Okay, I have a confession to make. And I’m a teeny tiny bit embarrassed. Deep breath. Or as we say in my school where we teach the Second Step program, “Smell the Soup.” Then you blow on it to cool it down. That’s a deep calming breath in and then a deep breath out. Believe me, I have stopped my whole class and told them that on the count of three, we’re smelling the soup. It works really well for students who may be having conflicts with others and they’re agitated or upset or crying or whatever.
Oh, look, I’m avoiding my confession. 🙂
Allllll rigggggghhht. So here’s the deal. I follow many, many, many blogs. I love it. If someone new comments on my blog, and if they have a blog, I go over there and follow them. My problem (my confession) is that I have no idea how to manage all of the blogs I’m following. And I know that several of you have talked about your Google Reader. Do I have a google reader of my own? I logged on but it says I’m only following 14 blogs. Ha! That’s a laugh. Which leads me to believe that my reader is a little bit lazy or something. I used to bookmark my blogs but I wasn’t consistent. NOW I’m following blogs by email which I think is the coolest thing. I’m alerted when there is a new post so it’s super convenient and I am always happy to receive THAT email. I have joined some blogs that I want to go back to but I have no idea how I got there in the first place! I may have been on so-and-so’s blog, clicked a link that took me to another’s, and so on and so forth. It’s like I need a GPS for my blog hopping. 🙂
Can someone please help me figure this out? I would be so grateful!!! I have a freebie for you, too. I shared a short vowel cut and paste with you HERE and now you can download the next one HERE.
Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! 🙂
I don't know if this will be of any help, but I can't imagine that this is only on my computer, so… I log on to http://draft.blogger.com/home and it has My Reading List, which on the left is a roll of all the blogs I follow, but front and center are the blogs that have recently been up-dated with recent posts. On the blog roll I can click on any blog that i follow and it will take me right to their page. I don't know if this is of any help, but I hope you find what you're looking for. Happy blogging!!
Kristin,
It sounds like you don't know about the dashboard feature in Blogger? If not, click on new post, when the page changes look in the top right corner and click on the word dashboard. Now a reader will come up with all the blogs you follow listed on the left. You can click on a certain blogger or leave it on the top choice all blog updates and you can read whoever has posted most recently.
Did I understand your question correctly?
Jenn
Thanks for the short vowel printables! Super review!
Mandy
firstgradetothecore
If you look at the bottom of your dashboard and click google reader all your blogs should come up. It is the easiest way by far to manage, skim through, read, and click on blogs. If this doesn't work just sign into your google account and click reader and it should pull up all the blogs you are following. Hope this helps you!
I use google reader and it's very easy. Mine is actually on my home page for igoogle so I always know when new posts come in. I do no what you mean about going back to find things and I wish I had answer for that. I've been looking for a blog posting on using itunes with a smart board in your class since this spring and haven't been able to find it even searching through google reader, but I do love that I can click on the google reader link and see all the postings for each blog listed. Good luck and thanks for the freebie
http://www.bloglovin.com
This is a fantastic way to follow all of your blogs in an organized and user-friendly way. I love it!
I put my google reader stuff in manually and I have it saved under Teaching Blogs so that I can easily check those and when I want recipes, I check those blogs etc. I can save posts for later that I want to come back to or star posts or just click through them…That's what I do! I don't really like to follow through email because it is just too much email for me to deal with and then they get lost and I get annoyed that I have too many emails to look through!
Maybe I'm doing mine wrong but whenever I follow a new blog if they don't have the widget to follow their RSS feeds on their side bar, I scroll to the bottom of their page & click on Posts(atom) & then it prompts me to follow them & then it takes you to google reader & I hit subscribe. I personally just discovered this a few months ago. If you have an iphone you can also download an RSS feeder or google reader app & read blogs on the go. I'm thankful for this & will be utilizing it on my break & lunch hour! I hope this helps!
Peace, Mel D
Oh the Places We’ll Go
You have to add the blogs to Reader to get them all there. It is really easy to do. I love my Reader!
Cathy I.
mrsirwinsclass@gmail.com
Mrs. I's Class
Kristin, there's absolutely no need to be embarrased. When I started following too many blogs to keep track of, that's when I finally turned to Google Reader. Any of the blogs I've clicked "Follow" or "Join this site" via Google Friend Connect are listed. I know there's a way to arrange these blogs into folders, but I have yet to figure that out. Ultimately, I'd like to organize my blogs (like "Craft ideas" "educational activities" and "Recipes"). Good luck!
I feel the same way…I have some coming to my google reader and some to my blogger account and then other yahoo groups that come to my email…too many great ideas!! 🙂
Okay, girls, thank you so much for all of that info. I think I may know what my problem is . . . maybe. Is it possible that I may have signed in differently to follow people's blogs BEFORE I started my own blog?? And now I'm only getting the blogs that I followed as a blogger myself?
Kristin, Most of the time I check my blogs from the blog roll on my own blog. I was annoyed for awhile because I was only seeing "older" blogs and none of the newer ones that I knew I had followed. I went to the Dashboard, clicked on the Design tab, went to my Follower Widget, and clicked Edit. There you can add the new blogs you're following. Click Add to List and select all new blogs. You'll have to do it every so often to keep adding your newer blogs to your blogroll. Hope that helps a little bit.
I got a good laugh when you said maybe your Google Reader is lazy! Ha ha!
Just Add Clipart
Thanks for the activity!
♥Jenaya
Lesson Plan Diva
Thanks for sharing these vowel activities!
Amanda
Frolicking Through First
I LOVE Google Reader & Google Dashboard for keeping track of all the latest info. Thank you VERY much for sharing your AWESOME short vowel sorts:)
Kristin, I am so glad you have asked this great question. I too have had trouble sorting and finding my favorite blogs. It seems that I've read all these great blogs, but if I don't copy and paste the idea somewhere then I lose it. I'm going to try out google reader to see if that works.
Also thanks for the "smell the soup" phrase. I'm putting that in my bag of tricks.
Hi Kristin!! I am a Kindergarten Teacher and am new to the Blogging World!! I love the ideas on your Blog!!! Especially the stencil writing!!! So loving that!!! Can't wait to create some of those!! I was reading your post about surfing different Blogs and then can't figure out how I got there or how can I find the one I was reading a few minutes ago!!! Lol!! I feel like I am ADD!! But I love it!! So many amazing ideas out there!! Some day I will figure out how to start my own Blog!! I would love to but am not so Tech Savy!!!! Someday!!!
I just wanted to say that I am right there with you on reading the blogs. I am new to this whole thing…but I think I have finally figured out most or part of it. I use my dashboard to read all the new posts. Plus I just wanted to say thanks for the short vowel sheet. I'm going to make it a game at summer school on Tuesday with my reading groups. You rock!
Dana
myglittergarden