So I'm thinking of starting an actual blog. It is going to include ideas for children's activities, Sensory table ideas, and holiday ideas. It is going to be great!

Instructional Video on Shapes

The supplies that you'll need for Warm Fuzzies are: craft foam cut into hearts, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, googley eyes. Create as many warm fuzzies as you would like. A great book to read along with these is The Original Warm Fuzzy Tale By Claude Steiner.

Best practices for Blogging

Post Titles

Titles are an attention grabber for most people. People will decide when they read your title if they would like to continue reading or just move on. You should also make your title be an answer to a question or a question (http://www.slideshare.net/rlewis1686/5-blog-best-practices).

Keep it Fresh and Real

Readers want to know that they are talking to someone who is real. It’s okay to have an opinion, we aren’t journalist who need to provide and objective view. Also don’t talk in an authoritative voice. People want a real person to talk to, not a know it all. (http://www.echoditto.com/blogging)

Hyperlink

Hyperlink to other blogs or within your own blog or your companies blog. This gives readers an easy access if they would like to continue reading. It also lets them know that you are aware of others blogs and your own older posts (http://www.slideshare.net/rlewis1686/5-blog-best-practices, http://www.capturetheconversation.com/read/blogging-best-practices-checklist)

Engage

Engage with your readers. This shows them that you are listening. It also adds value to your post

I have never been much of a blogger. But I do think that blogging is a great resource for teachers. It is free and allows us, as teachers to see inside the worlds of other classrooms. We can share ideas with each other. One blog that I read said that it was like having a conference with first grade teacher, drama teachers or any other teachers you would like (http://mrssmoke.onsugar.com/Educational-Blogs-You-Should-Investigating-2787268). I think that blogging will be an even more valuable to resource as we are moving towards the common curriculum.

From many of the blogs that read I noticed that there are two main formats/subjects that teachers write about. The first is reflections of the day or what is going on with parents and/or students. An example of one such blog is located at: http://kiri8.wordpress.com/  If you do have a reflective blog never mention people by name. The second subject for blogging that I found most teachers using was classroom resources and activities. A few blogs like this are: http://www.education.com/activity/first-grade/ and http://totally3rdgrade.com/wordpress/  Both of these blogs provide resources available to teachers. I also noticed that if varies how often a teacher blogs. some do it weekly and others do it daily.