Whenever we do the Student Blogging Challenge we have a free choice week where students are welcome to talk about topics that interest them.

This task involves writing a blog post about your own passions, interests, hobbies, recommendations, or curiosities. It’s basically a free choice post to write about anything you like! Your post might include text, images, videos, diagrams, a quiz, a slideshow, or any other sort of media.

💡 Here are some example posts from former Student Blogging Challenge participants:

• Ally wrote about her passion for physics and philosophy of the universe.
• Julia wrote about her cats and included a video.
• Ryder explored the topic of what makes the perfect “surf-able” wave.
• Evey argued why Minecraft and Fortnite should not be compared.
• Ella offered some book suggestions for her readers.
• Quinn reflected on his favorite hobbies: photography, basketball, and skiing.
• Kate reflected on whether cats are smart.
• Emily wrote about her favorite sport: field hockey.

Hi Girls,

I notice that quite a few of you are making quizzes, polls, videos, and other exciting content for your blog visitors to engage with.

Below are some instructions for you to follow to help you embed content into your blog post, rather than just post a link.

I would like you all to embed something of your choice into a blog post, either a quiz that you have already made or perhaps a slideshow of images that allows you to copy a code.

 

CREATE CONTENT USING ONLINE TOOL

There is a wide range of online tools and apps that you can use to quickly create content that can be embedded into posts.

Many of these tools require an account to be created and some don’t allow the site to be used by a person under 13 years of age.  You need to check their Terms of service or privacy page to make sure you are allowed to use the site before creating an account

 

EMBED IN POST

Once you’ve created your content using one of the above online tools you embed it into a post as follows:

1. Copy the embed code.

Usually when you create something online there is an option to copy the ’embed code’ or something similar.

then copy the story embed code.

 

2.  Go to Posts > Add New

3.  Place your cursor where you want the video to appear and then click on the Add Media button.

4.  In the Add Media window click on the Insert Embed Code tab.

5.  Paste the embed code into the Insert Embed code box and click Insert into post.

6.  When you have finished writing your post click Publish.

7.  You should see your video/quiz when you view the published post.

This task involves writing a post about travel.

Here are some ideas for your post:

You could either choose to do one of the tasks from the dot point list below or pick a task from the Student Blog challenge poster further down.

• Write about a holiday you went on that you really enjoyed. Include photos if you have permission.
• Make a list of the top 10 travel destinations you’d like to go to. Tell us why you’d like to visit these places.
• Create a slideshow or video of your ideal holiday destinations.
• Create an imaginary itinerary if you could travel anywhere and had an unlimited budget

Be creative with how you share

This week’s challenge has some fantastic tips and advice about using music, and where to get it.

And lots of fun challenges to make your own music or playlist. Create a new post sharing what you have done this week.

Learn how to add a widget so you can see who is visiting your blog

You may want to add a flag counter

Step 6: Add Widgets

Here is a link to Steph’s blog where she has made a tutorial video on how to add widgets.

I have added a table with 2 cells and put one photo in each cell. If you cant see the button in the toolbar that allows you to add a table, go to plugins in your dashboard and search for tables and add an easy table.

Please create a new post on your blog explaining what you have changed/added with your widgets, as well as including two photos from Unsplash in a side-by-side table as has been done above.

🦋 Bella’s amazing blog!🦋	Emily C	Aphrodite
☀️ G E M M A 🌊	Amelia	Anne
★ EVAS BLOG ★	Madison	Sally
♥ 𝓃𝒾𝓀𝑜𝑜 ♥	Della	Elena
♥🎀𝒮𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒽🎀 ♥	Victoria	Mia
✨ 𝙶 𝚊 𝚋 𝚛 𝚒 𝚎 𝚕 𝚕 𝚎 🏄🏽‍♀	Emma H	Lauren
✨annabel🐄	Anisha	Nia
✨S O P H I E✨	Cynthia	Kathryn
❄️ 🆉 🅰 🆁 🅰 ❄️	Mila	Larissa
⭐️ amna🪐	Audrey	Elaine
𝓟𝓮𝓷𝓷𝔂’𝓼 𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓰🐯🐾	Anagi	Maggie
🌱Charlize🌱	Kate	Georgia
🌴Frankie🌴	Emily Q	Aahana
🌷𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖’𝕤 𝕔 𝕓�	Vienna	Jenny
🍄 C L E O 🤠	Evelyn	Jalyn
🍄M A R G O T🍉	Ally	Chloe S
🍉Cindi’s Summer Blog🍍	Yahara	Emma W
🍕STELLA🍕	Chloe Y	Jiaxi
🍭 A A H A N A 😎	Maheen	Emma Wo
🍭Ali🍬	Aphrodite	Rachel
🎀ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕪’𝕤 𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕘🎀	Anne	Kewei
🐴 Alex’s Neighing Great Blog🐴	Sally	Emma Y
💜𝕊𝕒𝕒𝕟𝕧𝕚’𝕤 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕘🦉	Elena	Yahara
💜𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙸𝙺𝙰𝟙𝟝🌟	Mia
😎 Addi😎	Lauren
😎 Akshaya🍪	Nia
😎Alisha💜	Kathryn
😛 Zoe😛	Larissa
🙂Alicia’s Blog🙃	Elaine
🤩 C A I T L Y N 🥳	Maggie
🤪𝕃𝕚𝕝𝕚’𝕤 𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘 �	Georgia
🥥 Charlotte 🥥	Aahana
🥥 LULU🥥	Jenny
🥽 F L O 🥽	Jalyn
🦄 Manha!😀	Chloe S
🦄 Eshal!!😻	Emma Wo
🦋 A L I C E 🥥	Rachel
🦋 R E M I 🐙	Emma Y
🦋Areeba😎	Jiaxi
🦕 Evie’s Blog 🦕	Emily C
🦕 G R A C E 🦕	Amelia
🦕bridget🦕	Madison
🦕MILA🦕	Della
🦕Rocca’s Blog🦕	Victoria
🦕Z A Y L A🦕	Emma H
🦮 lorelei da doggo🐶	Anisha
🧋Alyra🍫	Cynthia
🩰 ʟ ᴏ ᴛ ᴛ ɪ ᴇ ‘ ꜱ ʙ ʟ ᴏ ɢ 🥳	Mila
G E O R G I A	Audrey
Gabby’s blog🥳	Anagi
India’s Blog	Kate
Izzys blog	Emily Q
ψmikiツ	Vienna
Jade🦩	Evelyn
Jasmine🐬	Ally
Lauren’s Blog	Yahara
madi🐭	Emma Wo
Matilda	Kewei
nehaw621	Chloe
Poppy’s Blog	Maheen

 

 

Your task is to produce a piece of creative writing using connectives, but you must follow a few rules.

You can write about anything you like – but please note:

Your writing MUST include:

•  3 causal connectives and 3 temporal connectives – Use the list glued into your literacy book.
• Please highlight your casual connectives in red and your temporal connectives in blue.
• Be no more than 200 words.

Please start your writing with one of the following prompts:

1. I looked down in disbelief, I couldn’t believe my eyes…

2. The rain was pouring down…

3. It was a hard decision, but I didn’t have a choice.

OR

Find an image from www.unsplash.com to base your writing on.

Please include this image as part of your blog post response titled ‘Writing Challenge – Week 5’

Hi Girls,

This is where you can share your thinking with everyone about what you have picked up about commenting.

Please leave a reply….

This is an activity to help you think about the quality of your comments as well as what makes a quality comment.

1. Follow each step below. Remember this is also an activity that requires you to use your reading comprehension skills.
2. Read the Commenting Guidelines under the red heading below.
3. Now watch a video by clicking on the green link below the commenting guidelines, made by Year 5 students.
4. Next, click on the link directly below in blue, to see a range of comments left on an imaginary blog.
   thumbs up or thumbs down sorting activity
5. Create a new post and rate these comments from the above link in order from the least helpful to the most helpful.
   Which is the most helpful and WMYST?
   Which is the least helpful and WMYST?
6. Next make a comment about what you have learnt in this activity on our class blog, in the post called,
   “We have been learning about making comments on other people’s blogs”.

Commenting Guidelines

Commenting is what brings a blog to life. Comments are also a significant reason why people write blogs – they want to get people thinking and communicating.
Your comments should aim help to keep the learning going, to keep the conversation going.

Here are some important guidelines to follow when you are making comments. Thanks to ‘Guidelines’ written by the 2009-2010 bloggers of Huzzah! 

• Make your comment worth reading.
• Start a conversation.
• Be positive, interested, and encouraging.
• If you disagree, be polite about it.
• Connect with the post: be on topic.
• Re-read your comment before you hit submit–think before you send!
• Aim for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
• Don’t use chat or texting language like lol, i, or u.
• No “Hi! Visit my blog! Bye!” comments. Be thoughtful.
• Keep your privacy: no personal or identifying information about you, your family, or your friends. Don’t give out last names, school name, phone numbers, user names, or places and dates you can be found.

Together we will practise commenting and create our own set of guidelines to help us write really appropriate and effective comments.

Watch this excellent Comments video shared by Andrea Hernandez made by a 5th Grade student.

Your task is to produce a piece of writing using either of the two pictures below as a prompt.

You can write about anything you like – but please note:

Your writing MUST include:

•  3 causal connectives and 3 temporal connectives – Use the list glued into your literacy book.
• Please highlight your casual connectives in red and your temporal connectives in blue.
• Be no more than 200 words.

Once you think you have completed your writing please:

Proofread and edit your writing carefully. Be sure all words are spelled correctly and you have included your 6 connectives.

You will then copy your blog link and post it in response to the Seesaw task ‘Writing Challenge – Using Connectives’

Photo by Jae Park on Unsplash

 

Have fun!