Bob the Dog from The One and Only Ivan

This is a project one of my students completed as a cumulative project. Karim chose a character from the book and used Blabberize to tell his story. He choose Bob, the scruffy dog from Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

What did you think? Did you enjoy reading this book
 for the Global Read Aloud? Please leave a comment for Karim.

US Regions Projects

For our first collaborative, Social Studies project of the year is on US Regions. In partners, the students researched information about the six major regions of the United States. Our focus was on learning more about the states and their capitals, climate, natural resources, major landforms, and famous landmarks. Then we used Animoto to make our own short videos to share with our followers, using Creative Commons images. We hope you enjoy them below!

Northeast Region

Southwest Region



Midwest Region



West Region



Mountain Region

What did you think? Is your region represented here? 

Is there anything you would have us add or change?

Thankfulness Wallwisher

The value of the month is Thanfulness! This coincides nicely with Thanksgiving, but also gives us a chance to thank God for his blessings! No matter who you are, our students think you have something to be thankful for! Please help Mariam and Wanya, our ambassadors for the month of November, come up with ideas for their presentations by adding to our Wallwisher!

VIP Day 2012

Today was our first ever VIP day. VIP stands for "Very Important Person"! Each one of the students invited a relative, friend, or neighbor to come enjoy an afternoon at our school. We had so much fun sharing our school with our VIPs. We took lots of photos, ate lunch, and then invited the VIPs back to our room where we interviewed them about their experiences in school. Here are some of the photos from the day!

What was your favorite part of VIP day?
What did your VIP like the best? 

Honesty Wallwisher

This month, our class focuses on the value of Honesty. Our ambassador, Karim, is in charge of making a presentation about the reasons we show honesty. He needs your help! Please post a comment to share what honesty means to you.

Can you explain what honesty means? Or give us a reason why we should be honest?
Can you find a famous quote to illustrate this value?  

How can you encourage others to be honest? Is there every a time it's okay to be dishonest?
How would your friends or family feel if they caught you in a lie? How would you feel about yourself?

To open the Wallwisher below in a new window, click on the link http://wallwisher.com/wall/honesty2012

Google+ Hangout With Four Classes!

Today was an amazing day! We connected with three other classes on Google+ Hangout. The classes that joined us were Mr. Buist's class from Arizona, Mr. Spicer's class from Illinios, and Ms. Abdel-Aal's class (from right next door)! We are partnering with these classes (and two others who couldn't attend the hangout session) on Edmodo for the Global Read Aloud project.

The coolest thing about Google+ Hangouts is that you can connect with more than one class at a time! The class that is talking is featured on the main screen while the other classes are listening and shown at the bottom. Somehow Google+ Hangouts knows which class to put on top!

Our class introduced ourselves to the others and then we shared some predictions about the book we are reading together, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. We also learned about the other classes and heard their predictions. My kids commented that most of their predictions were the same except my class thinks that Ivan is in the circus, and the other classes predicted Ivan was in a mall! We shall find out soon which is correct when we read the book next week!

Thank you to Mr. Spicer and Mr. Buist for spending some excellent face time with us today!

Here are some photos from the event. 

This is Mr. Buist's class presenting while the others are listening.

Here some students are waiting to introduce the class and share
predictions about Ivan.

Here we are watching the screen waiting for our turn to come up!

Can you see? It's Ms. Abdel-Aal's class talking from next door!

The students talked into the camera on the teacher's laptop.

What was your favorite thing about meeting these classes on Google+ Hangout today?

The Global Read Aloud 2012

This week, we introduce the Global Read Aloud Project and our book The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. The premise of this project created by Pernille Ripp, a Wisconsin teacher, is simple: One shared book can connect the world and inspire children to love reading, sharing, and learning together.

This will be my second time participating in the Global Read Aloud. Last year my class read Tuck Everlasting with over 1000 children worldwide! It was amazing! Next week, we will be joining with classes from North America to Australia to read The One and Only Ivan at the same time. Our class will be collaborating with classes in Illinois, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Canada on Edmodo and Skype to discuss the book. In addition, we will post class projects on our blog to reach our global audience. The children will share not only their predictions, thoughts, and comments, but their love of reading with the world!  If you haven't heard of this book, please take a moment to view this trailer below! You can also click on the links to learn more about Ivan.

http://theoneandonlyivan.com/

I read the book this summer and fell in love with Ivan instantly. A gentle, silverback gorilla, Ivan has been kept for almost 30 years in a glass "domain" in a mall in Washington. This story is written from his perspective. Based on a true story, this book incites people to stand up for the rights of animals like Ivan who are kept unjustly in captivity. Silverback gorillas are an endangered species and we will be learning more about them, and the real Ivan, as we read this novel.

If you'd like to know more about the Global Read Aloud Project you can check out this article that was published in Learning and Leading with Technology in 2011. We are excited to be a part of this project again this year!