Social Media and Blogging in Kindergarten

Social media and blogging in kindergarten is where I begin to model; how I get my students and their family members connected. Through social media, my students and their families experience the advantages of being a Global Citizen, and it's a positive impact on our learning.

I created the model on the first day of kindergarten, a way to tweet and what it's and feels like. I begin by inviting my parents to follow our schoolroom on Twitter and set up a Twitter account for themselves. Once this happens, our conversations begin. I ask parents that I do know are aware of Twitter to tweet at us throughout the day. Through this type of modeling, my students start to understand the value of connecting on-line; however, additionally, start their digital journey with a well-known "face."

Right away, I have a chance to model the importance of being a secure, kind, and responsible digital citizen. My students perceive that when we tweet, it's just like we are having face-to-face conversations except that we've got to wait for comments. It's vital to explain tweeting as like; however, we've got face-to-face discussions with each other, so my students draw from their own experiences. Twitter uses a blue line to attach conversations between people. This was genius as a result of my students immediately noticed the road and said," Hey, Mrs. D., now it shows us connected!" This was eye-opening on behalf of me and extremely telling of how my students are discovering their voices using twitter.

I additionally realize it meaningful to be explicit about what we do when we tweet. I offer students little paper on Twitter birds once they tweet. This is a reminder that by tweeting, we shared an idea with somebody on-line. Currently, once my students bring home their paper twitter bird, they need a chance to own a discussion with their family about what they tweeted. This is an excellent approach for my parents and their youngsters to experience how social media can be utilized in responsible ways.

Later on, I detected how simple social media has become integrated into preschool. We tend to leave Twitter open all day long as a result of this way; somebody will share something they want to tweet! The use of this on-line tool becomes integrated into our learning culture because we have become comfortable with sharing what we are exploring as we share it.

Blogging is a very good and expressive platform I use in kindergarten. Blogging has been an excellent way to demonstrate a way to reflect, capture, and share discoveries that we create throughout our busy days together. We leave our blog open and available for students, and my students look forward to new posting and sharing highlights and essential news in the world. They're inspired through the reader's comments and are also intrigued and fascinated by the map that has blinking yellow triangles that show when other people are checking our blog.

This is a simple, fun way to share that people have an interest in what we are doing in preschool. Through the map, we've got explored the continent names, and we've even created our world map in the classroom; thus, we will additionally see up close where those who connect with us through our blogs, Skype, Facebook, and Twitter are from! 

I am in my fifth year of using the blog. The blog has been an incredible approach for my students and their families to share and have conversations regarding what we tend to are exploring in kindergarten. Generally, we specialize in a subject to blog about, so we tend to post compliments on each other's posts. I also email parents after we have completed a post and ask them to post a positive comment on their child's blog, moreover as alternative lecturers and support professionals. My students enjoy blogging as a result of they receive feedback and that they prefer to see their ideas on-line wherever a broad audience also can see them. By blogging as a class and using the blog, my students discover a way to share their voice and have conversations with others regarding what they're finding out in kindergarten. For parents, this can be wonderful as a result of blogging is available whenever they need time. I have found my school students are the ones reminding their parents to check new posts. Because the year progresses, I enjoy looking at how we tend to transform as bloggers and as kind, safe, and responsible digital citizens.

Digital citizenship is very vital for young families and their youngsters as a result of the globe is ever-changing quickly, and everything is available on-line. As a preschool teacher, I have a unique chance to be transparent in my thinking and to model a way to use blogging, social media, and alternative on-line tools in meaningful ways in which captures authentic learning throughout our interactive days together.

I tell my students that they're wonderful thinkers and great communicators. We tend to are digital citizens as a result of we share our voice with the world using tools that enhance conversations and ways for us to connect. They're models and creating a difference in how they are learning and sharing their concepts. We are all caring, thoughtful citizens. After we become digital citizens, we've got a larger audience to model and share how we care and make a difference.

This article is contributed by Ecole Globale International School