Reflecting on our Mystery Skype Call with Ms. Vo's Class

On Friday, we had a Mystery Skype call with a class in Dallas, Texas. They are on Twitter and we can continue to connect with them there.

We had a sneaky-peek of where they were located before our call, so, while they tried to find out our city, we worked to figure out which one of the many, many schools in Dallas they were from. 

After our call (which was their second ever Mystery Skype), we reflected on our work during the call.

Lately, we have been using "Stars and Planets" instead of "Stars and Wishes". We think about "Planning" rather than "Wishing", because that makes us more responsible, and Plan-It, rather than just sitting and wishing.

Mystery Skype

Stars:

-we were all very respectful of their different interpretations

-our questions were really well thought of

-all doing good things on computers

-we listened really well

-people were including others to share laptops

Planets:

-more people participating

-be more quiet, no shhushing needed

-we should have more questions planned out beforehand

-nobody talking unless it’s your turn

-more quiet because ipad picks up noise

-when you’re sharing, speak loudly

-stay more on task

-next time, Shauna should hook to projector once we’re connected

-follow instructions the first time

Looking Forward to Working with Miss Robin's Class

We have started to work with Miss Robin and her grade 5 class in Los Altos, California to share about our similar Social Studies projects.

Her students blogged about our first Skype chat. They explained about our Mystery Skype call. They were really interested in the degus. They learned about how much we love to eat Beaver Tails.

It will be great to Skype more with them in small groups and to share our ideas!

Check out their class blog posts and leave a response so that they know we were there.

Our first meetings will be starting next week.

Face Time with Gabby in Florida!

Letters to Our Ugandan Pen Pals

Eight classes at Churchill have written letters to our new pen pals in Uganda and the letters have been sent! They will get there soon (I hope). The post office promised they'd be there in six weeks, but said they'd hopefully arrive much sooner. I hope our new friends at Good Times Primary will like to learn about life in Canada and look forward to hearing about what life and school is like for them!

We Have Pen Pals...in Uganda!

Hi boys and girls,

  I just got great news in my inbox today! We have been paired up with a school for Pen Pals! Our "Sister School" is called Good Times Primary School and is located in Kampala, Uganda, Africa!

  After the March Break, we will get together with Dana's class and write our introductory letters to our new African friends and I will send a package from Churchill just before Easter weekend (on March 28th)!

  I got a little bit of information about Good Times Primary in the email introduction:

School Summary

Good Times Primary School was founded by Mr. Ronald Mpagi in 1992 in order to offer affordable high-quality education to the children of low income families in Kasubi and nearby neighborhoods. Mr. Mpagi was motivated by his own fortunate experiences with education, and wanted to help reduce illiteracy caused by poverty. Today the school has 45 teachers and 17 additional staff to cater to the needs of over 1,600 students, many of whom are boarded in the school's 5 dormitories. The school currently has 21 classroom blocks, and has plans to build more as funding becomes available. Other challenges include a library that is too small for the size of the school (it accommodates only 20 students and has too few books). The school also needs a computer lab and computers, wells and tanks for reliable water supplies, additional toilets and washrooms. In order to address all of these needs, the school also has plans to expand onto more land, and hopes to negotiate favorably with neighbors willing to sell. Once additional land is available, Good Times Primary School intends to expand co-curricular activities and sports, add classrooms, and build a recreation center. Despite its difficulties, the school is proud of its students' achievements in both academics and sports.

Elluminate!

I've been spending some time tonight meeting with teachers and student teachers from ALL OVER in this amazing virtual classroom called "Elluminate"! Soon, one of the student teachers will pick us and work with us! It's going to be hard for them to pick, though, there are a lot of fantastic teachers!

Some of the teachers said I could share their blogs with you:

Mr. Williams' 7th grade class 
Mr. Chamberlain (he has a ukulele club!)
Mrs. Cassidy's Grade 1s
First Grade Explorations

Check out their blogs. Do you have any ideas of how to connect with any of those classes?