NH Skype Call - Everybody Has a Twin

You have all heard it said- we all have a twin somewhere in the world. Well, I think we found one of my student's twin by Skyping with Stephen Gagnon's 4th grade class in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

This is the first time our two classes had connected via Skype, so we were doing an introductory activity. Each student had a turn in the "hot seat" in front of the web cam. They introduced themselves by stating their name and something that is unique about them or a favorite thing. One of Mr. Gagnon's students made a lot of instant friends when he proclaimed that his favorite football team was the New Orleans Saints. My whole class whooped and hollered! Another student from NH got a similar response when he said his favorite basketball team was the N.O. Hornets.

We also learned that one Mr. Gagnon's students has a N.O. connection. Her dad travels to New Orleans each week to work. He owns a lumber business in this area. Now that is quite a commute!

But the most shocking part of this connection happened when Mr. Gagnon tweeted out a picture from his classroom shortly after the call. When I first saw the picture I thought it was one he took of one of my students from the web cam. But when I looked at it a second time I realized that it wasn't my student, but one of his. All of the kids in my class couldn't get over how much the two boys look alike.

You just never know what is going to happen when you connect your class to another using Skype, but it is always an adventure. Thank you, Mr. Gagnon, for connecting with our class. I hope your principal enjoyed the call too. (He's sitting in the very back of this picture.)

Famous Inventors Glogster

Here is the Glogster I made for my 4th graders to use to learn about famous inventors we are studying in social studies. I love that I can embed Discovery streaming clips into the glog for my students to view on their own.

March 2, 2011 Read Across America

We participated in Read Across America on March 2. I had planned to do a group Skype video call with three other classes across the United States, but unfortunately that did not work out. I am not sure why I could not launch the group Skype call but I quickly IMed (instant messaged) everyone that I would have to call them one at a time.

First we Skyped with our buddy class, Mrs. Jan Wells, in Kansas. We always enjoy sharing with each others class. Next we had a new contact class in Unionville, Alabama. Mrs. Barton's 6th graders read to our class and then we read part of Green Eggs and Ham to her class. Watch our video here.

I kept trying to reach Tiffany Whitehead, a librarian friend of mine, in Baton Rouge but never could reach her on Skype. We are still trying to figure out why she can Skype within her district but not with anyone else.