The year is quickly drawing to a close and for a lot of people, that means the season of celebrations is upon them.
This week we’d like to find out about the celebrations and festivities that are important to you. You might learn a few things about different cultures as well. 
Week Seven Recap
Last week we had some students publish ‘free choice’ posts.
You can find them all here.
Let’s take a look at just some of the fantastic work we spotted last week:
- Noe is from California and shared some information about the recent fires.
- Evelyn wants to know what games you play.
- Amelia shared her experiences being homeschooled.
- Jayla went back and completed some more tasks from topics she enjoyed including this Emoji Kahoot!
- Noah told us about his ffavoritesport — field hockey.
- Izzy wrote an excellent post about a family vacation.
- Ash shared some information on the Mona Lisa.
- You can view more great work on our 2018 Student Blogging Challenge Flipboard.
Reminders
- Some people have put a link to a Google Doc/Form/Slide presentation in their post BUT it can’t be viewed without logging in. This resource shows you how to make your Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms public.
- Do your posts have images? Images make posts much more shareable and they stand out a lot more on our Flipboard magazine. Remember, you can’t just use any image you find online in your blog posts. Re-read the information in the week 3 postto find out free and easy options for images you can use.
Time to begin this week’s topic…
Celebrations And Festivities
We have a diverse group taking part in the Student Blogging Challenge with lots of different cultural backgrounds represented.
Around the world, people celebrate different holidays and festivals. As we learned in week five, there are many benefits to learning about similarities and differences.
It can be fun to tell people about our own traditions while hearing about others!
Want to learn a bit more about just some of the holidays that are celebrated around the world? This video might help.
This resource from ABC Australia also has some useful videos and information.
Celebrations Poll
Week Eight Tasks
This week there are five tasks to choose from that explore holidays, celebrations, and festivities.
Our graphic summarises the tasks and I will explain each task in more detail below.
Task 1: Family Celebrations
Think of all the holidays, festivals, or celebrations that are important to your family. Write a blog post about this. Don’t forget the essentials of a great post!
- You could make a list of your family’s celebrations with a short description for each one, or
- You could choose one celebration to explain in more detail.
Don’t forget to include lots of information about your holiday so your readers can get a clear understanding of this special day/season.
You could include things like:
- The time of year/date it’s celebrated.
- What you do to celebrate? Are there special costumes, decorations, music, lights, food, prayers etc?
- Do people give each other gifts?
- Who is involved in the celebration? Do you visit other people or host family and friends?
- What special memories do you have?
You might even like to do some research into the origins of your holiday.
Task 2: Photo Spark
Often, holidays and celebrations include different decorations, food, costumes, or other objects. Think of a celebration that’s important in your family and share at least two photos of something that represents that holiday. Write a reflection to give readers an idea of the significance of this object. Don’t forget the essentials of a great post!
Check out this example on the New York Times — Holiday Memories.
Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for sharing this idea.
Task 3: Spice Up Your Blog With Mrs. Vazquez
Your house or classroom isn’t the only place you can decorate for the holidays, why not decorate your blog?
Alethea Vazquez is a wonderful teacher who is a commenter and a past STUBC participant. She has been very busy helping us with this task.
Head to Mrs. Vazquez’s “Christmas Fun” blog to get lots of ideas for themes, backgrounds, widgets, countdowns, music, puzzles and more!
Tip: Decorating your blog is fun but make sure your visitors can still read your posts amongst all the colour and action.
If you decorate your blog, you might want to write a post about it telling others what you did. You can then submit your post in the Google Form below.
Task 4: Holiday Craft
The holiday season can be a great time to make some craft!
Create something and then add a photo of it to a blog post with a description. Or you could even make a video tutorial for your readers! Don’t forget the essentials of a great post! If you find inspiration from a website, be sure to include the link in your post.
Craft inspiration:
- Origami Club has a list of origami (paper folding) objects you can make with a Christmas theme. There is origami for other holidays too.
- DLTK has lots of ideas sorted into different holidays.
- PBS Parents shares a range of craft ideas for different celebrations.
- Easy Peasy and Fun has lots of Christmas craft ideas.
Task 5: Fun And Games
Once you try out at least two sites, write a blog post about it and let others know whether you recommend it. You should take a screenshot of the site and include the link. Don’t forget the essentials of a great post! There are lots of fun websites online where you can play games, create things, and get in the holiday spirit!
Here are some examples of sites. If you know some good sites, please leave a comment and let us know!
Magnetic Poetry — This is where you put words together to make a poem. It uses Google Drawings or Slides.
- Wintertime magnetic poetry by Eric Curts
- Halloween magnetic poetry by Kasey Bell
- Thanksgiving magnetic poetry by Jamie Forshey
- Easter magnetic poetry by Jamie Forshey
Google’s Santa Tracker has a range of different activities from coding to mapping to translating. They are available in December. Check them out here in December.
Topmarks has a selection of Christmas games. Many are for younger students.
Google’s Emoji Creator that we mentioned in week 4 has had a holiday makeover. You can make your own emoji with a festive look. Check it out.
Submit Your Post URL
If you want a commenter and other participants to visit your blog, remember to fill in the Google Form below.