C4K Summary for September

 September C4K #1:  

       Getting involved in students lives as early as you can is one of the best ways to prepare for your classroom in the real world. C4K is a project for my EDM 310 Class that stand for "Comments for Kids". For my first C4K assignment, I was to leave a comment for Jamie Lynn Martin's 2nd Block class; although it was not specified what grade Ms. Martin teaches.

        I was to comment on the most recent post, however, this was the only post on this blog. The blog post was titled "This I Believe." I wasn't necessarily a blog post; it was more of an assignment. It was also published on September 8th, 2013, so it is a fairly new post . Looking at the title I'm sure you already have a few ideas. The instructions that proceeded the title explained everything. The students had just finished a "This I believe" unit, and after they finished, they wrote down a belief statement, a belief statement is ones opinion about a certain topic or principle After each of them wrote their belief statement, they were to include a personal story that explains how they came to believe this. She then stated that anyone was welcome to leave a comment about their belief statement and explanations for them.

       For my own personal belief statement, I stated that there is not standard of beauty; and I believe this because I have seen so many different types of people in my life that I consider to be beautiful. I expressed that there can be no standard of beauty because no one in the world looks or is exactly the same in any concept. If we all looked the same, no one would be different. Therefore, everybody's different, everybody's human. Everyone holds their unique opinion on beauty, and someone else's opinion of beautiful may not be yours. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone's eyes are different. 

http://kidblog.org/english2ndBlock/

September C4K #2:

       For my second week of C4K's, everyone who is enrolled in EDM 310 was assigned to a specific teacher's blog. Within this blog there was a list of 5th grade students each with their own blog. We were assigned to read and comment on an individual student's blog. The goal of this week's C4K was to try and figure out what the "object" was from a poem that the students had written themselves, that gave you cues as to what it was. To get a better idea, here is a snap shot of my students poem. 

Can you tell what it is?

       At first I wasn't sure. I thought that the student was maybe talking about his life (?). I assumed this because his profile picture was the face of the villain from the series of horror movies called Saw. Don't judge me for this but, if it weren't for the comments placed ahead of me...I would have gone the idea of "it's his life" kind of thing. But then it all makes sense; have you thought of the answer yet? I'm sure you have thought up a few things. However the answer is.....(since you are jumping out of your seat in anticipation).....it's a bus driver! Ah! Now it all makes sense. This seems like a fun activity and really forces the students to get creative. When you give the students an exercise like this, it sparks deeper thinking and reinforces literature. This exercise is a package deal. I enjoyed the satire in this piece. Honestly...that's how I would feel if I were a bus driver. I remember when I used to ride the bus;oh those were the days, weren't they?

       If you are interested in viewing the page, here's the link! http://kidblog.org/SCRebels/3069703b-8eb3-4001-be28-a64029e8197f/what-am-i/#comment-333


September C4K #3:

        This week's C4K took place in a school's blog located across the world in Auckland, New Zealand. I was excited that I have the ability to so easily connect with an entire school, a classroom, or a single student from somewhere so far away. We were actually assigned to a specific fifth grade classrooms blog; that classroom number was thirteen. In that classroom we were assigned a certain student; my student was a young boy named Kyan. Kyan said his goals as of now is to achieve good work in his studies which I think is an excellent goal.

        When I looked at Kyan's blog it was very warm and inviting. The background was made up of colors, designs, and drawings that he made himself that has his name going down the side. He has many projects on his blog ranging from a Google Docs Presentation to a a timeline of growth represented by a video game character, which to me  is extremely impressive. The fact that a fifth grader can run a blog like this is very fascinating. I commented on his most recent blog post. I wasn't sure what it was about exactly but it was a Google Docs Presentation. It was mainly pictures but had a few words scattered about. Here are some examples:

       He says it is from his Life's a Stage presentation. Again I'm not sure what it is about but I can see some similarities. I really liked not knowing what is was about because it was more of a puzzle to figure out and it still remains a mystery. Any ideas? However, I am very impressed by this presentation. The comment that I left on Kyan's blog first stated who I was and where I was from . From there I told him that I was proud to see him this technologically literate, and that most fifth graders are not that far advanced.

       I told him how much I appreciated looked at his blog and his blog posts. I explained to him that this blog helped further my knowledge in teaching, and gave me insight as well. Therefore, I am learning from him as much as he is learning in his 5th grade class. I told him to keep going, that he is making more of an impact than he thinks. If he can make an impact on a college student that is halfway around the World, then I'm sure he can make a change wherever he is at.



September C4K #4:

 I was assigned to a Mr. Rhodus's sixth grade class's blog located in RoberstdaLe, Alabama. Once on the blog we were assigned to comment on one student's post. In this blog post the students were telling us about how they had just read an article about how much the sky weighed. Each student has to comment on their own personal section of the blog about their experiences and their thoughts on the article. I was assigned to a young lady named Mary Kate who seemed very excited about this newly learned information. I can also say that I walked away from this weeks C4K learning something new.

          If you have ever wondered how much the sky weights, well, these students have the answer! Mary Kate informed us that the sky weights about five billion million pounds. However I wish she would have been more specific as to why that is, not just stating facts. Another thing I liked about Mary Kate's post was she told us why the sky does not crush you if it weights so much. She said because the air is around us and inside us when we breathe. I liked that she made a point to say this in this because it is a very unique fact. I don't think many kids would include this fact in their post.

         For the comment I left her stated my name and that I attend South Alabama. I told her this post was awesome how crazy it was that the sky weighed that much. I told her I had never heard anything like that in my life. I talked to her about how crazy it is that we never really take the time to stop and think about how the air is in us as well as all around us; and how without it, we could not sustain life. I encouraged her to keep up the good work and that she can use these blogging skills later in life. And I wished her good luck on her continuing educational journey.