[momofgboys]

I had a class website that I loved, but the price went up a little each year until I just couldn't afford it. I've been searching through various teacher sites, and it seems like many teachers are now using blog formats instead of the classic website. Which format do you prefer and why? Also, are there any good FREE or extremely cheap hosting options?Thanks for your input!

[loggerteacher]

I used to have a website through shutterfly that I loved! It was completely free and so easy to create/update. I had a blog section w/in the website that the kids would use. The only reason I don't still have it is because I am at a different school and they pay for our site host (teacherweb).

Good luck!

[J.Elaine]

Our school district requires us to use SchoolCenter for our classroom webpages. It's really user friendly and easy to update and make changes. My 4th graders even had their own SchoolCenter webpages.

Last summer, after going to a lot of ProTeacher blogs (blogspot), I thought I just had to have a blog, too. After school started that year, I found out that I could not maintain the blogspot blog and my classroom webpage at the same time. Since I am required to have a classroom website, I had to let the blog go. Now I try to incorporate pages within my site with teacher links, etc., but it's not the same as having a blog. I'd have both if I could keep them up.

[LuvTeachng]

Our district uses Google Sites for classroom websites (and the district/school sites). I love it. It's pretty easy to use, and you don't need to know HTML for it. I can have as many pages as a I want, easily insert pictures, add tables, etc... The navigation between pages is automatically added. I have a file cabinet to which I can add any type of document, such as my weekly newsletter. I can also insert Picasa photo album slideshows, as well as my Google Calendar. I can also upload a movie to Google Docs and then embed it into a page. There's TONS of storage space, so that's not an issue.