Blog Info - Read this first!

Welcome to the Pikopiko Team blog!

Blogging has a number of benefits and we are using one for several reasons. Firstly it will be a means to share information and class news with families. Please get into the habit of checking it regularly! Secondly, and more importantly, it will be a platform for the children to share their learning. Having an audience is really exciting for the children and a great source of inspiration and motivation. It is also a great way for them to share with family or friends who might live in another city or country! Being involved in the blog will also provide the children with exposure to and experience with some of the technology and tools that are becoming a central part of our Modern Learning Environment, and that are being used throughout the school.

We are very conscious of cyber safety and will adhere to the following guidelines:

• Photos and videos of the children will be published. 
• First names will occasionally be referenced.
• Photos and names will NOT be used directly together in order to ensure children are not identified online. 
• It is important to be aware of this when commenting if a child has been singled out in a post (eg. the Tall Learner). However you can absolutely use your child’s name in a general comment (eg. Bobby loved the activity today, or Bobby tried some more counting at home etc.)
• All comments are sent to me (Ms Lennon) to be checked before they are published. Just be aware that they may have to be declined if your comment doesn’t meet these safety guidelines.

A lot of the benefit of the blogging experience is the interaction with an audience. If you are already familiar with blogging you will know that the comments are a vital part of the process! We encourage you and other family and friends to add comments regularly, especially if the children have shared something special. You might also help your child to leave a comment at home. You don’t need a google account to do this, you can just comment anonymously. However please sign your name so we know who you are! Please make sure you only refer to yourself and the children by first names. For example you might write ‘Sally’s mum/grandma/uncle’ and you can include your own first name if you like.  I know from experience just how much comments mean to the children. We will be checking the site every day and reading everything that gets posted!

When commenting you are welcome to use your own google account if you have one. However this is not necessary, and most people use 'Anonymous'. To leave a comment follow these steps:

• At the bottom of a post click to enter the comments section - it will say 'No Comments' if you are the first, or the amount of comments that have been left so far.
• If you select an archived post from the right hand side this comments section will automatically be open.
• A comment box will be visible, write your comment here.
• Select profile - Anonymous (or Google account if you prefer)
• Click Publish. The site will ask you to prove you're not a robot by entering some text or ticking a box. Then click Publish again.
• The comment will be sent for approval and will show up on the site when I have cleared it.

Apple Devices
A number of people have come to me saying they are unable to comment from an iPad or iPhone. I have done some experimenting and reading about this and it turns out it is a known problem with Blogger and iOS that is not able to be fixed anytime soon.
So, I have found two options to get around this:

1. Sign in with a Google account. It seems that if you choose to be logged into a google account and comment under that account (rather than as anonymous) it will work as usual.
2. Use the Google Chrome browser. If you would prefer to continue to comment as an anonymous user try downloading the Google Chrome app and using that to view the blog instead of Safari.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns, if you need help navigating the site or leaving comments, or if you have any other questions. This will be our primary form of communication this year so we will be doing our best to help everybody get on board.