Wow- My Class had an Amazing Week!!
Sitting here reflecting on my week. I didn't follow any scripted lessons. I planned but I let the kids help direct where we went and what we did.
I planned two video conference sessions.
The first one with a teacher in New Zealand that I connected with last year through doing Quad Blogging. She actually sent us a lovely package with their class mascot, Kiwi and some lovely NZ candies for us to try. Kiwi is here to learn about life in Colorado. Students are taking him home, snapping a few photos and writing on their blog about what he experiences. We made our connection at the end of our Wednesday and the beginning of their Thursday. The timing is just right. I want my students to learn about life in other places. I created some focus for them around - School, Food, Celebrations/Holidays and Hobbies. I asked them to come up with questions on one of these topics. During the connection, students took turns asking questions and then taking notes using a circle Thinking Map. (plan to take their individual ones and make one big one) The kids really enjoyed learning first hand about life in another classroom. Ms. Wills and I have grand plans for furthering this connection as her year winds down and then again as it starts up. My 5th graders will be reading "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" (bought it from Scholastic for $1)-- So I thought.... how about buying enough copies for Ms. Wills' class? So a grand plan is in the works for this project for the spring.
The second connection was with Ms. Gills' class in Ontario, Canada. I am participating in the Global Read Aloud 2011. It is a fabulously cool project put together by Pernille Ripp, a teacher in Wisconsin and a few others. The gist of the project is that teachers across the globe are reading the same book - Tuck Everlasing- to their students and then using a wiki to connect, discuss and share. There is also a version for younger students using Flat Stanley. You can see a bit of what we've done in our room here. Back to our connecting on Thursday with Ms. Gills' class. Students again had a page that they'd brainstormed questions on and were asked to take notes as we learned the answers. However, the other focus of this connection was to discuss Tuck Everlasting. It was a great way to open our classroom. We learned our little friend Kiwi from New Zealand has actually visited a class in Ms. Gills' school. Small world!!
During our chat with Ms. Gills' class, she talked about using Garage Band to have students create music they thought was coming from a music box in a part of Tuck Everlasting. We don't have Macs in our school but I was reminded of a cool tool I've been wanting to learn and share with the kids. Aviary is available through our Google Domain and has an audio/music editor for the PC world. So we tromped down to the computer lab to use Aviary. I gave the students the task of using it to create theme songs for either a character in Tuck Everlasting or an overall one for the book. Lucy and Kenny came up with this and Lucas and Thomas made this one. THEY LOVED it!!
We wrapped up our short adventure with Aviary and headed back to our classroom. We decided to work a bit on our 100 Word Challenges that are due Tuesday. I connected with a teacher in London via Twitter and discovered a cool project she has created for a weekly writing challenge. Last week we had our very own Trey selected as a showcased author on the site. I'm really impressed with their creativity and ability to tell a story in just 100 words!
I really love my class this year! I think the fact I only have 22 (I know I am super lucky for this) is making a HUGE difference in how we are taking care of each other, the room, me and what we are able to accomplish, learn and create each day!
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