French.  The instructions on how to do this are found in the post below. Read the instructions carefully and you’ll have no trouble.

4. Go back to the ELearning course and complete the Discussion topic I’ve posted.

Good luck!

Many of you have completed your Power Point Presentation for French class. I’d like you to upload it to your own blogs.  Before you upload the Power Point, make sure you’ve removed any private information about yourself (eg. your last name, school name, town, etc.)  The post before this one is a good model for you to use.

Then, follow these steps:

1.  Create a new Post.  In that post, explain what the assignment was in French class and how you went about completing the assignment.  Invite the reader to click on the link to your Power Point presentation.

2.  Click “Save Draft.”

3.  At the top of your typing area where it says, “Add Media,” clickk on the 4th Icon (the one that looks like a sun.)

4.  Locate your Power Point and upload it to your blog.

5. When it’s finished uploading, click on “Show.”

6.  Now, in the caption box, type a few words which describe the file you’ve uploaded (eg. French Power Point).  This will be where your readers will click to open the file.

7. Click “Insert Into Post.”

8. Click “Save Draft.”

9. Preview the post and click on the link to make sure your file opens correctly.

10. Click “Publish.”

Image Source:Sir Watkyn

Two weeks ago, our class was asked to prepare a presentation on what our class has been doing during the past year with blogging, podcasting and eLearning.  Several students, Tim, Tara, Josh, Reece and Emily worked with me to create a presentation using Power Point which they would present to our school board and trustees Tuesday night. I think they did a great job explaining what they’ve been doing and how using this new medium to communicate is having a positive impact on their lives as students and members of a society that is immersed in social media.

Tara, Emily and Reece worked on the Blogging part of the presentation, while Josh and Tim worked on the Podcasting part. Ms. Korpan provided the slides at the beginning and the end of the presentation. I combined the three presentations into one.

Here is the Power Point presentation they will be showing tonight.

Blog and Podcast Power Point

Image Source:Jason Schlachet

We’ve been actively blogging for nearly 2 weeks now. I must say, I’m most impressed with how cooperative and enthusiastic all of you have been. The Grade 8s have been most helpful in assisting the Grade 7s. The Grade 7s have been excellent listeners and have been putting a great effort towards learning all the new language and things that come with blogging.

I’m also impressed with the quality of everyone’s posts. I notice how all of you are trying very hard to make error-free posts. There are still mistakes in spelling and grammar with some of your posts; but if you keep at it and make this a priority, you will improve in this area throughout this term.

Finally, I would like to congratulate those students who have kept up with the tasks I’ve assigned so far this year:

• choose a theme
• choose a name for your blog & a tagline
• create a post introducing yourself
• create a post with a link embedded using HTML code
• commenting on other students’ blogs (in our class and internationally)

Most of you have completed all of these tasks.  There are only a few of you who have not “stepped up to the plate” and followed through with the tasks I’ve assigned.  To those students, I will be speaking you to this week about your blog.  Hopefully, those students will make sure they are more focused during the time we have on the computers.

Next week, we’re going to be spending time with our E-Learning course.  You’ll be learning many, many new things you can do online and will start working with your online course.

Image Source: Envios

One part of blogging is sharing links you’ve found with your blog readers. This allows you to share your interesting finds and express why you like the website you’ve found. This will also hopefully create some comments from other readers. To make your post look cleaner, you can embed (hide) the link to the website you want to share in a word or phrase in your post. Here’s how to do it:

1. Find the website you want to share. Highlight and copy the address from the address bar.
2. In your post, make sure you’ve written a brief description of the website and why you like it or think it’s important to share with your readers. For example:

“I’ve found this great search engine that I think everyone will find easy to use. It gives many relevant hits when I type in a search query. It’s called ‘Google’.”

3. Now, you can hide the link under a word in your description under a word. I’m going to hide the link to “Google” under the word “Google”.
4. Erase the word “Google” and leave your cursor there.
5. Click on the HTML tab in the top right corner of the typing area.
6. Click on the link button. If you’re using MS Explorer, a bar will appear at the top of the screen as a warning. Click on that to allow scripts. Click on the link button again. Paste the address to the website in the box that pops up and click OK.
7. Now type the word (or phrase) which you are going to embed the link in. I’m going to type the word “Google” right after the long code that appears.
8. Click on the link button one more time. This tells it that you’re finished.
9. Preview your post and click on the link just to make sure it works.
10. Publish your post.

Image Source:~Dezz~

Today, we’re going to begin yet another new and exciting project in our classroom.  We’re going to begin to learn about “Blended Learning” – a pilot project with our school board and e-Learning Ontario.  You are eventually going to be participating in several online courses, where the assignments will be posted online and you’ll need to submit the assignments electronically to me.  You’ll also be able to see other blogs of students who are also participating in this project.  We are one of a few classrooms in our board and our province who get to do this.   I’m sure it will prove to be a worthwhile experience for all of us.

Like blogging, there is a lot to learn.  I’m also very new at the “Blended Learning” concept, so we’ll be doing a lot of learning together.