How to encourage blogging instead of killing trees

I have been thinking about why I like the blog as a classroom tool. Benefit #1: the visual pile of papers to drag home is depressing whereas the blog is tidy and I don't have to worry about losing them. (I was late for work today because I couldn't find the student folders that I took home.) #2: The response time seems easier and faster to simply hit "comment" and go for it. #3: This is a new revelation: the kid who hogs classtime with stories - hand is always in the air - unaware that there are 25 other kids to be heard - I can't wait to say, "This sounds like something for our blog! Please blog about it!" I think in this sense that it may aid in time efficiency. The question you pose - how to set it up - is still in progress. Kids know that there will be a writing prompt - or choices- on Friday. Today I am presenting the option of jotting notes (a reader's notebook of questions and reactions as they read) on paper to be kept in portfolio for classroom work and sharing or they can blog as they read. We'll see. The email addresses were added in today and so tonight will be the first night that kids will have this option. I can't wait to see.