C4K Summary Post- April Comments

For the month of April, we posted on the same child's blog for three weeks in a row as mentors for the Blog Challenge.  My blogger was named Carly D, and she did some really interesting posts for the first two weeks of commenting. However, she did not have a post for C4K #9 when I wanted to comment, so Dr. Strange gave me Michael as an alternative.  I will not lie; I was disappointed that Carly did not continue blogging. However, I looked at her blog today and found that she has made some more posts since last week. She also updated or changed a few posts. The post that I commented on from April 5 was changed or deleted, because I could not find the original post or my comments. I have summarized the post and the comment below. 

#7 Carly's Post on March 29: Water in Africa
The challenge was for students to find an issue or problem faced in the world and blog about ways to make a difference or help with this problem.  Carly chose the problem of inadequate water sources or unclean water in Africa.  She incorporated facts she had researched about this problem along with pictures, links to a video, and links to organizations that you can donate to or volunteer with that help the problem.  I was impressed with her genuineness and the time she put into this post. This is the comment I left:

Hello, Carly!
My name is Jessica, and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I can tell by your topic choice that you are a compassionate and considerate student who sincerely cares about the problems of others, even if they live thousands of miles away. The video attachment and pictures that accompany this blog really touched me and have inspired to me to be more conscious of the problems in Africa. My church has supported ministries that help dig wells for rural villagers in African countries that sometimes have to walk for miles to get any water, and most of that water is not safe for drinking. You can also go through THIS organization and instead of presents for your birthday, have people donate to help build wells in Africa. This was a great post for a great cause! Keep up the good work! I look forward to reading more of your posts!!

Carly replied to my comment that she did not know about the organization that allowed people to donate for your birthday!

#8 Carly's Post on April 5 about Penguins
Carly must have redone this post because now it is a little different than the one she did on penguins dated April 5.  This post on penguins is dated April 19, and the comment I left either hasn't been moderated or was deleted.  Either way, the challenge involved posting pictures of your favorite animal. Obviously, Carly is really into penguins.  I commented that I liked her choice of pictures.  I also asked her a lot of different questions about penguins including what she liked most about them and why they were her favorite animal.  I encouraged her to keep posting!!

#9  When C4K #9 was due, Carly had not completed the blogging challenge for that week. I waited until the last minute, because I was hoping she would post. When she didn't, Dr. Strange gave me Michael's Blog to post on instead.  His post was about shrinking populations of elephants and why that animal is now endangered.  He included a picture in his blog and did include his research on causes of poaching, etc.  I do not know how old Michael is, but Dr. Strange said that most of the students were in 7th grade. He had a few careless erros in his post (instead of human he put "hamun"), and I made sure I adressed them in a polite way.  This is the comment I left:

Hello, Michael!
It seems like you have a real love and appreciation for animals, especially elephants. It is sad to hear that these beautiful animals are being hunted almost into extinction. The world would be a sad place without them! Your post did a great job of explaining the reasons why elephants are being hunted and how big the problem has gotten. My only recommendation would be to proofread your posts for spelling and grammar errors before posting. You really did a good job! Your post is very personable!

#10 Little Voices, Little Scholars Blog : Aneelis at Butterfly Creek dated April 14
For this post, I commented on the blog by Mrs. Jenny She's first grade class in New Zealand.  This particular post was a Animoto slideshow created by Mrs. She by using pictures of one of her students, Aneelis, taken by the student's mother.  The class had gone on a fieldtrip to the Butterfly Creek, which apparently has a lot of (you guessed it) BUTTERFLIES!  Since I did not just want to put something about Aneelis liking butterflies, I asked her if she had a hand in making the slideshow with Animoto and told her about how we were learning how to use some of the same tools in our class. My post is below:

Hello Aneelis,
My name is Jessica, and I am also an Education student in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. The Animoto slideshow created from your Mom's pictures was really great. I hope you had a great time interacting with the butterflies on your trip. We are learning how to use tools like Animoto and blogging in our own classrooms one day. Did you help put this slideshow or blog post together? If you didn't, would you like to be able to make something like that some day, especially now that you've seen how great your pictures look when they are put together in a slideshow? Again, thank you for sharing your pictures with us! Have a great day!