Student Blogging

I finally set up a blog for my students! I had wanted to do this since we set up our own blogs. Setting up the blog was easy, deciding how to have the kids blog was difficult. It was also hard for me to decide when and where they would blog. Since I only teach science and math I it took me a long time to determine when I could show them how to blog. I was also unsure when they would have time to blog and how I would have them sign in to the blog. I wanted to have all of these kinks worked out before I exposed them to this exciting technology.
I decided the kids would blog as part of their morning work. At times, I will also have them blog during Math and Science as a closing activity. I also decided just to have the kids add comments to the blog topics I post. Some people might argue that this isn't exactly blogging, but I think it is pretty close. I moderate all comments, which can be time consuming with 60 kids!
I did run into a small problem today, that could be an issue. I asked all of the kids to go to the blog (they are great at this!) and then wait. I wanted to review the rules before they got started. One of my students decided to click on "Next Blog" when he did he exclaimed "Mrs. Pickles Blog!" I immediately told him to go back to our site and talked to him about the need to follow my directions. I am a bit concerned that when they are at the site, they may decide to look at other blogs, which may have inappropriate material.
Overall, I have been happy with the blogging and will keep you guys updated on how it is going!