Blogs Movie Background Information for Teachers, Parents and Caregivers
This page provides information to support educators and families in teaching K-3 students about blogs. It is designed to complement the Blogs topic page on BrainPOP Jr.
Encourage children to become active members of the blogosphere! This movie will introduce blogs and describe a few common types. It will identify the main parts of a blog, including the comments section, and explore ways children can participate in blogs. We recommend writing a class or family blog together to allow children to develop reading and writing skills and take ownership of their work.
Remind children that the word “blog” is short for “web log.” A blog is an online journal that shares information. Blogs can be about anything and everything. Brainstorm or show a few different examples of blogs. Blogs usually have text, pictures, videos, or a combination of these media. Some blogs explore general topics, such as sports, books, technology, education, or entertainment. Other blogs explore very specific topics, such as a particular species of animal. Some people keep personal blogs so they can write about their lives and share their thoughts and opinions. But there are many different kinds of blogs! Photoblogs share photos, travel blogs (or travelogs) share information about places to visit, dream blogs share people’s dreams, and news blogs report on things happening all around the world. A microblog is another type of blog. It has very short posts of just a sentence or two that share a quick thought or a link to a picture, video, or website. Blogs are as different as the people who write them, but all share information and provide opportunities to learn about many different things.
Remind children that many blogs share a few things in common. Many have a title, just like a book or magazine. One person can be the author of a blog, or several contributors can post to the same blog (called a collaborative blog). Show children that the latest or newest blog post is at the top of the page, and the entries get older as you move down the page. On some blogs, people can make comments so readers can share a thought or opinion about a specific post. Old blog posts are collected in the archives, which are organized by date. Many blogs have a section that provides links to other websites. These are sites or other blogs that readers might find interesting or useful. It’s a great way to learn about other resources on the Internet.
Encourage children to participate in blogs. There are a large number of free blogging sites available, and many provide themes that are easily modifiable and offer the ability to have multiple contributors. You may want to set up a blog to maintain throughout the school year that describes what students are working on in class. Go through the proper protocols of posting a blog. Like any piece of writing, it’s important to check your work for mistakes before publishing. Remind children that when something is published, it is put into print so it can be shared.
Another way of participating in blogs is by reading them and posting comments. Encourage children to comment on entries to share their thoughts and add on to a discussion. They may even want to answer a question posed by another reader in the comments section. Blogs allow people to exchange and share ideas with others all over the world. Remind children that everything posted to a blog is available for everyone to read. This includes comments made on blog entries. Thus, they should not post anything mean or write anything they would not say to someone in person.
Blogs are powerful communication tools that allow people of all backgrounds to connect and share their lives and work. In addition, they help children develop reading and writing skills and allow them to create and take ownership of their work. Encourage children to become active bloggers!
