Our first Skype meeting of 2012-2013

As part of the Global Read Aloud, our class was asked to link up with a 5th grade class in Portland, Maine. Mrs. Smith introduced their class which has students from all over the world!
We also shared our ideas about the book we're both reading, The One and Only Ivan.
We sang O Canada for them; they said the Pledge of Allegiance for us! It was pretty neat! Various students also shared greetings in many languages including Gaelic, Mi'kmaq, Arabic, Afrikaans, etc.
There were some really neat similarities in our schools: both our classrooms overlook water; their school is located on a peninsula like ours. But the similarities ended there as they were amazed that our whole school population is about 1/4 of their school's population, which only serves K-5!

Following our 1/2 hr chat, we decided we'd become "pen pals" through the safe online educational site, Edmodo. This fits in PERFECTLY with our upcoming exploration of cultural regions as part of social studies!

Here are some shots of the experience:

Skyping with Mrs. Smith's class in Portland, ME

Charlotte's Web -- Thoughts on Wilbur & the Characters

A Character Map




Thoughts on Wilbur




-- Both created by Rankin's Grade 2/3 & 5/6 Reading Buddies
(Thanks to Kalen & Emma for leading the groups in creating the walls!)

The One and Only Ivan :: Global Read Aloud 2012

As in previous years, our class is taking part in the Global Read Aloud Project. This year's book is called The One and Only Ivan. From the trailer we watched on the book's site, to the cover, and first few pages of The One and Only Ivan we are all wondering and anticipating what may come next with each page turned.

To get in Ivan's mind, we listened to this music, while we coloured on a piece of paper with a crayon...



What did we create?

I wonder if any of these pictures resemble what Ivan would draw in his domain?!?!












Also, as part of our participation in the Global Read Aloud forum, we created this week 1 word cloud which describes Ivan, the main character in our book.

http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/5805585/IVAN_%3B%3B_The_One_and_Only_Ivan

Stay tuned to our blog and our twitter feed (@inmyclassroom or #Ivan5and6) as we explore this intriguing book!

Global Read Aloud :: Charlotte's Web :: Reading Buddies Grade 2/3 and Grade 5/6

This year we have paired up with Mr. MacKenzie's grade 2/3 class for Reading Buddies. As a kick-off to our year, we have signed up for the Global Read Aloud project reading Charlotte's Web. Here are some Vokis some of the buddies created about our thoughts on Charlotte's Web so far.

::::::::: Much thanks to Ms. Dugas for getting everyone used to using Voki! :::::::

Please use these links to get to each students' Voki:

Kaisa'n's Thoughts:

  Kaisa'n's Thoughts Click Here

Brenley's Thoughts

Celine's Thoughts

Chelsea's Thoughts

Joshua's Thoughts 

Robert's Thoughts

We're baaaaaaaaccccccccccckkkkkkkkk!

As students entered the classroom last week, they were greeted with the traditional "Welcome Back" message.

Things have been going smoothly; the grade 5/6 class have been considered wonderful role models for many in the elementary wing on many occasions the past week. (YAY!)

Speaking of role models, tomorrow we have our first Reading Buddies session with Mr. MacKenzie's grade 2/3 class. We're starting reading buddies this week as a way to gear up for the Global Read Aloud Project coming up in October. As part of reading buddies, our classes will be reading Charlotte's Web, while in our own language arts time, we'll be reading The One and Only Ivan.  (Watch the video... it has us "sad, but excitedly curious"!)

And finally, we held our student council representative election in our class where 6 brave grade sixes accepted the nominations and challenge to prepare a speech outlining their reasons for wanting to be class rep. The speeches were definitely some of the most inspiring, heartfelt and humorous speeches I've ever heard! Congrats on jobs well done, guys! Once the votes were tallied, the elected class rep was...

Emily!

 Congratulations, Emily! We hope you work to keep us informed!

Our Skype Call with Students from Saskatchewan!

This morning we Skyped with a Book Club at a school in Regina, Saskatchewan. The students were grade 4,5 & 6 students. Shayde thought is was "interesting." Lainee thought it was "cool, fun and cool hearing everybody's thoughts." Sidney thought it was "awesome!"

Thank you, Mrs. McMurtry for setting up the Skype 'date' with us! We hope we can do it again sometime!