Kids in the Mid

Lots of people have worked hard on their blogs this year and have developed some wonderfully interesting ‘web spaces’ about all sorts of things.

Edublogs gives awards every year for the best blog in various categories. They rely on people’s nominations to make the decision.

Miss W. has nominated her ‘best blogs‘ in a post on her blog ‘Miss W. and her Smartboard’. Take a look and see what you think of the blogs Miss W. has nominated.

The Edublogs Awards Blog has a list of award winners from previous years.

Take a look at some of these blogs and write a post about three of the best ones you come across. Explain why you think they are the ‘best blogs’.

Hi there. Most people love to participate in sporting and or recreational activities in the outdoors at various times of the year. Winter in Australia always means Aussie Rules, soccer, hockey, netball etc in Tassie. Over summer it is cricket, camping, car and motor bike racing,fishing and surfing. What activities and or sports do you like or participate in over the winter and summer?

Surfing, surf life saving and kayak racing are my favourite sports. Follow these links out to find out about what goes on.

Create a post telling what you enjoy with a link to your favourite sport and or recreation. Make sure to save it in one of your categories!

Mr Clark

Image: ‘Surfing Burleigh Heads_1031‘

In the Dictionary all words are organised under in alphabetical order. In your wardrobe at home clothes are placed in particular draws and hanging areas…in other words ‘organised’. At school your work is organised into specific books for each subject. On your IPOD music is stored in categories for ease of retrieval.

This is what we call ‘categorising’ which effectively enables us to more quickly find and retrieve things we are looking for. This is even more important as we collect ever more material and store it! Well organised ‘bloggers’ also categorise all their posts.

Some students have already found this mechanism for placing their posts etc into categories.Have a quick check on some of your friends blogs who have already created categories to see how effective  using categories is can be.

1. SO! THIS IS HOW YOU CAN DO IT FOR NEW POSTS.

When you write a post your final action is to hit the blue coloured  ‘Publish’ button on the right hand side of your Dashboard so it is saved on your blog. If you LOOK carefully just under that blue button you will  a section named ‘Categories’.  You will see various suggestions for ‘categories like; Home, Friends, School, Sport, Music and others. You can also make up other names for post categories that suit your posts. So when you write your next post, and  BEFORE you ‘Publish ‘it, click on the required category and the post will be saved under that heading. SIMPLE!

2. NOW, WHAT ABOUT EXISTING UNCATEGORISED POSTS YOU ASK!

Again, this is quite easy. All you need to do is go to your Dashboard and bring up ALL POSTS. Then select the post you want to’ categorise’ by clicking the ‘QUICK EDIT’ button. Then you can click on the categor/ies you require and finally hit the ‘UPDATE’ button.  Now, go through your posts and place them in categories you choose……

WEll DONE TO EVERYONE for completing this task today!

Mr Clark.

Halloween has just passed us by again. In the lead up, I heard lots of students talking about what they were going to do to mark this day that is widely celebrated in the United States and in Britain.

According to a report  by a research company called McCrindle Research and shown on NewsMaker.com, the number of Australians celebrating Halloween is increasing.

However, some Australians feel that Halloween should not be celebrated because it is not an Australian holiday and just gives candy and other businesses more opportunity to sell more products and make more money!

Write a post on your blog, giving your point of view and answering the questions below:

What are your thoughts on Halloween? Should we celebrate it in Australia?

What actually is Halloween? When and how did it begin?

If you did celebrate Halloween this year, what did you do? Why?

These links may help you get started:

History.com

Brisbane Times – More Australians embrace ‘horror culture’

Image: ‘Halloween’ By Pedro J. Ferreira

Last week we had two exciting events happen AND we had fabulous weather for both!

Our school had the athletics carnival, which runs over two days and was a great success.

Hobart also had ‘Show Day’, which is a public holiday for people in the Hobart area. The Hobart Show is held at the showgrounds every year and ‘Show Day’ gives everybody the opportunity to go (or just hang out at the beach, go shopping, do extra homework ).

Write a post about the athletics carnival or about what you did on Show Day.

Try and include lots of detail about what you saw, felt, heard and smelled to make your post interesting; and help your readers get a good idea of your experience. Images can also help with this.

Remember to ‘stay safe’ and avoid including personal information that could identify you.

Image courtesy of Royal Hobart Show

Miss W. and Mr Davo are on the 49th Parallel.

 What is that you ask? Well, your job is to do some internet research and see if you can find out.  Here’s a clue to help you…

‘The 49th parallel circles the earth’.

1. Post the answer on your blog with a link to this post.

Once that is done, have fun trying to think of a funny caption for this photo which is on Mr Devil’s blog.

2. This time, leave a commenton Mr Devil’s post (not this post!) with the caption in it so he and Miss W. can read your caption and (hopefully) have a laugh!

Edublogs Student Challenge 3 asks you to think about your digital footprint, how you are seen by others on the internet, and how much information about you is available to others. The video below is borrowed from the Student Challenge and gives a good explanation of your ‘digital dossier’.

Click here to read the third Student Challenge and choose some of the activities to do. Everyone needs to do Activity 5 about Digital Citizenship, which includes writing a post telling others about it.

Remember to always use links in your posts.

 A t the end of the Digital Citizenship game you get to create a Digizen widget. This is the one I made

G’day students at Kids in the Mid. Thanks very much for promoting my blog while I am travelling around Canada/USA with Miss W.

We have already visited some classes. Check out the posts they wrote about us with Ms Thordarson, Mrs Hembree and Mrs Smith .

Since we visited all those classes, they have been asking lots of questions especially about Australia here on my blog. I was wondering, if any of you had time, if you could research the questions and leave some answers for the students.

If you have any questions about Canada or USA then add your questions on those pages.

Also one student from Mrs Hembree’s school has only just started his blog – perhaps you could visit him especially if you like star wars.

Breaking News Breaking News Breaking News

Miss W bought another little Tasmanian Devil that she is going to give away to the student at her school who participates the most in leaving comments, asking questions and answering questions on my blog. In the lead so far is Chloe aka Clem.

Who didn't clean up after themselves?

Have a look at Mr Davo Devil’s blog and see where Miss W. and Mr Davo are up to now in their journey.

Leave a comment on the blog about something that you find interesting in the latest post.

At the top of Mr Devil’s blog is a button called ‘Want to Ask Some Questions?’. You can choose to ask a question about Australia, Canada or the USA.

Have a look at the questions about Australia. Choose some to answer. Just click ‘Reply’ (next to the date) and leave an answer.

Leave a question about USA or Canada. When you click the ‘Want to Ask Some Questions?’ button, you will see a box shows on the screen with the title ‘Leave a Reply’. Type your question in here.

Image: ‘Who didn’t clean up after themselves?’ by Miss W.