Student Blogging Challenge – Week 8

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We’ve taken a break from the blogging challenge to work on our memoirs and a project forΒ A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – Book Snaps. We’ll be sharing those on our blogs soon. We’re back to the challenge this week with Holiday-themed tasks. I can’t wait to see what traditions and celebrations my students share this week.

I used Mrs. Vasquez’s suggestions to spice up my blog for the holiday season. I created a custom background using a picture I took of my Christmas tree. I added the plugin “Simply Snow” and changed the theme of our class blog to “Cheer.” Now our class blog is ready for the holiday season.

I also created a post sharing pictures from one of my favorite Christmas traditions – decorating our Christmas tree. There’s something really magical about Christmas trees, and mine is really special.

Check back soon to see our holiday posts!

 


Christmas Traditions – Week 8 Task

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One of my favorite Christmas traditions is decorating the Christmas tree with my 3 sons. We have a special flocked Christmas tree, which means it comes pre-decorated to look like it’s covered in snow with pine cones and holly berries already attached. It’s a huge mess to take out of the box because the beads and foam that make it look like snow fall all over the floor, and we have to clean up before we can begin to decorate, but it’s worth it to see the tree all lit up. Our elf, Sammy, stays in our tree until the 1st day of December.Β  Our tree sits in our window alcove in the dining room, and we enjoy it’s glow by our fireplace all throughout the month of December.


Book Review – Week 5 Task

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I tend to read books that fall into the Dystopian subgenre of fiction. I love the plots in this subgenre and how complex the conflicts that the characters struggle with are. Characters in Dystopian fiction tend to undergo great personality changes as they grapple with the problem in their story and struggle to stand up for what is right. I like Dystopian fiction that blends with a little bit of romance. I like for characters to get their happy ending and find love on their path to fixing society’s conflicts. I have several favorite Dystopian fiction series. I read the entire Monument 14 trilogy by Emmy Laybourne this year and really enjoyed the blend of disgusting gore, action, romance, and humor that the series has to offer. The Partials trilogy is not a very well-known Dystopian series, but the story is so complex and interesting that I couldn’t stop listening to the books on Audible. I found myself carving out little bits of spare time throughout my entire day so I could listen to the story plot its way through many twists and unexpected turns. The Red Queen series and the Shatter Me series are two Dystopian series that have the perfect blend of action, dystopian conflicts, and romance. The characters in the stories change in such profound ways and take you along for a wild ride. They are both edge-of-your-seat action and suspense stories. The next time you find yourself with a few extra hours, pick up a copy of one of these books and throw yourself into a futuristic world filled with action, nail-biting suspense, and a touch of romance.


Student Blogging Challenge – Week 4

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Here are the week 4 tasks for the Student Blogging Challenge

This week, my students are going to use one of the suggested sites to write an emoji-inspired story.


OPTION ONE

Use this random emoji generator to help generate an idea for a story. I love this site and used it quite a bit last year for journal writing with my 8th grade students.

 

Students will need to screenshot the emojis that are generated so their readers will know the inspiration for their stories.

Here’s how to take a screenshot using the keyboard on a Chromebook:

Copy and paste or download and upload your screenshots into your post and write your story.


OPTION TWO

Write a story or an informational blog post and use Emoji TranslateΒ to turn substitute some words for emojis.

 

Copy and paste the text with substituted emojis into your blog post.

✍🏻 a story about your 🐢, your day at 🏫, the ⏱️ βž‘οΈπŸ‘€ had ➑️ to the πŸ₯, or any other memorable ⏱️ in your life.


Please title your blog post for this week’s task “Emoji Story – Week 4 Task.”

Click here to add this week’s post URL to submit your post for commenting.


Emoji Story – Week 4 Task

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Too Far

Emmett’s younger brother, Michael, was always ▢️ pranks on him. They were usually quite harmless, like the ⏱️ Michael put a rubber, squeaky πŸ€ in Emmett’s πŸ‘ž. Emmett was definitely 😯 the morning that πŸ‘¨πŸ» πŸ‘‚πŸ» a πŸ”Š squeak come from his πŸ‘ž as πŸ‘¨πŸ» slipped his foot in. At the same ⏱️, πŸ‘¨πŸ» felt the soft, squishy object against his toe βž• immediately reacted by gasping βž• throwing the πŸ‘ž, which thumped hard against the entry table. The πŸ₯› vase on πŸ” teetered πŸ”™ βž• forth before tipping on its side βž• rolling off the table in a πŸ”Š crash. The vase shattered into pieces, some skittering all the way across the floor to where Michael sat πŸ˜† on the couch. Of course that got his mother’s attention. πŸ‘©πŸ» ran in from the kitchen, where πŸ‘©πŸ» was packing their lunches for the day. Of course Emmett got in trouble for throwing the πŸ‘ž, βž• Michael sat there πŸ‘‚πŸ» to Emmett get lectured about throwing things in the 🏘️ with a smug πŸ‘€ on hisπŸ˜€. His πŸ‘©πŸ» πŸ’¬ πŸ‘¨πŸ» would learn his punishment when his mother βž• father had ⏱️ to discuss it after 🏫, but in the meantime, πŸ‘©πŸ» took πŸ‘¨πŸ» favorite snack, a Cosmic Brownie, out of πŸ‘¨πŸ» lunch box βž• πŸ—£οΈ him πŸ‘¨πŸ» wouldn’t be getting a snack today as πŸ‘©πŸ» dropped a baggie of πŸ₯• in the brownie’s place.

Emmett was 😫 of Michael’s pranks βž• how Michael never got in trouble for anything. It was Michael’s fault that Emmett threw the πŸ‘ž that broke the vase, but his parents wouldn’t πŸ‘‚πŸ» to him βž• grounded him for a week. Emmett decided then βž• there that Michael would never prank him πŸ”‚. πŸ‘¨πŸ» would make sure of it.

Several years ago, Emmett πŸ† a orange-striped goldfish at the state fair in 1️⃣ of those πŸ’-toss games. The life expectancy of 1️⃣ of those goldfish isn’t typically that long, but Emmett took πŸ‘πŸ» care of his fish. 1️⃣ Saturday morning, Emmett woke πŸ”Ž πŸ‘¨πŸ»β¬…οΈ goldfish, which πŸ‘¨πŸ» had named Bubbles, floating on the πŸ” of the tank, lifeless. Emmett πŸ’¬ nothing to his parents or his brother, βž• instead of flushing Bubbles ⬇️ the 🚽, πŸ‘¨πŸ» decided to use it to teach Michael a lesson βž• πŸ›‘ the pranks πŸ”‚ βž• for all.

Emmett’s parents both had work βž• ⬅️ Emmett in charge of ⌚️ Michael. It was lunch ⏱️ βž• Emmett decided to make πŸ₯ͺ. Both πŸ‘¦πŸ» like πŸ₯” chips on their πŸ₯ͺ, which was perfect for helping Emmett conceal the lump created by the goldfish in Michael’s πŸ₯ͺ. Emmett took his ⏱️ spreading mayonnaise on both pieces of 🍞 for Michael’s πŸ₯ͺ. πŸ‘¨πŸ» layered a piece of πŸ§€, several pieces of ham, a squirt of mustard, the goldfish, some more ham, βž• a βœ‹πŸ» of chips between 2️⃣ pieces of 🍞. The πŸ‘€ on Michael’s πŸ˜€ when he bit into the goldfish was hilarious, but the πŸ‘€ when Michael realized what was in his πŸ₯ͺ made Emmett realize that πŸ‘¨πŸ» had taken this prank way too far. πŸ‘¨πŸ» felt terrible ⌚️ Michael get 😷 for πŸ”Ÿ minutes. Both Michael βž• Emmett learned a lesson that day, βž• Michael never pranked Emmett πŸ”‚.

 

I used Emoji Translate to substitute some words in my story for emojis. I hope you enjoyed it.


Student Blogging Challenge – Week 3

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The tasks for week 3 of the Student Blogging Challenge have been posted.

This week my students will complete a variation of the 3rd task – Image Task Cards. This week we will be beginning our memoir unit. Our very first lesson is trying our hand at creating 6 Word Memoirs. Students will begin their experience by creating a physical copy of their 6 word memoir on Monday. On Tuesday, we will create a digital copy of our 6 Word Memoirs using our blogs and creative commons images. We will be adding the plugin “Compfight” to our blog dashboards so that we can have easy access to creative commons images to ensure we don’t violate any copyright laws. Students will then create a new post on their blogs that has at least one 6 Word Memoir and a creative commons image to go along with it. I hope you’ll check them out once they are published. The 6 Word Memoir project is something I always enjoy doing with my students.

 

Students:

Here is theΒ link to the Google FormΒ to submit your post so that it can be commented on.



My Commenting Experience

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I signed up to be a volunteer commenter for the Student Blogging Challenge. I know how important comments are to making the Student Blogging Challenge interactive, so I decided that I could spare the time each week to comment on at least 5 students’ blogs. Last week I commented on these 5 great blogs before teaching my students about quality commenting:

Coy’s BlogΒ Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Madison’s BlogΒ Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Hayden’s BlogΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Chloe’s BlogΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Jayden’s Blog

As part of this week’s task, I went through what makes a quality comment with my students. I learned a few new tricks to help make my own comments even better. The Student Blogging Challenge Week 1 form had so many responses for our first week’s tasks, that I was asked to comment on 5 extra blogs. I think I definitely improved the quality of my comments after this week’s lesson. I made sure to find something to highlight and praise to start my comment. I found a connection between the author and myself and tried to ask a question that would start a conversation. I also made sure to include a greeting and a closing to make my comments more like a friendly letter. Good comments help to make blogging a more exciting experience.Β  I look forward to checking back in with these great authors to see their work for the rest of the Student Blogging Challenge. Here are the 5 extra blogs that I commented on for the week 1 tasks after going over the lesson on quality commenting:

Ethan’s BlogΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Grayden’s BlogΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Brandon’s BlogΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Ariya’s BlogΒ  Β  Β  Β  Β  Romy’s Blog

 

So what do you think – did I do a better job of writing quality comments after going through the lesson with my students this week?

 

Be sure to check out some student blogs from the right sidebar before you go! My students would love to see you practice your quality comments on their posts.


Student Blogging Challenge – Week 2

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The tasks for week 2 of the Student Blogging Challenge have been posted.

βœ“Β Commenting Guidelines – check ours out here.

 

Our main focus this week will be commenting on other blogs. You can find the list of URLs for the other Student Blogging Challenge participants here. We will be commenting on at least 2 blogs and writing a post about the experience. We can’t wait to get to see what the other participants are up to!

 

Here is the link to the Google Form to submit your Post so that it can be commented on.


Student Blogging Challenge – Week 1

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The challenges for the Student Blogging Challenge (Week 1) have been posted.

βœ“Β Task 1 – Last week, most of the students created an avatar to represent themselves as part of the Student Blogging Bootcamp.

Task 2 – This week, Mrs. Cremeens will compile our avatars to create a cool project and post it to our class blog.

Task 3 & 4 – Students will be completing one or both of these tasks and posting to their student blog, so check back to see their work.

Task 5 – All students will be creating an About page for their own student blog. You can see our Class Blog About Page here.

Task 6 – We will practice our commenting skills this week by visiting blogs of other student participants.

Last week we finished up our free-verse poetry unit and students have started posting some of their poems to their student blogs. Check them out using the links in the right > sidebar and offer some feedback. Constructive criticism and praise help us to grow as writers. We can’t make great literature without help.

Click HERE for a collection of websites that allow users to create an avatar that can be uploaded to a edublogs profile.