Review by Stephanie Trautman, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2016
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Kidblog

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Safe, supportive blogs boost kids' writing skills and digital citizenship

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Character & SEL
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
1–8
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (41 Reviews)
Price:  Free to try, Paid Teacher premium: $44 per teacher per year. Contact Kidblog for pricing for the Admin Pro level (priced per student per year).
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

5 images
Kidblog provides a safe and simple platform.
Adding a post is much like using a word processor: Kids will take to it easily.
It's up to the teacher to create meaningful learning opportunities.
Teachers can adjust privacy settings to create a safe space for blogging.
Teachers can create classes, add students, and more from the dashboard.

Pros: A straightforward and safe blogging experience that supports 21st-century skills.

Cons: This is just a platform; it's up to the teachers to make learning happen.

Bottom Line: It's a go-to resource for quick, safe, and easy student blogging.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Use Kidblog as a platform for your students to publish their writing, audio, visual, or video projects. With the easy embedding features from other services like Edmodo and Glogster, the sky is the limit in terms of the creativity kids can bring to their Kidblog projects. As a teacher, you can also create a class blog as a way to communicate with parents. Include information about daily happenings in the classroom, upcoming deadlines, and learning tips for students. Teachers could also use Kidblog as a digital portfolio, which could grow with students from year to year within the same school district.

The ability to adjust privacy settings on Kidblog provides an opportunity to respect (and protect) your students' privacy, but it also serves as an invitation to discuss the issue of online privacy and safety with them. Ask your students to discuss issues such as who can see their blog versus other blogs on the internet. Also, be sure to share with your class clear behavioral norms around acceptable content. Having these discussions is a great way to encourage critical thinking about the ways students interact on the web.

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Put this tool into practice:
Standards:

Kidblog is a blogging platform intended primarily for kids, moderated by teachers, librarians, or school administrators. The site requires an adult to create a classroom or school account with only an email address. There's also a one-click option through Google's universal login, making it very convenient for Google users. After creating an account, teachers follow a set of links to set up multiple classes, adjust privacy settings, post a message, and get kids blogging.

Students aren't required to provide an email address to use the service. Students can get connected using only some general information: A URL, their teacher's name, and the class name (as created by the teacher) are all they'll need. Students can then select their name from a class list previously imported by the teacher. Teachers can manage and moderate their students' blogs, and additional features include private commenting, embedding content within blogs, email support, and free themes. 

Blogging is a great way to support students as both writers and creators of digital content. Students' writing instruction can be much more meaningful when they know they'll have an authentic audience for their work. Using Kidblog, the various privacy levels allow students access to an audience that could include peers, parents, other teachers, and even the public. Students can also develop editing skills by peer editing each other's blogs. For digital creators, publishing on the web is a great way to encourage students to learn an important 21st-century skill. Additionally, they'll get a chance to practice digital citizenship in a safe, closed environment, rather than jumping right into the deep end when they're older. 

For teachers, Kidblog has a strong social media presence, with a support blog, Twitter feed, and Google+ page. Teachers are encouraged to share ideas, interact with others, and contact the site's support staff with any issues or requests for new features. As with any Web 2.0 tool, these features are crucial in ensuring kids' learning outcomes. On top of that, Kidblog's features make the process efficient so teachers can focus on what matters most: student learning.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Content creation on the web is generally an engaging activity for students. Kidblog provides support so students and teachers can focus on the writing.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Kidblog advocates teacher management of student-empowered writing, and providing a safe space for student exploration is the focus.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Safeguards and security are built in through teacher options for privacy settings; it's easy and efficient.

Common Sense Reviewer
Stephanie Trautman Classroom teacher
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Speaking & Listening

  • SL.2.1

    Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

  • SL.4.1

    Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

  • SL.7.1

    Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Writing

  • W.3.4

    With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.3.10

    Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

  • W.5.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.5.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

  • W.5.10

    Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

  • W.7.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 41 reviews) (41 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Stephen B. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Mary E. Volz School
Runnemede, United States
A Fantastic Walled Garden
It is a wonderful teaching tool because it allows students to post what they feel and it gives me piece of mind knowing that what they post is for the class only. Signing into your class can be a little difficult sometimes if you have not set up a permanent link or bookmark to it directly. But overall a big thumbs up!
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