How to Compose a Quality Comment!

The fabulous Miss Wyatt, from The Student Blogging Challenge, asked if I would guest post about commenting. I ♥ commenting and am happy to contribute!

Blogging has many parts: the post, the comments, and the sidebar.

If you do a good job with all of the parts, your blog will be more interesting.

Today we will focus on quality comments!

Content is key!
In our class, we evaluate our blog comments.
A one-point comment is a general comment that doesn't add very much to the post. Example: I like your blog. Please visit mine! A two-point comment adds something to the comment conversation. A commenter might compliment the writer in a specific way or add new information. Another idea is to make a connection. Maybe the post reminds you of an experience that you've had. Share that connection!  Try to end your comment with a relevant question. That way, an interesting conversation can develop.

Here is a video we made with tips to help you take your comments to the next level!





How to Compose a Quality Comment! from mrsyollis on Vimeo.

If Vimeo is blocked, here it is on YouTube.







We like to open our comments with a greeting and end with a closing. We choose to do this as it makes it easier for us to follow the conversation within a comment section.

Mrs. Smith, from Ontario, Canada, adds another excellent idea:
Give some information about where you are from and what grade you are in.
Thanks for a great tip, Mrs. Smith! 



-For Advanced Bloggers-

Some bloggers like to use HTML code to make their comments better.  Learning to write HTML code, or HTML tags, is a somewhat simple way to take your comment to the next level.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a language.

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To write HTML code, use the following symbols:

Important: Do not add a space between the HTML tag and the word or sentence.

 

                                                                                                     

1.  To put text in italics, place this HTML code around the text:

 

 

The sentence will look like this when published:

 

Bloggers should always proofread a comment before publishing.

                                                                                                     


2.  To make text bold, place this HTML code around the text:

                           

The sentence will look like this when published: 


Bloggers should always proofread a comment before publishing.

                                                                                                     


 
3.  To make a hyperlink, it gets a little tricky.

Use the following HTML code around the URL and add your own link word/words:

  [The URL is the address of the web page. It starts with http://www…]

The HTML code below:

  

Will become this hyperlink when published:

                                                                 Mrs. Yollis’ Website

Sometimes it is hard to remember the HTML codes. I keep an HTML word document on my desktop with all the common codes, especially the one to create a hyperlink. Here is a video demonstrating how easy it is to a create a hyperlink if you have the code set up in a Word doc.

If you like to add fun shapes...here are those codes!

Challenge #4: 

This week, try to visit ten blogs and leave a quality comment on each one. End each comment with a question. Check back in a day or two to see if you get a response!  Try to get a conversation going! Here is a list of student bloggers. Look for students around your age and drop them a quality comment!

Leave us a comment about your success!

Here is a video about how to leave a comment on our blog.

Ask us for help if you need any!

Student Blogging Challenge #2

One of the tasks for Challenge #2 in the Student Blogging Challenge is to create an avatar. 

An avatar
is an image or cartoon that is used to  
represent a person online. 

An avatar can show a little about the person,  but should not reveal too much personal information. 

For our educational blog, we use avatars to protect a child's true identity.

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Mrs. Yollis has used several avatars in the past.

Third Grade Picture

At Google Headquarters

In the Classroom

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Here are our new class avatars!

   

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What do you think of our avatars?

Which is your favorite Mrs. Yollis avatar, and why?
Have you ever used an avatar before? When?

Check Out These Blogs!

Miss W. from the Student Blogging Challenge has highlighted several blogs that are worth visiting! 

Please take a moment to visit a few and hopefully leave a comment! :-)

In your comment, tell them  

who you are 

and  

specifically what you liked about their blog. 

(Remember: first names ONLY!)

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Teegan – NZ,  World Star Academy – USA, Mental Weight – USA,  Simone – NZ, Mr Carson – a little school in Canada, Calie – USA, Connor – NZ, Indy – Australia, Coleman – USA, Mason – USA, Digiridoos – NZ, Abbey – USA, Mrs Yollis – USA, tj at Hyden – Australia, Mrs Tieppo – Australia, Braxton – NZ,  Rachel – USA, Bree - NZ, Finn – NZ, Alice – NZ, Jakob – NZ, Mrs Davis-Louis – USA, Mrs Melton – USA, iCubed – USA, Robert – USA, Derek – USA, Brenna – NZ, Daniel – NZ, Miss T – NZ, Daiki – Thailand, Chloe – USA, Dakota – USA, Christian – USA, Addison – USA

Here is a Fantastic ‘About’ page 

Mr Baldock – Australia

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If you left a comment on one of the blogs, tell us which one!

Let's help promote great bloggers!

Why Visit this Blog?

Mrs. Yollis' class  joined an international project called the

  

One task for Challenge #1 is to publish a post answering the following questions:

Why is this blog going to be interesting? 

What will this blog be posting about? 

What could someone learn from reading Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog?

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We post about what we are learning! 

Here are FIVE sample posts from the archive to show what you can expect from Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog!

1.  This blog will take you on a tour of North America. 

2.   We have fabulous Lucky Hats!

3.   You can read about a Rescued Hummingbird!

4.   You can learn Spanish! 

5.    We ♥ to comment! 

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Are you looking forward to the 10 challenges?

What kinds of posts/topics interest you?

Blogging Challenge #3

The third assignment in the
Challenge Yourself to Blog series 
is to tell a little about where you live.
The place where Mrs. Yollis' students live can be describe in many ways!

City:  Los Angeles

State:  California

Country:  United States

Continent:  North America

Here is a movie Mrs. Yollis' class made about their continent!

Did you learn anything new about North America?

Explore Galore! Let's Get Commenting!

Mrs. Yollis' class is participating in an international blogging challenge!

This week's challenge is to explore several educational blogs.

Please take the time to read blogs from the challenge and leave a valuable comment.  

We know how good it feels when we receive a comment. Let's pass that feeling on!

Here are a few blog links to get you started:

1.  Mr. Toft

• His 24 students are located in Ottawa, Canada’s national capital. On their LEFT sidebar, click on the "Blog Challenge" link.  Explore the posts and try to leave a "2-point" comment. 

2.  Mrs. Smith 

• Her class is also from our northern neighbor, Canada. Look through her "Categories" on the LEFT sidebar. There are many student bloggers! Pick out one or two and leave a quality comment.
  

3.  Barrett's Bulletin

• His class blog is from Iowa. We read the book If You Hopped Like a Frog after they published a post about it. See what else we can learn from them! What can we teach them?
  

4. Mr. Nidey

• This blog is from the students who are Tech Buddies with Barrett's Bulletin in Iowa. They are also in third grade and are currently learning about communities. Their September 8 post talked about communities (rural, suburban, and urban) and map skills. I left them a comment asking what kind of community they are from and the current population. I wonder how their community compares to ours?
  

5.  All 2009 Blog Challengers 

• Even though this link is in our sidebar, you might want to jump from here to explore!

Remember to use first names only and sign that you are from Mrs. Yollis' Class.

How to Comment on Our Blog

Blogging has many parts: the post, the comments, and the sidebar.

If you do a good job with all of the parts, your blog will be more interesting. A quality, well-written blog will attract more readers.
:-)

Today in third grade, we focused on the skill of commenting.

In small groups, we talked about what makes a comment good.

After much discussion,
we decided that the following comment rules should apply to our educational blog:

1. Content is key! We learned that you should try and leave quality comments on blogs. Leave a compliment, add more information to the topic, or ask a question. Try to be specific. For example, if you liked someone's post, tell the writer which parts were interesting to you and why.

2. Proofread! Be sure to start every sentence with a capital letter and end each sentence with a period. We are practicing and perfecting our Language Arts skills. Practicing correct grammar and spelling will make you a better communicator.

3. Try to make each comment a "2-pointer" comment! Each day, we evaluate the comments that our blog has received. In order to earn the 2-points, a comment must be error-free and add something to the post. Many of Mrs. Yollis' third graders have already met the challenge!

What do you think of our comment conditions?

How often do you comment on other blogs? Which are your favorite ones?

Classroom Blog Challenge!

In order to improve our blogging and commenting skills, Mrs. Yollis enrolled the class in an international blogging challenge! 

It is a great opportunity to improve our Language Arts skills, meet other classroom bloggers, and learn from each other.

One of the first challenges was to create an avatar. An avatar is an image that is used to represent a person. Here are our classroom avatars. We used photos of our lucky hats!

Our goal this week is to visit five different blogs and leave a comment after reading a post.

We already visited Mrs. Yollis' former student's blog, Jonah's Jumbo Blog.

We hope more bloggers from the challenge visit our site. 

We already got a comment from Mr. Barrett, in Iowa.Thank you Alli from Mr. Barrett's class!

The other participants are listed in our sidebar under Educational Blogs We Follow.

Have you left a comment for us? Please do!

Have you visited any of the other participants in the blog challenge?