Community reviews for Fanschool

Kidblog is a valuable tool that gives students a safe environment to publish their writing about assigned or chosen topics for an audience of their peers. Blogging allows students to post for a purpose, as well as build upon their digital citizenship skill.

Kidblog is an easy blogging platform you can make private or public on the web. You can use it for simple creation of different writing activities or as a digital portfolio. Through the site, you can upload videos or photos and, of course, any length of writing you choose. Students are then able to read and respond to each other's posts, which is a good practice for digital citizenship. If sites are public, they can be connected with other teachers in different classrooms or across the country/world. Then, within Kidblog and a click of a button, your class can read each other's posts. Not much customization is available. Students are able to put a picture for their profile but the site background can be changed into different themes but not customized. Also, the website is more reliable than the app in my experience.

I love using Kidblog for students to share their learning in content areas other than literacy. They love getting read each other's posts and comment. I love that I can assess many areas at once in a single blog post. We integrate other technologies like Pic Monkey and Educreations in our blogposts. There is a bit of a learning curve if students have never blogged before, but they learn very quickly. The control panel can be difficult to navigate. Getting back to saved posts is a little confusing.

Kid Blog is an outstanding tool that allows students to be creators and publishers. Watching student collaboration and sharing can invigorate any classroom. The excitement that students feel when they see others reading their publications is exciting to bot the teacher and the student. Some outstanding features of Kid Blog is the community that is built inside the classroom walls. The ability for teachers to monitor students posts is very important as students learn to operate in an academic forum. In fact, teachers can set Kid Blog up so nothing is published until the teacher approves. As students become proficient it could be important to move toward a blogging platform that is more open to the web... but only after precautions, student learning, and guidelines are set. Kid Blog allows for the beginning learning opportunity to publish online.

Standardized state writing assessments have gone digital, yet many classrooms are still stuck in traditional paper and pencil mode. As an introduction to safe, secure, online writing, Kidblog is a hit! Each student in a class is given their own blog page within the umbrella of the whole class blog (think individual pages in one big book). Students can then use the tool to complete numerous writing tasks, stored in one secure place. Kidblog is internet based, so accessible from various locations at school and at home. Looking for classroom collaboration? Students and teachers can comment on each others' posts to share ideas, editing suggestions, etc. Further, classrooms can branch out and connect with other Kidblog classrooms to share blogs making a richer, deeper collaborative, social environment.

Overall, this tool is great for introducing students to blogging, or digital writing as a whole. There is a bit of a learning curve in understanding the various options for settings, but can be a great tool to facilitate writing instruction in the classroom.

This tool helps students become excited about writing and collaborating with their peers. It is easy for the teacher to set up and the options of securing the posts and comments, so that those are not published unless the teacher gives permission, eases teacher fear of students collaborating online. This tool lends itself to really help strengthen the writing process for students.

I have introduced Kidblog to 6 classes (Five 5th grade and one 4th grade) at 3 different elementary schools. The students are very excited about having their own blog space. Most have been using Microsoft Word to type journal entries or stories. This limits their ability to access and edit their writing. Kidblog offers a place for students to login at school or at home. They can create a new blog post, or edit one that has been saved as a draft. All posts must be approved before they appear for the class to view. This gives students the chance to revise and edit their writing based on a checklist that is followed. Teachers and students can add comments (also pending approval) to blog posts. Using Kidblog has been a great way to foster meaningful writing and build writing stamina with 5th grade students as they prepare to take a direct writing evaluation in the spring (part of Virginia's SOLs). I have really enjoyed using the site with students and will be introducing several new classes to Kidblog this month!

I really like Kidblog, however, the first time I actually used it with a class, I struggled getting to where the kids could log in. This was totally my fault because I neglected to read the directions. Once I did, I couldn't believe how easy it was to access. By publishing the link someplace all of the students could access, logging in was a breeze, even with my younger students! All they had to do was identify their name and type in the number they already use to gain access to the computer. I still haven't had a real chance to have kids blog and get the world view that publishing can offer them, but Kidblog is a great tool for them to use to experience this. There are many +'s like the security, ease of access, and ease of use. Overall a great product!

Kidblog is a fantastic website to use for blogging in the classroom. I like so much on this site. Some of the best things are that you can create multiple blogs, diverse themes, the ability to moderate and approve messages, and the opportunities for students to provide feedback for each other. Kidblog is very simple and I find it easy to incorporate in different areas of my lesson.