Using Skype for Pre-School Step Up Day

The Pre-School students at Howe Manning had a virtual Step Up Day with the Kindergarten students and teachers. Since we aren't physically in the same building, we used Skype to communicate and connect with each other.

The Pre-School students are a little nervous to go to Kindergarten.  They wrote some questions to ask the Kindergarten students and teachers.  They feel much better after having their questions answered.

Here are the questions:

1. How many colors do we need to use on projects?

2. What do you do in Kindergarten?

3. How long are we going to stay there?

4. Do we have rest time? 5. Do you have blocks in Kindergarten?

6. Do you have a schedule to look at?

7. How many toys do you have?

8. Do you have a job chart?

9. What color paints do you have?

10. Do you have a calendar?

We'd like to thank all of the teachers and students for taking the time to answer our questions.

Connecting with an expert using Skype

First graders in Mrs. Scharffenberg's class have been learning about birds in their "Backyard Science" unit.  They set up some bird feeders outside of their classroom windows and observe the visiting birds everyday.  Students have also learned about characteristics and behaviors of birds.  They make bird treat with different types of seeds and proteins to see learn about eating habits and adaptations of the birds.  Habitats and nesting have also been discussed as the students investigate different nests in their classroom.

Exploring nests 

To make this "Backyard Science" unit more authentic, Mrs. Scharffenberg scheduled a Skype session with an expert on birds.  Lisa Hutchingson from Mass Audubon joined this class to answer questions that the students had about birds.  The students took turns asking Ms. Hutchingson questions such as: What is "Anting"?, How many birds are in the world? What are her favorite birds? Why do we not see as many birds at our feeder as we used to?  We even stumped her with a question about how many Jays there are in North America.

Check out the video from our Skype session:

Skyping in 2nd Grade

Fuller Meadow 2nd Graders have been meeting some new friends.

Skype is a way of connecting with other classes through a video feed on line.  Two classrooms arrange to call each other on Skype with the goal of guessing the location of the other classroom by asking strategic questions.  It's a great way to learn geography, languages, history, science...even mathematics.  Mystery Skype is a way of connecting with other classes by making it a game.

In Mrs. Kennedy's class, students visited Hoover, Alabama for a "Mystery Number" Skype with a three-digit number.  Each class alternates in questioning the other class and asks Yes or No questions.  For a Mystery Number Skype, students ask each other questions to determine the numeral for each place value.  They start with the hundred's place, then the ten's place, and finally the one's place.  Questions included mathematical vocabulary such as greater than and less than, odd and even, more or less.

Mrs. Kennedy's 2nd grade class participating in a "Mystery Number" Skype

In Mrs. Mulligan's class, students "traveled" to Indiana for a Mystery Skype.  Students were organized into different groups.  The "Greeters" introduced their class and teacher to the other class.  The "Questioners" stood up and asked the other class Yes or No questions that included questions like "Are you west of the Mississippi River?"  After the question is asked, all students use their US map to cross off the states that are eliminated by the question that was answered.  If the students have additional questions, the "Researchers" have resources such as iPads and a larger map to do more investigation. They share their findings with the class.  The Researchers also share facts about their own state to the other class after the activity is done.  After this is complete, the "Closers" say a final goodbye and both classes wave cheerfully.  All of the students were very organized and enthusiastic.

Check out the video below to witness their journey.


Mystery Skype Mrs. Mulligan's Class from Dierdre Baker on Vimeo.

Global Read Aloud 2015

Global Read Aloud in Middleton, Massachusetts

Every student in Middleton public schools participated in the 2015 Global Read Aloud.  Teachers read the book aloud to their students and planned/implemented projects and activities that align with our reading and writing curriculum.  Students became connected to other students throughout the world using technology.  Programs like Padlet, Twitter and blogging helped students to write to others about their connections and predictions and share with classrooms around the world.  A virtual book club was created using Skype and Google Hangouts and allowed students to meet others in our country and Canada.  We even participated in “Mystery Skypes” where the classes asked yes or no questions using maps to determine where they were from; building great geography skills.

What is the Global Read Aloud?

"The project was created in 2010 with a simple goal in mind; one book to connect the world.  Now with five years under our belt and more than 500,000 connections made in 60 different countries, we realize we are on to something larger than us so we look forward to continuing the global connections.

The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible.  Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be.  Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible.  The scope and depth of the project is up to you.  In the past we have used Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, our wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, and any other tools we can think of to make these connections.  Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year." (Source:  globalreadaloud.com and Pernille Ripp.)

Click HERE for video.

The Kindergarten students at Fuller Meadow School are reading six books by Amy Rosenthal. Watch this video:

The 1st-2nd grade students are reading The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes. Watch this video:

The 3rd-6th grade students are reading Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Watch this video:

Global Read Aloud 2015- First graders Skype with Arizona

During the Global Read Aloud (GRA) 2015, first and second grade students at Fuller Meadow are reading The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Henkes.  In 1st grade, students are reading with another class in their school to build community. In Mrs. Higgins' and Mrs. Scharffenberg's classes, students are listening to the book and making connections.


Students in Mrs. Higgins' 1st grade class had to opportunity to Skype with a class in Arizona who is also reading The Year of Billy Miller.  During the Skype session, each class introduced themselves, their school, and their town.  Then, they shared ideas about the book, making connections between the book and their own lives.  They also made text to text connections with another book written by Kevin Henkes.

Everyone had a wonderful time meeting each other.  The students also received a geography lesson as they found Arizona on the map and discussed the Grand Canyon.

Check out our meeting:

Using Skype to collect data

How do the students in Mrs. Fuller's and Mrs. Ridley's 1st Grade Class make data collection fun?  

They go outside of their classroom to gather information from their friends in another town.

Using Skype in the classroom, students had a chance to answer the Essential Question:

How can information be gathered, recorded, and organized?

Mrs. Fuller's and Mrs. Ridley's 1st graders have been learning how to collect data.  They have learned how to use tally marks to record date and it data into a graph.  Today, they had a chance to gather data from another 1st grade class in the Tri-Town to help make a deeper connection.

Thanks to Mrs. Dunn, Ms. Reid, and Mrs. Klipfel for Skyping with us today. Our students really enjoyed our session, and even saw some of their friends who are on their sports teams.

For both classes, each student had a chance to ask the other class some general questions that related to what they are learning in their classes.  

We watched the other class stand up to show us their answers for our questions.  We got to count the students and tally how many stood up.

Then, students from each class asked the other class questions to do some data collection.  The questions were: “Which winter activity do they like best: skating, sledding, skiing, or building a snowman?”  The other question was, “Which do you like the best: wearing gloves on your hands, mittens, or nothing at all?”  They tallied the data on a collection sheet, then used this data to create a graph.

Winter Activities

What we like to wear

Massachusetts and Common Core Standards for Math

1.MD.C.4. Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.

Thank you to Paula Klipfel for helping me to learn Skype and collaborating with me for my first Skype in the Classroom lesson.