My Grade 1’s have began noticing that we can comment on our blogs so we decided to give it a try. During the week, the students and I commented on a few of our blogs and discussed what makes a good comment (Shared Writing). Often during the week, we have very little time to actually just read each others blogs and comment (they are so busy posting to their own!), I have decided that we will spend one period a week in the computer lab devoted to reading our blogs and posting our comments.
Friday was our first time going to the computer lab, logging in the computers, logging in to the blogs, and posting comments. The students had their writing duo tangs with word lists and their login information. I was unsure on how far we would get the first time but did they blow me away! In 30 minutes, they were able to get logged in and post 49 comments in one period (19 students, everyone posted at least one)! Most of the comments were excellent using questions, encouragement, and making connections! Students were using their word lists and asking for spelling because they wanted their comments to be spelled accurately so their peers could read them! Their engagement and attention to detail was amazing, especially for being their first time being immersed in commenting!
I am excited to see the progress they begin to make as we continue with these commenting lab periods dedicated to evaluation and reflection!
Here is our classroom blog post about commenting. We also created a “FlipaGram” video with someone of our favourite comments!
http://edublog.amdsb.ca/bross/2014/02/28/commenting-on-our-blogs/
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Leigh Cassell Consulting 
Laura,
Love the “flipagram” video to showcase your student work. It would make them proud I’m sure. I have been trying to get kids to respond to comments that others are leaving on their blogs. This has definitely become more time consuming but the benefits are worth it! I have started to organize our computer lab times so that one period is spent just on commenting on peer blogs and responding to blog comments they receive. This is definitely a big step in their learning as the kids are now having to come up with questions, think critically about what others are saying, make connections, etc. They love receiving comments from others and we are now at the stage where they want to “keep the conversation going” by asking questions. I have even had a couple of kids approach me because they wanted to share links in their comments to others based on blog postings they are reading. It’s amazing how far things have come in a short period of time. I am really excited to see where we will be at by June…
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