2nd Grade Reading Buddies

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Permalink Reply by Mary E Collins on January 15, 2010 at 6:37pm

Hi,
I am a 2nd grade teacher and just got set up with Skype. I have also used Voicethread with the kids. What book did you have in mind?
We are located in Warrenville which is located next to Wheaton and Naperville.
MaryBeth

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Permalink Reply by Faith Shabat on January 19, 2010 at 11:04am

Hi MaryBeth,
Thanx for your response. Our 2nd graders just finished "Mouse Noses on Toast" and the teachers will tell me what they're starting. Can I see samples of what you've done on Voicethread? We're just starting it now. Do you have a website. Our site is www.bzkids.org. We have some samples of our projects and links. We've also been blogging this year on Classblogmeister. We could do that together also. We are in the Lakeview area of Chicago.
Faith

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Permalink Reply by Mary E Collins on January 20, 2010 at 5:04pm

Hi,
We do have a classroom page. Go to http://cliffordjohnsonschool2.blogspot.com/. Then classroom pages, 2nd Grade, Mrs Collins/Mrs. Gianfrancesco. I job share (I'm Mrs. Collins.). I looked at your website. It was impressive - so extensive! I have only done one VoiceThread and that's the one you see on the classroom page. I recently received a camera through DonorsChose.Org and now have Skype capability so I am quite the newbie at all this. I loved the biographies. You can see last year's biographies if you go down far enough.
MaryBeth

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Permalink Reply by Faith Shabat on January 21, 2010 at 7:33pm

Hi Mary,
I love your class blog. You've been doing it for a long time. We just started blogging this year. I use Classblogmeister and I've given each student their own account. (It's very timeconsuming!) I love how you used blabberize for their worm reports. It's very cute. I'm still trying to gather useful ideas for Voicethread. I like the way you used it. As the computer lab teacher, I'm wondering how to create identities for all of my 200 students.
All the best,
Faith

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Permalink Reply by Mary E Collins on January 23, 2010 at 5:01pm

Faith,
I know my VoiceThread identities were tiny so you probably could not tell they were the students' names. They drew their names on half sheets of paper and I scanned them in. That would take you a long time with 200 students. If you haven't used Blabberize before, give it a try - its fun! My aide helped the kids with the mouths and didn't line it up quite right so it actually looks better than you saw on our worms :).
Good luck and thanks again for sharing your website.
MaryBeth

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Rita Oates on January 20, 2010 at 4:21am

You can search for other grade 2 classes worldwide through the ePals Global Community (at no charge).
Australian students will be back from summer break the week of Feb. 4, if you wanted to hear some different accents.
Go to www.epals.com and "join" so you can post the profile of your class and contact others in the community.
I'm doing a webinar about this and other free collaboration tools from ePals on Thursday afternoon, if you are interested. I can forward you the webex address and toll-free number.

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Permalink Reply by TIMOTHY PUGH on January 20, 2010 at 6:48pm

Hi there everyone! Yes, there would be interest here...in Brantford, Ontario. I coordinate a board-wide virtual learning literacy project called Virtual GrandE....on our team this year are a number of dynamic elementary librarians who are connecting primary students all over the place to do shared reading, virtual learning circles, author sharing and more...We use SKYPE and video conferencing on a regular basis. These colleagues are right now in the midst of working through different shared reading programs here -- called Blue Spruce Program, etc...which highlights certain books of certain themes...

If you are interested in this kind of interaction, please email me directly at timothy.pugh@granderie.ca and I will pass on your details to our team librarians...

Take care and let me know asap as they are firming up their approach for the Spring.

Regards,

Tim Pugh

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Permalink Reply by Faith Shabat on January 21, 2010 at 7:23pm

Thank you everyone for your responses. I'll pass these ideas on to all of our teachers. They are great ideas. We just started 2 other Skype and collaborative projects with 2nd grade teachers in other parts of the country. All of this real time collaboration is very exciting!!
All the best,
Faith

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