Summary for C4K #4, #5, and #6

Image via WikipediaFor my fourth Comments for Kids post, I commented on another blog from a child in New Zealand. Recently in the news I've been seeing a lot about the earthquake that hit the city of Christchurch, and Makalita's most recent blog post was about the earthquake. She wrote about how the suffering in Christchurch made her sad and that she wanted to help the people who lost their homes. She wants to make the people happy again. I was touched by her post and thanked her for being so caring. It's always a pleasure to read about the world through the eyes of a child. They have a way of reminding us that life isn't always about the numbers or the physical representations, but also about the invisible fabric that knits us all together as humans--empathy.


My fifth Comment for Kids post was on a seventh year student named Athena's blog. Athena is a student at Pt. England school in Room 21, and is taught by Mrs. Lagitupu. Athena wrote in her latest post that she wished to improve her writing and reading abilities. I told her that was a wonderful goal and commended her on her objective. I also introduced myself and gave her a little background on me, like my major and why I was so proud of her for wanting to get better. As a future English teacher, I find it rewarding to hear about students who care enough to vocalize--or in this case, write--about their want to learn how to improve themselves in school related activities. When some kids are behind in certain areas, they often give up, but Athena voiced her desire to read and write better than she does now. She really impressed me. Plus, her name is super cool.

My first comment on Mrs. Phares' 4th grade blog was on Gordon T.'s post about bullying in schools. He offered some great ways to combat bullying and try to stop them from being bullies, and I was impressed with his reasoning behind his alternatives and suggestions. Bullying has taken a sharp turn up in recent years with the advent of cyberbullying, and with all of the news lately about cases of bullying gone wrong, I'm not surprised Mrs. Phares prompted them to write about bullying and how to stop it. It's a great idea to get kids thinking early about the effects of something as serious and potentially harmful as bullying. I told Gordon that I thought his post was great and commented on how to handle being bullied. Either way, the issue isn't going away, but at least it's being discussed and considered. That's a start in the right direction.