Submitted by: Heather Fallis

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

In this lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades 3-12, students use BrainPOP resources to explore the various types of blogs on the internet and learn how to post to a blog appropriately. Students will also demonstrate their understanding by blogging book reviews and commenting on two other book review blog posts written by their peers.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:

  1. Learn about the various types of blogs on the internet
  2. Learn how to post to a blog appropriately
  3. Post a review of a book and comment on two other reviews in the class

Materials:

Vocabulary:

screen name, blog, internet, email, interactive, blogosphere

Preparation:

Preview the BrainPOP movies Online Safety and Blogs. Make copies of the "Blogs" Graphic Organizer and the "Online Safety" Worksheet for each of your students. Make sure each student has a book they have read that can be shared on the blog. You can use books that have been assigned for a book report.

Lesson Procedure:

  1. Ask your students if they have ever read a blog. Use answers to help the class create a list of blogs on the whiteboard.
  2. Share some blogs with the class. Select blogs that vary in theme/subject (sports, animals, music, etc) to explore with students.
  3. Watch the BrainPOP movie, Blogs. Pause as new terms are discussed in the movie, and have your students turn and talk to their neighbors, then converse as a class.
  4. Have students individually complete the Graphic Organizer and share their answers with a partner or team.
  5. Explain that the class is going to be creating a reading blog as a way to share the books they have read. Then show the previous year's blog, or a different reading blog as an example.
  6. Students then work together to create a post on the blog for a book we have read together as a class.
  7. The next day watch the BrainPOP movie, Online Safety and discuss appropriate postings versus inappropriate.
  8. Complete the Worksheet. As a class review your school's appropriate use policy.
  9. Students use pencil and paper to write a rough draft of their book review. This can also be for homework.
  10. Book review rough drafts are peer edited and then students post them to the blog.
  11. Students will read and comment on at least two of their peer's reviews.

Extension Activities:

Have students create a podcast using the same theme as their reading blog.