Global Read Aloud Update

The Global Read Aloud (GRA) experience is going strong.  The students are connecting with the story of Melody, and they love sharing the story with our partner class in Florida.

We Skyped our partner class again today and while students were doing a 1:1 Skype with their assigned partner, the rest of the class was "backchanneling."  Have you heard of backchannels?  Backchannels (the one we used was at todaysmeet.com) are private spaces where selected people chat about a subject.  The students were able to ask questions about each other, and most importantly, have an online chat about the GRA book.  Students discussed the characters, plot, problems and more about Out of My Mind.  It was amazing to see conversations happening on Skype, while the rest of the students were engaged in an online discussion.

Here are some pictures of the Skype/Backchannel session.  Hopefully some of the students will post reflections on this experience next week!

Global Read Aloud

The 5th Graders are embarking on an incredible journey next week!  We will be reading the book chosen as this year's Global Read Aloud, Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper.  This means that over 100,000 students from all over the world will be reading this book aloud in their classrooms with their teachers during the month of October.  Teachers have been encouraged to connect with other classes across the world to talk about the book.  Think of it as a huge book club!

SHA 5th graders will be connecting with two different Jewish Day Schools.  One school is in St. Paul, MN and the other is in Jacksonville, FL. (I've also posted links to their class blogs on the left side bar.) We will be connecting via blogs and Skype/Google Hangouts.  This will be our first experience "flattening the walls" of our classroom, and I (Mrs. A.) am very excited!