C4K # 2 October Summary

       The first student's blog post I read and commented on was a little girl named Cruz. Cruz and her class live in Auckland, New Zealand. Her class had one blog, Little Voices, Little Scholars, that each child participated in. Cruz made a short video of herself talking about what Harold, a stuffed giraffe, did in her class. Harold talked about health and safety to the class and helped made their class time fun. I left her a comment telling her how great her video was and I thanked her for sharing her experience with Harold.
      Although this post was short and cute, I thought it was so much fun because I was able to communicate with a child in another country. Seeing how they learn over there and act in schools was a great experience.
      The second student whose blog I commented on was from a student named Jordan. He is also from Auckland, New Zealand and is in the 3rd grade. In his blog post he made a short animation video about a rugby team. In this cartoon video, there was a crowd cheering in the background and the France team in the audience. He also had a French rugby player walking across the field and introducing himself.

        This was a very cute way of getting students involved in technology. Jordan was able to make a video with animations, sound effects, and his voice. I commented on Jordan's post telling him how much I enjoyed his video and how I hope he keeps the great work up. I also wanted to know if he enjoys playing rugby himself.

       The third student whose blog I commented on was from an older student who goes to school in the United States. This girl's name is Smantie and she is in 8th grade. I commented on a post where she wrote a short story about a girl named Alice. Alice's mother passed away and when she went back to school a boy named Jasper asked to the movies. Alice waited for Jasper, but he never showed up. Smantie ended her story by saying how a black truck was following Alice. I commented on Smantie's page telling her how much I enjoyed reading her story. I told her it was suspenseful and how I couldn't wait to see what happens to Alice and who is driving the truck. I also asked her if the names Alice and Jasper came from the Twilight saga.  Smantie still has to approve my comment, so I am hoping for a response.
        I then read a blog from students at Pt England School. These students are in year 6 at this school, which is located in New Zealand. The blog I commented on was a video  made with 3 students' voices in it. In this animated cartoon, the students were talking about Haka. I was confused at first to what this was so I had to Google it. Haka is actually a war dance, cry, or challenge from ancient people living in New Zealand (Source about Haka). Although the video was a bit confusing until after doing some research.  I thought the students did a great job. They had sound effects and had the cartoons moving. The only thing I found odd was the violence. Schools in America (especially the younger grades) are not able to make videos of people being stabbed with spears and blood coming from their bodies. This would cause teachers and parents to worry. So watching this video made by young students was a bit surprising; however, it is a different culture. It would be hard for students to make a video about war without showing spears being thrown into people. I left these students a comment talking about how much I enjoyed their video and sound effects. I talked about how it was informative for those who do not know much about Haka.
        For the last post I read and commented on, it was from Mr. McClung's blog post called, Thunder. This blog post talks about a man named Matthew Paul Miller. Miller, also known by Matisyahu, is "an American Hasidic Jewish reggae musician." McClung gives the readers some background information by telling us about Matisyahu's musical hits. At the bottom of the post, there is a music player with the song "Thunder" on it. Although the music is not really my taste, it was interesting. 
        At first I was a little confused on why I was assigned to this blog post. I had to triple check the C4K assignment list to make sure I was clicking the correct link. This blog seemed more like a C4T post; it was written by a teacher, not a student. I then noticed the link on the blog though. It was under "Band of the week". This is a great idea for a class blog, having students listen to clean and "mellow" music on their homepage. This probably makes the students feel "cool" and not worry so much about the school work. I left a comment telling him how it is a great idea to do this and how I bet the students appreciate listening to a new band with clean lyrics.