Global Learners

Are you a global learner?  Are your students? Technology can connect people who under normal circumstances would never cross paths.

This year I have had the privilege of introducing my students to students across the globe through Mystery Skype. What is Mystery Skype? Check out this post by Mr. Solarz for a great explanation.

When I look back, I think it all started a few years ago with The Global Read Aloud. I saw then how my students looked forward to using technology to connect with other students. This year (through Twitter and Mystery Skype) I was introduced to World Read Aloud Day by a wonderful teacher in Wisconsin, Jackie Trebiatowski.

Together our classes created a book using the app Book Creator. Students worked to photograph their school and interview staff members. Once each class had their portion of the book completed, I compiled the two books for our final book, A Tale of Two Schools. We each read the book to our class and then met via the Internet to learn more about our new friends. What were the most surprising things we learned about our new friends? Our class was surprised to find out they have recess unless it's below 0 degrees AND they have recess twice a day! They were surprised to find out we have a pet snake and our school has over 1,000 students!


If you have not tried Book Creator, I would highly recommend you try the free version. You can create 1 book with the free version, but you will need the paid version to combine books or create more than 1 book. Students can create their own books to share with others.

This year we created our Reading and Math Journals using Book Creator. At the end of Reading Workshop, my students add a reflection about what they have read independently. I originally gave them a template to get started, but now they are free to use any format they want as long as they include the date, title of the book, author, and their reflection.


We were working on figurative language.


I just recently learned about #BookSnaps on Twitter from Tara Martin. What an awesome way for students to document their reading comprehension!

For our math journal, I Airdrop the Global Math Task Twitter Challenge (GMTTC24) each week.


I also send them grade specific Global Math Tasks throughout the week for them to solve. After my students solve the challenges, I share their solutions on Twitter. This year our class had the privilege of contributing math problems for other students to solve. They got a kick out of seeing how other students solved their problems.





Students share both journals with me and their parents on Seesaw. Parents love seeing their child's work and students love the feedback they get from their parents and peers on Seesaw. Like it or not, we are all global learners. And as educators, we owe it to ourselves and our students to make those connections.

The world is waiting!

Celebrating Dot Day

We celebrated Dot Day last Friday.  This was a perfect way to introduce ourselves to our Global Read Aloud buddies. After reading The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, we made postcards. On the back we introduced ourselves and shared a little about ourselves, without revealing any personal information of course!  Then we decorated the front using tiny dot stickers.

I will mail these to the class we have connected with in California and they will send us their postcards.  Once we receive their postcards, we will use them to help us pick our book buddies for the Global Read Aloud which begins in October. The kids are so excited!

The Dot helped us learn about theme.  The students discussed Vashti's character at the beginning of the story and then again at the end.  Some of the themes we came up with were perseverance and compassion.

We also used the ColAR app to make our dots come alive.  Students took screenshots and posted them on Edmodo to share with their classmates.  In the words of  Jackson, "Dot Dayhttp://fablevisionlearning.com/blog/2013/08/dot-day-fun-watch-your-dot-come-to-life-in-amazing-3d-in-the-colar-app/ is Wicked!"

Our class having fun on Dot Day!

The official Dot Day song! I didn't even know there was one.  :-)

If you celebrated International Dot Day, please leave a comment and share what you did below.  

Connecting with Technology

We're Back . . . . Well Almost!

I'm really excited about this school year - a brand new grade level, a brand new group of eager students, a class set of iPads, magnetic white boards . . . I know! Sometimes it's the small things.

This year my class will be participating in International Dot Day (September 15) and The global Read Aloud.  This will be my second year participating in the The Global Read Aloud which begins in Oct.  You can read my post about my experience last year. I have already connected with some great teachers.  We decided to use The Dot as a way to connect our students before we actually begin GRA.  Once GRA begins we will be reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  I am excited about connecting my students again this year and giving them a real purpose for writing.

Both of these activities provide wonderful opportunities to "Engage students in authentic learning by providing real-life examples and interdisciplinary connections" (breathe).  That's straight from TKES. If you want to know more, please check out the Prezi which has lots of resources for both activities.

Have a Great School Year!
Sheila

Making Connections

Image from Vector Templates

I recently connected with some awesome teachers through Edmodo. Yes, Edmodo.  I signed up to participate in The Global Read Aloud this year for the first time. It seems I am experiencing a lot of "firsts" at this late stage in the game of teaching, which proves that you are never too old to change or should I say grow and learn!

So, I will be reading the book Out of My Mind along with several thousands of other teachers all across the globe. Yes! The globe!  There are other titles you can choose from depending on the level of your students.  You choose the book you want to share with your students and then connect with other teachers who are reading the same book. Students can comment on each others posts using Kidblog or collaborate using Padlet or TodaysMeet to discuss the book.  You can read my post on using TodaysMeet in my math class here.  Some classes even use Skype and Twitter or have set up student groups on Edmodo for book discussions.  The sky's the limit when it comes to how you connect with other classes. 

I was just reading some of the comments written by my students and students from other classes.  Here are a few of their blog posts:
 

 Nice!

What better way for my students to really develop and practice their writing skills!   It's not too late for you to make that connection! Teachers are still looking for classes to connect with.  Go to The Global Read Aloud page, scroll down to One Month to Go #GRA13 , and you will see the Edmodo group codes for the different books.  Once you join the group on Edmodo, just connect with another teacher. It's that easy! 

Read News Article about Pernille Ripp, the creator of GRA