About

Welcome to Blogs-by-the-Sea, a class blog written by Mr. Jewell and the students in his 6th grade class in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, a little beach town just north of San Diego.

We’re excited about the opportunity to share our work and ideas with people beyond the walls of our classroom, and we invite you to comment on our blogs.  However, since Mr. Jewell moderates the comments, you may not see yours right away.

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

19 thoughts on “About

  1. I’m excited to look at this blog. I like the posts. I am also interested because in the Blog Challenge post, the screenshot shows our class blog(4A SIS). We are still working in week 1 about me challenge, but we are making a video. Our video will be happy in 4A and please visit our blog to see when it is finished.

    Site URL: share.sis.org.cn/mhuiet

    Reply

    1. Hi Daniel,

      I’m glad you like the posts on our class blog. I checked out your class blog but don’t see the video, yet. I like the idea of creating a video to introduce ourselves. You have me thinking that maybe that’s something that my students should have the chance to do when we return from spring break next week. Thanks for the inspiration!

      Best regards,

      Mr. Jewell

      Reply

  2. Hi Mr. Jewell-

    In response to the comment you left on our class blog, it’s a double yes from me. I would love to have as many blogging book clubbers as want to join. Bring ‘em on! I think we should definitely work out a Skype session (or two). I have three blocks of students. Since you’re in CA and I’m in VA, I don’t think my first block will work time wise. However, my second two blocks are both filled with students who’ve been connecting with your students–so we could connect once or twice.

    I’m fairly flexible over the next eight class days. We’ll be writing poetry most days…so we could share out some poetry with one another. Or, perhaps our classes could trade questions and we can let the kids answer them (with a loosely prepared response). What do you think? Let me know what time of day is good for you–and which days–and I’ll talk to our school technology guru about setting this up on our end. 🙂 I’ve got to head back out to my porch and grade persuasive papers. I’ll email you from school on Monday.

    Looking forward to our virtual visit.

    Cheers,

    Martha Rombach

    Reply

    1. Hi Ashling,

      Thanks for visiting our blog. We’d love to check out yours, too. If you include your blog’s URL when you comment, it will to make it easier for others to find it!

      Best regards,

      Mr. Jewell

      Reply

  3. Hello from 5SK in North Queensland, Australia. We have just started our school holidays, two weeks of fun at the beach. Are you participating in the Global Read Aloud?
    Mrs Scharf

    Reply

    1. Hi Mrs. Sharf,

      Your comment was the first I’d heard about the Global Read Aloud, but I like what I see and have signed us up. We’re in, and we’d love to connect with your class during the Read Aloud. Have you selected a book. yet?

      Best regards,

      Mr. Jewell

      Reply

  4. Hello Mr. Jewel & Grade 6th,

    We can definitely collaborate during this task. We are reading One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. There are Edmodo groups organised that I can add you to and we are also using our KidBlogs and class blog.

    Reply

    1. Hi Sam,

      I’m glad that you like our blog. Are you participating in the Edublogs Student Blogging Challenge? If so, I encourage you to include a link to your blog (or your class blog) when you post comments so others can see how cool your blog is, too!

      Best regards,

      Mr. Jewell

      Reply

  5. Hi Mr. Jewell-

    Thank goodness I just read your comment stream and found out about the Global Read Aloud. Our class participated last year in the reading of Out of My Mind, but I didn’t know the timing for this year–or the books. I’ve just started reading One for the Murphys and agree that the writing and storyline is fantastic. I just signed us up, too.

    I am running a little behind on my class blog; we started school after Labor Day this year. For the fall edition, I think I’m going to borrow your idea of having students respond to the prompts and have a guest blogger. Perfect! Thanks for the inspiration.

    Count us in for collaborating about One for the Murphys, too.

    All the best in the new school year!

    Mrs. Rombach from Virginia
    http://mrsrombachreads.edublogs.org

    Reply

    1. Hi Mrs. Rombach,

      So good to hear from you! We’re still getting up to speed on our class blog ourselves. We look forward to collaborating with you in the Global Read Aloud!

      Best regards,

      Mr. Jewell

      Reply

  6. Hello Mr Jewell and Students
    I just thought you would like to know that you blog has reached the laptop of a Gran living in the NE of the UK. Like a message in a bottle. If you look on a map for places like Newcastle or Sunderland my small fading town of Houghton -le -Spring is there.

    It’s about 6 miles from the sea , not a sea like yours . The North Sea is cold and grey and can be wild . To sit on the beach…….we have lovely sands……always requires a sweater for there is nearly always a cool breeze.

    What do I do with my time. Don’t groan. I am a retired Primary schoolteacher . Now I grow vegetables, look after grandchildren , read and I work as a volunteer steward at a World Hertage site called Durham Cathedral . I guide parties round this ancient building. It was built from 1093-1133.
    I have enjoyed writing this and wish you luck with your Blog
    Regards
    Carol Bateman

    Reply

    1. Hi Carol,

      One of the things that I love about blogging is the fact that one never knows who might end up reading your writing! I’m so glad you chose to drop us a line. The Durham Cathedral sounds fascinating. In the western U.S., one has to go traipsing around in the desert canyons, looking for pottery shards, if they want to find something 900 years old.

      My Achilles’s heel when it comes to blogging is keeping ours current, and our class blog has definitely gotten away from my students and I this fall. I’m hoping to breath new life into it when we return from winter break in January.

      Best regards,

      Matt

      Reply

  7. Hi Mr. Jewell-

    I now have three classes of bloggers (74 students in all) ready to connect with other classes from around the globe. Would you be interested in setting up pen pals between our students? I’m not sure how many students you’re teaching, but perhaps we could make a one-to-one connection for one block of my students (20, 24, or 27 students). For starters, I’d like them to understand the importance of quality comments. We could also pair up for a little research if you like…they could collaborate on a project potentially. That’s easy given technology like Google Slides.
    I’m open to any ideas that inspire my students to be more curious, involved world citizens and stronger writers. Ideas?

    Look forward to hearing from you-

    Martha Rombach
    http://mrsrombachreads.edublogs.org

    Reply

    1. Hello Mrs. Rombach,

      I love the idea of setting up a one-to-one connection between our classes. I work with two blocks of students, so we’ll have to figure out what makes most sense with regard to logistics.

      As our class blog attests, we’ve not done a lot of blogging these first few months, but I’m hoping to breath new life into our class blog and get the students blogging after winter break. I really like the idea of a shared research project. Hmm . . . Maybe we could try some sort of introductory activity before the break.

      I’ll share your inquiry with my students, and get back to you!

      Best regards,

      Matt Jewell

      Reply

  8. Hi Mr. Jewell-

    We’re having a snow day–again–and I’m fiddling around with a few things on my blog and approving comments. I have an idea about how we might connect our students. We’re moving into our research unit, and my students will be creating projects around social issues that matter to them. We’re talking about primary and secondary sources and for the project, they’ll most likely use secondary sources. However, we could introduce primary sources by having our students interview each other. They could actually do this as comments on their blogs. Then, they would “report” their findings as a blog post.

    Maybe we could even have them compare and contrast school/interests in CA vs VA. What’s alike and what’s different? (another bit of curriculum tossed in for good measure). Let me know if you’re up for a little cross-country connection. In our classrooms, we could brainstorm a storm of questions and then let the students choose 5 to use. Our current quarter ends on Friday–so this next week or two would be ideal for a project of this nature. How does your schedule look?

    I have one block with 21 students and another with 24 students. Either would work since we’d be working through technology–not real time. 🙂 In addition, we might even create a class profile to share with you and vice versa–something teachers can post on our class blogs.

    Mull it over and let me know if this or another iteration of this idea might work for you and your students in the coming weeks.

    Happy Snow Day,
    Martha Rombach
    http://mrsrombachreads.edublogs.org

    Reply

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