Mrs. Miller's Monkey Business: edmodo...for third graders?!?

Recently I was able to attend FETC in Orlando. Can I just say, BOY was I OVERWHELMED!!! But I learned a lot! One thing I brought back from that technological frenzy was not exactly new to me. However, I was able to view it in a whole new light. Enter edmodo.

If you haven’t heard of it, edmodo is a free learning management system that resembles social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It provides a safe, controlled environment in which students and teachers can interact and communicate easily and quickly.

Now, our school system had been using edmodo for about a year. I even had an account, but I could only see it as a professional development tool. I didn’t see how I could utilize it in MY classroom. Until now!

My third grade students have been doing a novel study using the book, Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. After each chapter, the students would write a response in their journal. Sometimes the response was to answer a question about comprehension or inferring, other times it consisted of making graphic organizers or drawings about what they had read. After FETC, it dawned on me that I could use edmodo as a reading response journal. PERFECT!

So, my students created accounts. I posted a question. They replied in complete sentences, at least they were supposed to! But, at least they responded! And the best part…They were EXCITED about ‘writing’!

Here are a few examples of our posts: (P.S. The grammar, spelling, and punctuation is still a work in progress!)