Blog Site Review

So as mentioned before we were asked to look at two blog search engines of sorts, http://www.blogcatolog.com/ and http://www.globeofblogs.com/. I preferred blogcatalog.com and therefore chose to locate two professional and one personal site of interest. In the hopes of coming away with some new ideas, I chose to evaluate two blog sites that discuss science and children. I'm hoping they will have resources that I can use in my future elementary science classroom.

The first site I reviewed was http://www.kidscience.com/. At first glance I was drawn to the site. Looking at it initially, I saw what I would consider a great lesson idea, and links about science resources and science units geared towards K-6 grades. Upon further review of the Backyard Jungle exercise, I became really excited at the fact that this was a practical idea, and the idea of being able to share each students backyard with others from around the world at the PBS Kids Backyard Jungle website was fantastic. I did not sign up for an account to further delve into the concept, but typically PBS doesn't disappoint me. What amazed me was that there were over 53,000 backyards in the Backyard Jungle database. This idea has already got my mind generating ideas for a future unit on our backyard ecology and it's importance in the balance of the ecosystem. Not only did the author, The Olson Family, list this idea, they also followed it up with other related books, resources, and games. This blog is really young, started in May of 2008, but I look forward to its continued evolution.

I found a second blog site designed towards science and children, http://www.sciencejunkies.com/. This is another relatively young blog, started in February. This website is not as organized as the last, and I didn't feel that it was something that I could use to formulate lessons or units, but use more like as a funny or silly facts to be shared with students on random concepts. For example, "It's a Gas" briefly describes the air that comes from our bottoms, and then includes links to delve deeper into the phenomenon known to many of us as passing gas. I can just see discussing this idea with a class of fourth and fifth graders. Could be pretty interesting none the less. Most of links take you to other sites that offer games or interactive activities for children. I need to explore this site more to see if it would be a blog I'd actually benefit using in the future.

Lastly, I chose to do my personal interest blog site on the act of traveling with the blog http://www.traveling-stories-magazine.com/. I have visited several countries and continue to be intrigued by other cultures, religions and history. I was very impressed with this bog. It had just what I was looking for. The blog was well organized and had topics listed by continent. Since I have been to Thailand, I began looking at the Asia posts. I soon realized that the site posts different writings from a multitude of travelers based on topics that range from a prison and hotel that are side by side in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia titled "A 5 Star Prison" to the trials of travel in "Lucky Woman." I found this site very intriguing, and honest. I loved reading about the places and adventures that other fellow travelers have been too and learn more about their experiences. I will continue to read this blog and possibly even subscribe to it in the future. I could see myself sharing with others about my travels to to Asia and Europe as well.