Eating Healthy Podcast & Kid News Blog

(Sorry all, I accidentally posted this as a comment as well. Can you tell I am new at this blogging format? Thanks in advance for your patience. :) )

Podcast for classroom use:
The Sugar Monster: www.thesugarmonster.com
I wanted to find a podcast that I thought would be interesting to my 3rd graders, but educational in nature. The Sugar Monster is a fictional character who tries to get kids to eat unhealthy foods. Thus, these podcasts will support our Health curriculum. I liked this site because it will be easy for my students to access and navigate independently. Also, the podcasts are like old-time radio shows that tell a short story – short is great for primary students. The one downside to this site is that it does not fit the criteria for being a Web 2.0 feature. This means students may not respond to the podcast through a blog. The Sugar Monster podcasts are truly “one directional” verses interactive.

Blogs for the Classroom:
BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsround
(Canadian Broadcast Corporation): My Two Cents: reviews by you.
I searched quite a bit for these two blogs for kids. Aside from classroom blogs that allow students to interact with other students, I want my students to interact with current events. So I researched several of the kid news sites to see if any of these sites contained blogs. Interestingly enough, I could only find international news companies. At first I was little hesitate about international news, but was decidedly swayed by the realization that it would wonderful for students to see news from differing perspectives/countries. After all, that is the beauty of the Internet and a global audience! The feature I appreciate about the BBC blog is that blog entry contains a short narrative and then poses a question for students to respond to. The second link, cbc.ca/kids, is based in Canada. This particular link is not called a blog per se, rather it is called My Two Cents: reviews by you. Here students can write reviews for books, movies, music, hobbies, T.V. shows, etc. as well as comment on the reviews of other kids. I think both of these blogs will provide a Web 2.0 experience for a variety of interest by my students – there is something for everyone. There is only one feature that I do not appreciate; in order for students to participate in Canadian blog, they must include their first and last name on the sign up form. Granted, their first name only appears with the comment, I would need to seek parent permission first. The BBC blog does not ask for this and would, therefore, be more accessible.