Access to Blogs

I am now entering my second week of blogging. So far, my opinions are still mixed on whether I can use blogs in my classroom. One big obstacle i see is that students have to all create an account to create a blog. One idea I thought of is to create a generic account and give all of the students the username and password. Has anyone done something similar to this?

My first official Blog

As this is my first official blog, I sit here unsure of what to say and how to properly blog. I have spent some time researching others blogs, and even read what Will Richardson had to say on blogs. I do agree with him that "writing teachers should write, and literature teachers should read, teachers who use blogs, should, well, use blogs." It is imperative that teachers become models of success to students. However, I am still unsure of whether using blogs in a third grade classroom would help my students to become better readers and writers when they are still learning fudamental skills. I do believe that students should be taught technological skills, but at what age should we begin to expect our students to post and reply to blogs on the Internet?