Zuma’s Paw Prints — A literacy blog! Ready articles written by our K-9 reporters. Learn about all aspects of the race.Zuma’s Paw Prints is a ‘blog style’ environment for students of all ages to read. Three K-9 reporters, Gypsy, Libby, and Sanka W. Dog write as part of a team working with Zuma to bring information about the race and Alaska to classrooms around the world. The traditional way of contacting Zuma was via email. Classrooms can now leave comments and ask questions at Zuma’s Paw Prints. Reading the articles, reading comments by others, and leaving one’s own comments becomes an even better way to learn all about Iditarod.
The K-9 ‘reporting team’ recognizes that not all students read and write on the same level. So, Libby, writes about ‘little d’tails’ for the lower readers while Sanka writes to provide more in depth coverage and information for the higher level reader. Zuma and Gypsy write articles geared for the middle readers. Teachers choose the K-9 reporter or reporters that best meet the student’s needs. Depending on the classroom situation and time available, teachers can use the articles from the K-9 reporters accordingly.
Although Zuma and the K-9 reporters can still be emailed, students have discovered that it is more fun to leave comments and ask questions for the reporters. Along with comments or questions, students can post their poetry or other short stories on the blog, further expanding opportunities for students. The fun of comment boards is that not only does the reader gain information from the article written by the reporter, but the comments left at the end of the article provide additional reading and information for everyone. It is important for the teacher to encourage students to read the comments that follow articles. This helps students develop higher level thinking and reasoning skills as well as help them learn to ask better questions and seek more information because they are building their level of knowledge after reading questions, answers, and comments from other readers.
Often, comments and questions that have been left for the reporters become the topic for an article by one of the K-9 reporters, making Zuma’s Paw Prints, a reading source that has interesting articles with topics that come directly from our readers. We’d like to encourage classrooms to generate topics and ideas for our reporters. What do you want to read about? Let us know!
A few schools have filter systems in place that block blogs, making it difficult for students to access Zuma’s Paw Prints as well as Jon Little’s blog. We discovered however, that most schools were able to get these sections of our website ‘unblocked’ by making a request to their school’s technology department. We recommend that teachers work with their schools in the fall, to address issues concerning the blogs. Remember, if you can read Zuma but you can’t write to Zuma in the comment section due to your school’s filter, you can still email Zuma.
As the teacher, it might be necessary for you to help students learn to use the comment section of the blog and remind them to return to where they left their comment, to find a response. With time and practice, students will easily remember which article they left their comment at andback at the article for their comment and possible response from reporters. Not every comment gets a response because sometimes the comment is simply a comment that doesn’t require further response or information. Sometimes, the comment question is already answered in a previous comment from a student or classroom. The goal to enrich our learning is to help students ask new questions, expanding upon what is already on the written page, and taking us to the higher levels of learning and thinking.
Each comment made at the blog is held for approval before it posts. Remind students to be patient and wait for their comment to be posted before posting the same comment again. Remind them if their comment doesn’t show up the next day, it could have been a comment that has already been responded to or a comment that is grouped with another student’s comment.
Students should also remember to follow safety rules. They should be reminded to never give out their first and last name or give out their address. We can’t post comments that provide personal information about students.
We won’t post comments that have inappropriate statements, gibberish, or bad language. We want the readers to understand the comments and questions that students submit, so please encourage best writing skills and provide students with guidance so they learn to be good communicators.
Thousands of classrooms followed Zuma this year! It has been exciting for the K-9 reporters to introduce themselves to our readers through their articles. The comments and email that we have gotten was inspirational and encouraging! We are so glad that students are enjoying what they read and having fun with our reporters!
It is a good idea to introduce Zuma’s Paw Prints to your classrooms in the fall. Zuma’s Paw Prints is a year round source of information for you and your students. Teachers should look for the menu tab that provides helpful hints so expand student achievement and the use of the blog.
We know that when we switched from the old articles to the new format we took a few schools by surprise and that it isn’t always easy to change. As we grow and we attempt to do our job better, we thank you for your patience and your understanding. We know that as time goes on, you’ll find this section of the site as rewarding as ever and it will be an important part of your classroom routine. Zuma and the K-9 reporters are YOUR reporters and they are dedicated to sharing Iditarod with you.
We also hope you’ll leave comments at Zuma’s Blog to help us do our job even better. We’d like to hear your story ideas. We’d like to hear how you and your students use Zuma’s Paw Prints. We’d also like to hear how you and your students help make a difference in the world through any service learning projects that you may do.
Watch for a special announcement from Zuma and the K-9 reporters because they will be putting forth a challenge to classrooms around the world to help make the world a better place by getting involved in community projects. Examples include: helping out to raise funds for animal shelters, helping create safe places for pets and humans to interact, cleaning up the environment, and helping communities take better care of each other. We’d like to hear your ideas about these projects. Share what you do now and ideas you may have that will help us encourage classrooms around the world to get involved in service learning projects.
Be a part of Zuma’s team! We’d enjoy hearing from you and we look forward to next school year.
Visit Zuma’s Paw Prints by clicking here!
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