Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson!

"Blogging -- or Web logging -- most often is thought of as an activity for high school students. Did you know, however, that students as young as kindergarten now blog on a daily basis in a variety of exciting ways? Read on to find out how elementary blogging works, what topics elementary students and teachers cover in their blogs, software programs and tools to consider, and cautions and tips for starting your own blog."

"As David Warlick points out on his Landmark Project Web site, however, the blog has evolved rapidly into something more:
Number 1: A blog is a Web-publishing concept that enables anyone -- first graders, political pundits, homeless people, high school principals, presidential candidates -- to publish information on the Internet,
Number 2: Blogs (a shortening of weB LOG), or blogging has become a journalistic tool, a way to publish news, ideas, rants, announcements, and ponderings very quickly, and without technical, editorial, and time constraints. It essentially makes anyone a columnist. In fact, many established columnists now publish their own blogs,
Number 3: Blogs, because of their ease of use, and because of the context of news and editorial column writing, have become a highly effective way to help students to become better writers. Research has long shown that students write more, write in greater detail, and take greater care with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, when they are writing to an authentic audience over the Internet."

Additional resources:

• Blogging rubric


• How Can Children Stay Safe Using Blogs?


• Weblogg-ed: the read/write web in the classroom


• Blogging Basics: Creating Student Journals on the Web