Happy 4th of July, America!

This post was first published on July 4, 2010

By Mrs. Yollis 

July 4th is Independence Day in America!

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This document announced America's independence from Britain.

*     *     *     *     *

Four years ago I was with my family on the Fourth of July, and we had a special event planned for the day.

My family had three old, tattered flags that needed to be retired. So on July 4th, we had a retirement ceremony.

*     *     *     *     *

The United States Flag Code states: "The Flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning."



*     *     *     *     *

First, we sang some patriotic songs!

Then, my cousin Jon gave a short speech. Finally, we retired the old flags to the fire. 

Last year, my class learned how to fold an American flag. 

*     *     *     *     *

What did you do on the Fourth of July?

Howard Rheingold Interviews Mrs. Yollis

Originally published by Howard Rheingold on DML Central (Digital Media and Learning)
and the National Writing Project

*     *     *     *     *

Usually Mrs. Yollis and her students are conducting, or carrying out interviews.  Today, the interview will feature Mrs. Yollis. She was recently contacted by the great teacher and writer, Howard Rheingold.  He was interested in learning about how Mrs. Yollis teaches young children to build a positive digital footprint through educational blogging.

Here is Mr. Rheingold's interview:

Learning Online in the Second Grade: Linda Yollis from DML Research Hub on Vimeo.

Mr. Rheingold writes:

Blogging, commenting thoughtfully on others’ blogs, staying safe online, creating a positive digital footprint, using audio and video to connect with students in other parts of the world, creating and publishing video – at what grade level should students be introduced to these essential digital literacies? How about the second and third grade? Linda Yollis, a teacher in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, remembers the classroom in which she started teaching in the 1980s: “Learning was confined to the four walls of the classroom, was entirely paper-based, worksheet-driven, and I was the audience for most of the written work in this classroom; parents found out what was going on by reading the newsletter that I would send out and maybe by looking at the graded projects their children took home. All of the learning took place between eight and three. I had a very closed classroom. That all changed in 2008 when I started blogging. Having a class blog has flattened the walls of this classroom. Now we have an online space where students, parents, and other classrooms all over the world can come together in an online learning community.”

Mrs. Yollis not only teaches her second and third graders to blog (some of whom came into her class with blogging experience from Mrs. Levy’s first grade blog), she teaches them – and her students make videos to teach others – about raising the level of online discourse through quality blog comments. Take a look at Mrs. Yollis’ introduction to blog commenting and ask yourself whether the online commons could become a much better place in a few years if more second and third graders were introduced to online discourse in this way. She even introduced a rubric for blog comments that eight year olds can understand: “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.”

If you think this kind of higher-level thinking and digital skills are unrealistic goals for such young students, you can judge for yourself by inspecting the results: Here is the teacher’s blog post about making “reasonable estimates” and the comment dialogue among her students that followed, in which each student challenged others to try an estimate.

To read more from Howard Rheingold, head over to his full post at DML Central.

*     *     *     *     *

Have you ever been interviewed?

Do you have any follow-up questions for Mrs. Yollis or Mr. Rheingold?

Video: Nonfiction Text Features

Mrs. Yollis' class is learning about nonfiction. 

Nonfiction writing is based on facts, real events, and real people.  There are many helpful text features found in nonfiction writing.  Some common text features are:  headings, subheadings, captions, diagrams, time lines, maps, charts, and the glossary.

Below is a humdinger of a video made by Sheriff Yollis and Sheriff Salsich. They hope their video helps you greenhorns learn about about these important reading features!

Yee-haw! 

Here it is on YouTube:




If YouTube is blocked, here's a Vimeo version:

The Nonfiction Trail from Jonah Salsich on Vimeo.

Are you reading a nonfiction book right  now? If so, what is it?

What did you learn from a text feature?

Google Earth: Latitude & Longitude

We are in the middle of a global project called Our World, Our Numbers. 

This week the bloggers are looking at numbers as they relate to geography.

Check out our the Google Earth movie we made to share about latitude and longitude. 

What is your exact location on the planet?

Which hemispheres are you located?

What's your latitude and longitude?

Advanced:  What are the the special lines of latitude like: the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn, the Arctic Circle, and the Antarctic Circle? 

The 12/12/12 Edublog Awards!

December 12, 2012, also known as 12/12/12, was a wonderful day in room 12! 

After the second graders read The Big Bushy Mustache

by Gary Soto, we all made mustache disguises just like the boy in the story. Do you recognize any of these bloggers hiding behind their mighty mustaches? Beverly, is that you? 

Photo by Mrs. Testa

At exactly 12/12/12 at 12:12:12 we stopped and looked at the magnificent number 

and at that magnificent handlebar mustache!

Photo by Mrs. Testa

 *     *     *     *     *


Just when we thought the day couldn't get any better, we attended the online Edublog Awards!

According to their website:  The Edublog Awards was set up in response to community concerns relating to how schools, districts and educational institutions were blocking access of learner and teacher sites for educational purposes.  The purpose of the Edublog awards is to promote and demonstrate the educational values of these social media.

I'd like to give a special thank you to Sue Waters, Ronnie Burt, and Steve Hargadon who were the perfect hosts of the event! Their dedication and commitment to meaningful integration of technology is appreciated!

 

 Here is a list of the nominations and the winners.  It's a fabulous list of global resources for educators. 

We were thrilled to win for Best Class Blog! 
In addition, our good friends, 4KM and 4KJ, were finalists out of the 34 shortlisted class blogs!

I am exceedingly proud of the Most Influential Posts. One of my former students, Jaden won with a terrific post about the 10 Things He's Learned From Blogging. My November is Family Blogging Month became a finalist as well. Bringing family into the classroom through blogging has proven to be a successful way to strengthen the home-school connection and make learning meaningful. The post generated nearly 150 comments from grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, family, and friends. Having Family Blogging Month is a great way to a build a learning community.

    

Other Highlights of the Edublog Awards:

• Mrs. Morris, from Australia, was a finalist for Best Teacher Blog.

• Mrs Hembree and her students were a finalist in the  Best Librarian/Library category.

• Mr Avery and his class were finalists in the category Best Use of Media/Video.

• Ross Mannell, a retired teacher from Australia was a finalist in the Best Individual Tweeter category. We learn so much from his incredible comments!

 

• Former students Miriam and Sarah were shortlisted for Best Student Blog.

Abbey made this beautiful congratulations sign for us!

Thank you for supporting our blog!




Did you attend the ceremony? If so, what did you enjoy about the virtual room?

What do you like about blogging? 

The Google Teacher Academy in NYC!

Mrs. Yollis will be attending the Google Teacher Academy in New York City next week!
Update: After attending, I wrote this post! 

             

Hundreds of educators from around the world submitted applications, and Mrs. Yollis is proud to say that she was one of the 50 selected. Most of the teachers are from the United States, but there are also educators coming from Mexico, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, and South Africa. 

Part of the application process included making a one minute video. Here is Mrs. Yollis' video about Motivation and Learning. It was very difficult to tell a story in one minute!

Mrs. Yollis is quite excited to meet all the new Google Teacher Academy educators! Even while playing word games, she can't seem to think about anything else!

*     *     *     *     *

 Today Mrs. Yollis' students examined the roster of teacher attendees. (An attendee is a fancy word meaning one who attends.) Next, the second and third graders used Google Earth to measure the distances some people will be traveling. The students have been learning how to estimate. The distances have been rounded.


 *     *     *     *     *

Some educators are traveling approximately 500 miles.

One educator lives near Lake Michigan. Wow, the Great Lakes are enormous!

Some attendees are  coming from Europe or Asia. Most are traveling within the United States.

 *     *     *     *     *


 Ms. Allen is flying in from Bogota, Colombia. Abbey noticed that the distance Ms. Allen is flying is similar to the distance Mrs. Yollis is flying. Ms. Allen is coming from South America!

Mrs. Yollis is flying in from Los Angeles.

*     *     *     *     *


If was fun to compare the differences!

 *     *     *     *     *

Ms. Beal is coming from South Africa. She is traveling the farthest. The class noticed she will cross the equator and the Prime Meridian! Go Ms. Beal!

 

 *     *     *     *     *

The Google Teacher Academy will be held in New York City. It will be a wonderful place to spend a few days. 

Here are some New York City fun facts!

New York City (NYC) is an urban area.  It is the most populated city in the United States. 

Do you know which city ranks second?

Population of NYC:  8 million people

Size:  303 square miles

 Elevation 33 feet


 *     *     *     *     *

What kinds of things do you think will be taught at the academy?

What points of interest should Mrs. Yollis see while in 
New York City?

What did you learn from your Google Earth exploration? 

Welcome Back, 2012!

Welcome back to a new school year!

 

Here's a video greeting from Mrs. Yollis!

☼     ☼     ☼     ☼     ☼

I'm looking forward to a terrific year with my 
new students in our second and third grade classroom!

I hope that all my former third graders have a wonderful fourth grade experience and come visit me soon!

☼     ☼     ☼     ☼     ☼

Parents, here is a blog post I wrote about the rewards of teaching young students to blog.  

☼     ☼     ☼     ☼     ☼

If you are a new student, please leave a comment telling me about yourself. What did you do over your summer break? What adventures and experiences did you enjoyed?

If you are one of our blogging buddies, please introduce yourself to my new class. Where are you from? What have you been up to?

Remember to proofread your comment with a parent before you publish! 


:-)

Rewards of Teaching Young Students to Blog

This was originally published on SmartBlogs.  I'm hoping that  parents will read this article and have a good understanding about the benefits of blogging as we begin a new school year on Wednesday. 

 
I have been an elementary-school teacher for more than 25 years and I am always on the lookout for meaningful ways to engage and motivate my young students. I started Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog in 2008 with the idea of sharing class activities with parents. Over time, the blog has grown to be the centerpiece of our third-grade classroom. It has become a true global learning community that offers myriad rewards for students, parents and teachers.

Develop quality literacy skills  

When I first started blogging, I thought the posts would be the primary focus of the blog. I quickly realized that the comment section was where the blog came to life. As a class, we set high standards and expectations for writing, agreed to always have an adult proofread before publishing, and created a video to help teach commenting skills.

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

My students are highly motivated by their authentic global audience and take great pride in producing top-notch writing for their readers. It has been a pleasure to watch my third-graders develop into writers who are eager to compose quality comments on one of our five classroom laptops.

What has been even more exciting for me is the student participation from home. Although I rarely require a comment, students frequently choose to comment on either our class blog or our class photo-of-the-day project during their free time. Clearly, my students enjoy contributing to our online learning community.

Include parents in the learning

Parental involvement has strengthened and expanded the learning opportunities for my class. Twice a year, I run what I call Family Blogging Month. It is a great way to formally invite parents to join in the classroom learning via the blog. The family comments are always valued, and during FBM, I highlight several family exchanges on the blog in the hopes of encouraging more parents and family members to comment. Here are two posts that feature rewarding family contributions: More Quality Comments: Family Blogging Month! and Family Blogging: When I Was Young…

Many parents work but would love to volunteer in some way. Last year, I asked parents to become “virtual volunteers” for our blogs. A virtual volunteer is a person who supports the blog by commenting back to students. This type of interaction helps strengthen the home-school connection and makes the comment sections more engaging.

Integrate curriculum in creative ways

With classroom time at a premium, I look for meaningful ways to integrate curriculum; the blog has been the perfect venue. When my class read “The Great Kapok Tree” by Lynne Cherry for language arts, the students followed up their reading by researching a rain forest animal that was mentioned in the story. Each student composed a comment for the blog from the point of view of that animal. It was a wonderful mix of reading, researching, science and creative writing! During our biography unit, I had each student select a famous person to study. Students submitted a creative comment pretending they were that person. George Washington got a comment from Queen Elizabeth I, Mozart and Tchaikovsky were chatting; the blog comments truly brought these historic people to life! See more examples of integrated curriculum.

Build a digital footprint

I believe it is important to teach young children how to be contributing members of an online community. Building a positive digital footprint and practicing Internet safety are not simply one-week units of study, but are regularly taught and practiced via the class blog.

Connect with other learners

Of all the riches that blogging has brought to my class, the relationships we’ve built with other classrooms around the world have been the most rewarding. The collaborative projects we have joined not only support the educational standards required at my grade level but have also given my students a real understanding of other topics such as geography, time zones, cultures and friendships. I recently presented four global projects at ISTE with my blogging colleague, Kathleen Morris from Australia. Although we have collaborated for many years, we met for the first time when we shared Flattening Classroom Walls with Blogging and Global Collaboration in San Diego.

Blogging offers many rewards!

What excites you about blogging?

Happy 4th of July, America!

By Mrs. Yollis 

July 4th is Independence Day in America!

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This document announced America's independence from Britain.

*     *     *     *     *

Two years ago I was with my family on the Fourth of July, and we had a special event planned for the day.

My family had three old, tattered flags that needed to be retired. So on July 4th, we had a retirement ceremony.

*     *     *     *     *

The United States Flag Code states: "The Flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning."



*     *     *     *     *

First, we sang some patriotic songs!

Fourth of July 2010 from yourwonderfulteacher on Vimeo.

Then, my cousin John gave a short speech. Finally, we retired the old flags to the fire. 

Flag Ceremony from yourwonderfulteacher on Vimeo.

Last year, my class learned how to fold an American flag. 

*     *     *     *     *

What did you do on the Fourth of July?

Biographical Bonanza ~ 2012

A biography is a true story about a person's life.

Mrs. Yollis' class is currently reading biographies about

people who have made significant contributions to our world!

Artists, inventors, statesman, composers,

doctors, inventors,

aviators, astronauts, and pioneers in many fields 

are among the amazing historical figures about whom we are reading!

We are each reading a library book, as well as doing research using
World Book Online.


 

********************

After reading about your biography subject,
please leave  a comment as if you are that person!

1.  Be sure to include a few facts you learned from your library book or the online encyclopedia.  DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! (Use your own words!)

2. Watch the comments to see if you can converse with another biography subject!  

3. BOLD your facts using HTML code.

Family members and friends: 
You are invited to choose your own biography subject and join in the conversation!

Thank You for the Edublog Awards!

Yesterday, Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog won an Edublog Award for
Best Class Blog!
We want to thank all the people who nominated us and for the people who helped us win! We appreciate your support!

We were thrilled to see that our special blogging buddies Mr. Salsich’s Class Blog earned fourth place and 2KM and 2KJ (Australia) came in fifth! Go blogging buddies!

We were equally happy to learn that Mrs. Yollis' Learn How to Comment won for Most Influential Post! Mrs. Yollis is passionate about teaching students how to compose quality comments, so this award was very dear to her ♥.

 Two former students, Miriam and Jaden, were shortlisted in the top five for Best Student Blog.   Everyone was happy for Jaden! Plus, our good friend  Jarrod from 2KM and 2KJ won third!

 Our World, Our Stories was awarded Best Group Blog! The blog demonstrates the power and excitement of global collaboration. The teachers and their students each took a week to lead.  Weekly themes included:  local environment, food, recess activities, traditional songs, and stories.

One of the culminating activities for this blog was a group song.  Here is the final video of the group members joining together in song!

While learning how to patch videos together in iMovie, Mrs. Yollis tried different advanced tools. She experimented with inserting a screen and created a fun music video with her class.

This special day seems like an appropriate time to publish the song. It is called Make New Friends, which is something we love to do. The video demonstrates how Mrs. Yollis and her students have fun learning and creating together.

We hope you like our song!

Were were also very excited for some other special friends!

Mr. Avery (Massachusetts) and his class placed third in the category called 

Best Use of Audio/Video/Podcast. 

Mrs. Hembree (Seattle) and her students placed second in the category Best Librarian/Library.

What do you like about blogging?

Have you ever left a quality comment?

What commenting tips do you have for new bloggers?