The Thing About Jellyfish – New Book!

“I’ve written about astrophysicists and athletes, cosmologists and Arctic conservators, geologists and psychologists and farmers and awesome children. What I enjoy, above all, is telling a good story.This world of ours is complex, but  it’s filled with plenty of wonder and sparkle.”

– Ali Benjamin

credit: Good Reads

 

Sometimes, I get really lucky and simply stumble on the kind of book I found in The Thing About Jellyfish, the 2015 debut novel from author Ali Benjamin. On one of my many weekly trips to Amazon’s virtual bookshelves, the stunningly beautiful cover of this book populated my screen. I clicked on the image, read the description, and instantly clicked Add to Cart. I finished The Thing About Jellyfish about two weeks ago and it continues to thump  around in my still-in-awe brain like a damp beach towl in the dryer. 

From Goodreads.com:

After her best friend dies in a drowning accident, Suzy is convinced that the true cause of the tragedy was a rare jellyfish sting. Retreating into a silent world of imagination, she crafts a plan to prove her theory–even if it means traveling the globe, alone. Suzy’s achingly heartfelt journey explores life, death, the astonishing wonder of the universe…and the potential for love and hope right next door. 

 

The Thing About Jellyfish should be on every adult bookshelf, too. Who hasn’t ever hurt or been hurt by a friend, struggled with inexplicable grief, or wanted an impossible happy ending? We’ve all been there, like Suzy and Franny, trying to find our place in this physically and emotionally challenging world.  Plus, there’s real science poured into every delicately moving page.  The Thing About Jellyfish , recently named a National Book finalist, will touch your heart. Below are two videos about the book, one from me, and one from the author. I discovered Kizoa this morning  through Edublogs’ Student Blogging Challenge. I’ve given it a try so I can show my sixth graders  one way they might create a book trailer. See what you think.

 

Raise Your Voice: Blog Action Day 2015

The First Amendment of the United States of America gives us freedom of religion, speech, press, peaceable assembly, and the freedom to seek help from or complain about our government without fear of punishment. In honor of this freedom–which is both a tremendous privilege and a responsibility–we’re taking part in Blog Action Day on October 16, 2015.

Your blog is a public space where you can freely express your opinions about issues that matter to you.

For me, I’m worried about the overuse of toxic chemicals and the waste of water to maintain fairy tale green lawns. Did you know that 80% of all homes in the United States have grass lawns? The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that nearly 1/3 of all public water is used to water grass. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that “homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops.” Wow! Most lawn care chemicals can find their way to our groundwater supply. Lawn chemicals are toxic–they kill. I worry about the health effects of these optional pesticides. The U.S. Geological Survey found that 96 percent of all fish tested in major rivers and streams contained pesticide residue. We need to rethink chemical lawn treatments.

What do you care about? What’s worrying you?

What would you change here at school if you could? How can we make Ashburn, Virginia, America, or the world a little bit better? In your opinion, what changes should our government make to improve your future? Speak up on Blog Action Day. How might you help homeless people or animals? Are you concerned about climate change? Or gun control? Or education? Or bullying? Do you want healthier lunches? Are sports too competitive?

Whatever it is, tell me in a quality comment below.

Then, use the internet to find 2-3 facts about your issue. Jot them down and bring to school tomorrow. Be sure to record the websites where you found the info.

Finally, visit another class and leave a comment based on their current post. Just click on the link below! I’m counting on you proofreading your comment carefully. Follow 6th grade writing expectations! Be sure to include our blog URL so the classes you visit can visit us, too! Here’s our class blog URL:  https://kidblog.org/class/RombachRockstars/ 

CLICK HERE for complete list of class blogs in the Student Blogging Challenge (including ours).

Tomorrow, you’ll draft a blog post about what you care about. It’s time to raise your voice!

See you then! Mrs. Rombach

 

 

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging!

Today, you’ll open your very own student blog. This is a place where your voice can be heard, your writing read, and your ideas and observations shared with the  world.

Some of you are undeniably pumped about blogging. You’ve asked me “when” ever since I mentioned we’d be blogging. Others of you probably aren’t too thrilled about any kind of writing, especially one that’s new and unfamiliar. Well, you know how I feel about the importance of fostering a growth mindset. We can’t stick with what’s comfortable and easy and expect to grow into the very best version of ourselves.

As we embark on this year-long journey, let’s celebrate the successes and overcome the pesky difficulties. I may be the teacher, but sometimes you’ll untangle the technology faster than me. I promise to deliver my very best. All I ask is that you do the same. Let’s explore and learn together.

Now, borrowing heavily from a post by Susan Lucille Davis, an Edtech blogger, here are six reasons why blogging makes us better writers, communicators, and citizens of the world.

Which one of these six reasons has you most interested in blogging and why? Leave a comment below. 🙂

1. Blogs are authentic.

With a blog, students reach real rather than pretend audiences. When someone from New Zealand or Kuwait is reading your writing, the quality of your work matters more. You’ll raise the bar for your own learning when the audience extends beyond the teacher, the classroom, and the grade.

2. Blogs allow students to give voice to their passions.

Blogs are an immensely versatile, energizing medium. In some ways, blogs are the new “show and tell,” allowing students to share their own infectious love of learning.

3. Blogs invite feedback.

As students unleash their passions, they must learn to respond to and learn from readers in the form of comments. Testing our ideas on others is an important part of our growth. Plus, feedback and connections with visitors makes students accountable for the quality of their work. Students value sincere, thoughtful responses.

4. Blogs provide opportunities for regular writing practice.

Blogs were never meant to be a one-shot deal, like an five-paragraph essay or book report.  Instead, blogs require a commitment to writing, to learning, and to growth over the long haul.

5. Blogging allows students to experiment with multiple media formats.

No other medium so seamlessly blends text, image, sound, and video to communicate a message as effectively to this wide an audience. As bloggers, students learn to consider the impact of the artfully placed photograph, video, audio insert, or infographic. Essentially, blogs allow students to learn how to write with every medium at their wriggling fingertips.

6. Blogging broadens students’ perspectives and connects them to the world.

The first dot from someone outside your home country that appears in your Clustr Map is a big moment. The world suddenly opens up to you. Next, you might find from someone halfway across the globe who’s interested in collaborating on a project or commenting on a recipe.

Blogging for a world audience shifts a writer’s perspective, builds empathy, or concern for others, and reveals new ways of seeing humanity.  

Don’t forget to leave a comment! Which of these six reasons has you most interested in blogging and why? Leave a comment below. 🙂

 

Student Blogging Challenge Week #9: Let’s Shine!

 Week 9: Let’s shine

Shiny, Capt.

Ken-ichi Ueda via Compfight

This is our penultimate week in the blogging challenge.

When you come to the end of a topic, what does your teacher often do?

  • That’s right! We give you a test.

This week’s challenge is a test about your blogging skills.

Having read many of your posts, Miss W came up with the following essentials in a great post.

  1. catchy title
  2. includes at least two visuals whether photo, cartoon, video or another web 2.0 tool like padlet, animoto (use Mrs. Rombach’s class login), tagxedohaikudeck (check out Mrs. Rombach’s example below)
  3. interesting topic with the passion of the author coming through, shows well-researched topic
  4. well written and not copy/pasted from somewhere else
  5. shows it has been proofread and spellchecked
  6. written in paragraphs – at least three of them
  7. includes links to other websites on similar topics – at least two of these
  8. attribution for any images, video, music or clip art used – including those used in slideshows etc

Here are some examples of posts from a previous challenge:

When you have finished your post, please leave a comment for Miss W at the Student Blogging Challenge so she can have a peek at your work. Make sure to include your blog URL! 

Presenting this week’s topic:

**ANIMALs…ANIMALS…ANIMALS**

Yawn! jerkylicker via Compfight

1. Do a quick Google search on your favorite animal and share out your findings.

2. Address problems like poaching, cruelty, or extinction (you might share the social issues presentation you’ve already done!)

3. Should wild animals be kept in zoos? Write a persuasive argument for or against zoos.

4. What are the benefits of pet ownership and which animals make the best pets?

5. Share your persuasive writing about exotic pet ownership.

6. Have a different idea? Go for it!


cows are cool – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Make sure you check hints 2, 7 and 8 in the essentials of a great post

Still got time left this week:

  1. Visit Namitha to add some words of help for people in Nepal or write your own post sending words to Nepal.
  2. Keep visiting other student and class blogs to leave comments and continue conversations.
  3. Check out the Flipboard magazine to see if your post is mentioned there and visit some of their blogs
  4. Leave links to your posts on the student blogging challenge blog post so Miss W can visit and leave comments or flip your posts to the magazine.

Student Blogging Challenge Week #8: Let’s Travel!

Let’s Travel..It’s Time to Explore the World!

Imagine you’ve just graduated from high school, and you have several months of freedom before college starts. Wanderlust, the down-in-your-bones hunger for travel, is consuming your every thought. So, you’ve decided to spend all your graduation gift money on a whirlwind trip abroad. Where will you go, who will you visit, what will you see and do during your globetrotting adventures? For this week’s challenge, take us to the places highest on your travel bucket list. Or, if travel doesn’t float your cruise ship, write a post about any country that mesmerizes you.

Better yet, follow in Namitha’s footsteps and devote an entire post to offering encouragement and hope to the earthquake survivors in Nepal. To read more about the earthquake, click here.

Please use one or more web tools you haven’t used before Glogster, Storybird, Flipbook, Bitstrips, Kizoa, Note.ly, or Animoto – there are lots of tools to use  here  and the Edublogs staff  has put together a great list including how to embed the end products into your blog.

Planning your trip

  • Find out the requirements for passports, visas, or work permits for 3 countries you would like to visit.
  • Create a map showing your proposed journey. Try this mapmaker or this one.
  • What will you need to pack? Remember weight limits when flying. (Try writing using enumeration/listing text structure!)
  • How will you travel?
  • Where will you stay?
  • Create a realistic budget for a day of your journey. What will you spend money on?

On your way

  • Check out international signage for toilets etc, signs on roads – find pictures to share!
  • What will my money buy?- explore exchange rates – How much is a cup of coffee in 3 different countries?
  • Contacting Mom and Dad – know your time zones; explain how to use Skype or similar tech, or insert an international clock!
  • Flight times – using 24 hour time – how long are flights between major cities?

Visit at least one country in each continent (include Antarctica in Oceania)

  • Make a collage of where you visited. Try this collage maker, which is free and doesn’t require registration.
  • Teach us some of the language of at least three countries. For example, how would you say “How much is a cup of coffee?” in Mandarin or “Where are the toilets?” in Bengali?
  • Create a story of your journey.
  • Interview some of your employers or relatives you visit.
  • Create a playlist of 9 pieces of music or dance from your journey – not in English.

Home sweet home

  • How will you tell your friends about your journey?
  • What were the highlights and lowlights of each country?
  • Where would you visit again and why?

Add travel photos

Images make every post better. Remember only to use free photos or clipart that are licensed under creative commons. Use Compfight or Getty Images.

I can’t wait to travel to the far corners of the world with you. Let’s pack our bags and get moving!

*Here’s another student’s travel blog post to visit for inspiration!

Mrs. Rombach

 

 

Happy 451st Birthday, William Shakespeare!

According to historians, the Bard of Avon, the mastermind behind Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, was born 451 years ago today. In honor of Mr. Shakespeare’s birth, I’ve shared Sonnet 18, undoubtedly among the most famous of his 154 sonnets, Best of all, Mr. Rombach and I worked together to pen our own Shakespearean sonnet. On Friday, after you finish the first of three standardized tests (ugh), I invite you to investigate the man who, according to The European Graduate School, “altered the course of European and World literature.” 

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare 

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 155 by Mr. and Mrs. Rombach (with a little help from the Bard)

Shall I compare thee to a schoolhouse day?
Thou art more lively and more literate:
Loud bells chime to get classes underway,
Mere weeks remain ’til bathing suits must fit:

Sometimes too heavy the sharp pencil weighs,
Multiple choice brings on multiple pains,
The tests they stretch on for too many days
Our brains and our hands, every part complains;

But thy elusive summer shall not fade
Sandy beaches beckon, calling our name
Bags bulge at the zippers, travel plans made,
Come June 16th, our freedom we shall claim

So long, Eagle Ridge, our work here is done
Fare thee well, sixth grade, we’re off to have fun.

 

Eager to try your hand at creating a Shakespearean sonnet? Click here for step-by-step instructions.

My apologies to Shakespeare enthusiasts. My dear husband informed me that my original source for Shakespeare’s birth was dead wrong. In 2015, the Bard would be 451 (not 399 as previously posted). 

Quote by William Shakespeare

 

 

 

Week 4: My Favorite Color is Yellow Jeep

IMG_0987
You are my funshine, my only funshine.
On a sunny, 70 degree day, there’s  nothing better than unsnapping the two black levers that release my sunshine yellow Jeep’s cloth top. In about two minutes flat, the top is down, my Maui Jim shades  are on, and I’m putting the pedal to the metal to  soak up the world. Meghan Trainor or Pharell Williams   gives   me an open air concert as I navigate one of the Loudoun’s signature, pot-hole-dappled, gravel backroads.
The license plate, the creation of my daughter, Cady, says it all: Funshne. Whenever I’m behind the steering wheel of my instantly convertible Funshne, life is good. The breeze threads my hair. The sun toasts   my face. There are no bad days–or nights–in the driver’s seat of my Jeep Wrangler. The sweet serenade of spring peepers, the twinkling dance  of a thousand lightning bugs, and the perfectness of a full moon are   all the more stunning when viewed from a topless Jeep.
A few weeks back, I had one of the best drives home from work…potholes, flooded roadways, overflowing ditches that became fast-running streams. While other cars struggled to straddle the potholes and slowed to a snail’s pace to circumvent the six  inches of water that covered the road, I reveled in every bump. I swerved into the stream and hooted and hollered as  waves of water washed over the hood of Funshne. When I burst through the door at home, I announced, “I just had the most fun drive home ever!” My husband smiled and said, “You came home on Shreve Mill, didn’t you?” Why yes, like-minded  husband of mine, I did. 
This summer, we’ll head to Corolla, North Carolina and take Funshne four-wheeling, dipping our Bridgestone tires in the Atlantic Ocean, drawing zigzag paths in the sand, and roaring hysterically  as we celebrate life in our favorite, top-down yellow Jeep. 
What’s your favorite place to celebrate life?
Students: Your Missions in the Computer Lab Today:
1. This week, your assignment is to write about favorites (dessert, vacation, book, movie, video game, board game,  birthday party, restaurant,  subject, sport, or anything else that’s a favorite of yours!).
2. Visit a student  in Mrs. Donofrio’s class. Leave a quality comment that includes a question and a link back to your blog (add URL, such as https://mrsrombachreads.edublogs.org).
Week 5: Favorites

This post is going to be for a three-week period as schools in Australia are on Easter break soon. The next official post will be on  Sunday 19th April. Miss W will do a fun post in between with some great sites to visit.

Our topic this week is favorites.  This will give you infinite options   for composing posts.

Your post should include all of the following:

  1. at least three paragraphs if you are 11 or older
  2. an image or video or music with correct attribution
  3. a title that grabs the attention of the readers
  4. at least one link to another website so readers can build on the information you have written
  5. a question for readers to answer
  6.  leave a comment for Miss Waters telling her about your post (include the URL for your post)

On this or a future post, try  some of the  new tools presented by the Student Blogging Challenge (see below).  

Web tools to use

Student Blogging Challenge – Activities #3 & #7

©2014 ClipartPanda.com (free clipart)

©2014 ClipartPanda.com
(free clipart)

It is Week Four of the Student Blogging Challenge, and we’ve been a hustling, bustling class of sixth-grade bloggers. Next week is Spring Break, so my students worked overtime this past Monday through Friday to draft several blog posts, including choosing at least one of Miss W’s listed activities. Most students, like Trang and Hannahfound themselves accumulating grains of rice on FreeRice.comAshley wrote about a southeast Asian holiday, and Sammy challenged us to guess a holiday celebrated in India. Emma tackled global warming and embedded a compelling Morgan Freeman-narrated video. Maggie created her own Read Local holiday.

We also backtracked into last week’s activities because we lost another day to snow. I introduced two new photo sources, Getty Images and MorgueFile. We discussed why it’s important to credit sources–and only use images we have permission to use for free on our blogs. For yesterday’s Five Minute Photo Friday assignment, students drew their writing inspiration from one of five photographs. Ramya crafted a poem based on a photo of painted hands. Abhi gave his frog-inspired post the tongue-twisting title, Ten Things Toads Think About. Clare used a smartphone pic to reflect on the drawbacks of cellphone overuse. Using the same photo, Sarah started a story about our school’s Bring Your Own Technology initiative (and she’s hoping you’ll add a sentence or two). Then there’s Patrick’s post on his family’s furry friends, inspired by a dog and cat photo.

I’m proud of the writing my students are turning out, and I can’t wait to read about their Spring Break adventures when we all return in April. Oh! We also made new blog avatars…which was quite fun on the final day of the third quarter.

Activity #3 – Visit at least five blogs from around the globe.

1. Mrs. Petsnick’s Grade 7 class in Ontatio, Canada knows how to bust a move. Her post about groovy dance moves had me chuckling out loud before sunrise today.

2. In The Learning Palace, Miss Morris presents a weekly Perseverance Cup to one of her 27 outstanding students. This week, Jaela took home the trophy for “always doing her best.” In addition to reading about Jaela’s successes, I tried out several links in Miss Morris’s sidebar and commented on three of her students’ blogs. I hope we can exchange comments with this New Zealand class soon.

3. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and my eyes were happy campers when I stopped by Mr. Lee’s Canadian classroom to see his student’s stunning animal eye portraits. If you haven’t visited Mr. Lee’s blog, go directly there now and let your eyes feast on a foursome of fine pencil drawings.

4. When I clicked on a 9th grade class blog in Honduras, I wasn’t expecting the author to be a teacher from Colorado. I like how Ashley is using the blog as a forum for her students to not only write, but to comment on one another’s writing. I’ll definitely borrow her idea for this blog.

5. I learned how students at the NRH School in Ireland celebrate “Pancake Day”. From learning about Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian artist who painted fruit and vegetable portraits of humans to making their own pancake art, these students cooked up a stack of edible fun.

6. For the final stop of my international blogging tour, I returned to Mrs. Gado’s class in Hong Kong. Mrs. Gado started a worldwide conversation when she posted her avatar and asked visitors to make inferences based on how she outfitted her avatar. Since that initial exchange, Mrs. Gado and I have continued the conversation–and our students have been trading comments, too.

 

Activity # 7 – Add at least five international blogs to your blog roll.

I am regularly updating our blogroll to reflect the global connections we’re making with friends around the world. We’re ready for game time. If you’re a teacher or student visiting our class blog and would like us to add you to our blogroll, kindly leave us a comment with your blog URL. We’re a comment-leaving, post-drafting, world-stretching blogging classroom, and we’d love to connect with you and your students!

 

 

Five-Minute PHOTO Friday!

Happy Last Day of the Quarter!

I’m pleased to present Five-Minute Photo Friday. Here are four photos to light your creative fires. What story could you tell with one of these pictures? Is there a poem, a slice of life narrative, or perhaps a journal entry bubbling inside of you? If not, that’s okay. Just write. Whether you’re silly or serious or somewhere smack in the middle, the most important thing I want you to accomplish today is to keep your fingers moving across the keyboard for a full five minutes.

Giving Credit…Where Credit is Due.

Before you begin, notice that all of my photos give credit (AKA attribution) to their creators. As I’m learning more about following copyright laws for sharing photos and videos, it’s important that I make clear that just because you find an image on Google, doesn’t mean it’s free to use. Writers, photographers, and videographers make a living selling their copyrighted work. It’s essential that we only use photographs that have been approved for use by the person behind the camera. Your best bet for embedding photos on your blog is with the Compfight widget we’ve already installed. However, you know my One Little Word this year is CHOICES--so I’m offering a few more photo resources that I’ve found through the Student Blogging Challenge.

First, say hello to Getty Images, which gives you access to over 50 million photos — including Hollywood celebrities and pro athletes! (Place pointer over an image and click the </> icon.) Getty also sells photos for commercial use (for big $) so only use the link provided. Next is MorgueFile, which serves up a lively body of free photos. 🙂 As always, give credit where credit is due–even if the photo is free to use.

It’s time to tap, tap, tap on the keyboard. Before or after you write, add the photo you used to your blog! 🙂 I can’t wait to read what you’ve written. — Mrs. Rombach

P.S. – Wow! A gaggle of global visitors responded to our country questions.

Click here to read their comments.

Then, visit their blogs to answer the questions they left for us.

Remember to leave your blog URL in every comment!

 

credit: By: seenicks/MorgueFiles

credit: By: seenicks/MorgueFiles

 
image

credit: By JoeysPhotos from MorgueFile.com

Avatars -Create Your Blog Alter Ego

If you haven’t already done so, today is the perfect time to avatar yourself. Check out these options:

1. Build Your Wild Self – If you adore unique animals.

2. Hero Factory – If superhero powers are calling your name.

3. The Mini-Mizer – If you’d like to be a Lego brickhead.

4. Picasso Head – If abstract art speaks to you.

5. Dude Factory – If you’re too cool for school.

6. DoppelMe – If you’ve always wanted a mini me.

7. BitStrips – If your life is like a comic strip.

8. MyBlueRobot – If you like Mrs. Rombach’s avatar below.

9. Mii – If Wii is your gaming platform, grab a Mii avatar. (Save this for another day; I can’t figure out how to download or embed this yet.)

10. Cuteki – If a bubble-face cutie-pie is you.

Create your own avatar at mybluerobot.com.

Create your own avatar at mybluerobot.com.

Student Blogging Challenge: Week 4

Katie via Compfight
Week 4: Let’s Join Globally
This week’s activities revolve around the world in which we live. Choose ONE activity to complete today in class. Carefully proofread and spellcheck your work. Miss W of Edublogs is compiling the best and brightest of this week’s blog posts into a showcase flip book. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your blog post was in an international spotlight? What are you waiting for? It’s time to go global!

This Saturday, from 8:30-9:30pm, the world celebrates Earth Hour.

Check out the video for the 2015 event.

  • Now add an image to a widget on your blog sidebar – you might need to change the size to 200 by 200
  • Check out the starter kit for banners, logos and posters. Teachers might get some ideas from the guides to use in class during the week.
  • Find out what is happening in your country and in other countries around the world.

Activity 1. (*Rombach Recommended)

Activity #1

Join our Free Rice group called Student Blogging Challenge or create one for your class. Every answer you get right, means 10 grains of rice donated to the World Food Programme. Since October 2011, we have had 86 students join and donate 116, 300 grains of rice. I wonder how many we could have by the end of Easter? Can you add a widget to Free Rice on your blog?

In addition, you’re to write a post about Free Rice. Tell visitors how they participate, who it benefits, and why you chose this activity. Be sure to include a link to the Free Rice website.

Activity 2.

Write a list of international events you have taken part in since Christmas 2014. What were they celebrating? What did you do to celebrate?

Activity 3. (*Rombach Recommended)

Click here and visit at least five (5) blogs from countries other than your own. Leave a quality comment on each blog (include your blog’s URL). Next, write your own post about what you discovered and include a link to each blog you commented on. To learn how to insert a hyperlink to another blog, follow these step-by-step directions.

Activity 4. (*Rombach Recommended)

If you could create an international event, what would it be called? What would we be celebrating? Create some of the advertising material you might use – eg logo, banner, image, flyer

Activity 5.

Think of a special celebration in one country of the world. Find three images of the event. Under each image, give a clue as to the event.

On the final line, write a bit more about the event for your visitors to read. Include a link to another website giving more information on the event. Remember to include attribution for each image and perhaps a question for your readers to answer.

Activity 6.

Write about one special event you have taken part in. It might be an educational global event or an international event from the United Nations or a special event from your country. Find an image to add to your post. Remember to use attribution correctly. Include a link to another website giving more information on the event.

Activity 7. (*Rombach Recommended)

Add at least five international blogs to your blogroll or links ready for a game we will hold after Easter. If you can’t add links on your blog, add them in a post instead.

Activity 8. (*Rombach Recommended)

iOS / iPhone

Creative Commons License Álvaro Ibáñez via Compfight

What are some games or apps you use that relate to global studies or geography of the world? Write a paragraph showcasing your 2-3 recommended apps. For each featured app, include at least one supporting sentence to tell visitors the benefits. Provide a link to the website or app. To learn how to insert a hyperlink to another website or blog into your post, follow these step-by-step directions.

Activity 9. (*Rombach Recommended)

What could you, your class, your school, or your town do to help with the climate change problem for more than the one hour on Saturday, March 28, 2015?

 

Previous week’s activities: Visit and leave quality comments

Eagle Wordsmiths have a question for students or classes in each country in the challenge. Please answer their questions.

Mr Jewell’s class would like some feedback from other bloggers re use of images.

Ms Andrews’ class wrote lots of poems and stories using images

Olivia wrote a brilliant post about copyright

Commenting: Brooke created a Prezi, Tess and Jamie created a video,

A-Z paragraph: Eagle Wordsmiths, 3/4 Coe,

Zoom Out: Brianna and her ladybird, Miss Scarrott and keyring, Lucas and Spencer made a zoom movie, Jennifer used Kizoa for a movie,

Controversy – iPhones at school, BYOT at school, School start later, New York Yankees,

Book Review: Delirium,

Poems: Danielle, AlexR, Kayla, Jazzy, Rachel, Jamie, Xander, Hank, Sophia, Isabel, Paige, Keyan,

Stories to finish: Jonah, Cassie, Andrew, Chelsea, Hannah, Penelope,

Conversations are happening: Kendall and Merry, Nelly and Merry,

About pages: Compare Hobart to your town, Riley, Cloie’s slideshow about family, Hailey, Lucasand family,

Passionate about: Flying with AlexS, elephants with Ava,

Copyright and creative commons: A video about music,

Sentences to read: Erica, Mackenzie, Andrew,

Using images in lots of activities: Renee, Aymen, Nelly, Lucas,

Jigsaw puzzle: Kendall,

Still got time left this week?

1. Visit other student and class blogs, and leave some quality comments.

2. Reply to comments on your own blog.

3. Start using tags and categories with each post you write to make it easier for people to find posts on certain topics. Make sure you have the tags and categories widgets in your sidebar.

Having lots of  links to student blogs from other countries will help spread the game.

Here are the instructions for adding links to your sidebars.

EdublogsBloggerKidblog – not sure if this widget goes on the class page or each student page

UPDATE – UPDATE – UPDATE

Miss W has now created the flipboard magazine for this set of challenges. She will only be adding posts that:

  • are written in paragraphs
  • have been proofread
  • include an image, sound or video with attribution(use only free images found on sites listed below)
    • Compfight (on your blog already-camera icon)
    • MorgueFiles (find your image, download photo, open new post, click on Add Media, upload photo from your download file, add photographer credit, insert into post)
    • GettyImages (must use their embed code </>)