“This is going to be awesome. Tell the two writing teachers I said thanks”. This is the comment from one of my students (a very reluctant writer) to my introductory post in kidblog.org. I told the students that the idea came from the Two Writing Teachers… Today, one day late from my original plan, I welcomed my students to the Slice of Life challenge. March 1 was my first time blogging as a teacher. I was thinking about signing up my fifth grader for the classroom challenge, but decided against it as I am new at this and my students have never blogged before. They do write small moments on their writers notebook, but doing this on line, with the instant interactive component, is something I feel they need to get used. I got some great advice from Linda Baie who referred me to Margaret Simon, who, in turn, recommended kidblog.org as an easy-to-use platform for fifth graders. Based on Margaret’s suggestions I am keeping the blog private this year. I would have never started had I not had their support! I am so grateful to the whole Two Writing Teachers community!
Back to my reluctant writer – at the end of writing and the end of the school day, he told me to ready myself for a creepy blog. He only had a few minutes to write by the time I showed the class how to log in and how to navigate the site. This is what he wrote: “yesterday I found the stone that went in my leg :c”. I can’t wait to hear more!
Chiara's Slice of Life 
Blogging has revitalized my sixth grade writing class! I hope your students continue to love it as much as mine do! Way to jump in there! 🙂
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Thank you for the encouragement! We have three more months of school. I am looking forward to this new journey!
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I loved slicing with kids! I found it more of a challenge than slicing myself but being the inspiration was so very rewarding. I hope the momentum and enthusiasm sticks the whole month with your crew. Good luck!
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Thank you! It has been easier than I thought writing for myself. We will see hot it goes with the kids!
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Sounds great! We’ve been working on some massive writing projects and could really use the break to write like writers, in daily short bursts. I know, for me, it makes me feel super accomplished. I’ll have to share the love with them. Kidblog.org is a closed platform?
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Not sure what you mean by closed…my out can make it private or public. Either way you can set it up so you get to approve all the comments and posts before they are seen by others. You should try it!
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I think that Kidblog is fantastic. One of my new students who was a very unmotivated writer when I got her changed her view of writing once she began to blog. One day, she came into my classroom and spontaneously said, “I have a story that I want to blog.” It’s those moments that make your heart sing. It sounds like you are having those moments with your students:)
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I hope so! Thank you for sharing your experience!
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