Oh the places we will go! - Today NYC. Tomorrow?

We have been reading a WONDERFUL book aloud in my classroom.  It is titled Walls Within Walls.  I picked it up to read along with a few others to my class.  In my room kids always vote for what we read aloud.  I want them to decide so that they are more attentive.  This doesn't mean they pick from anything - this means, I pick 3 good books and no matter what - they have made a great choice.  I had not read Walls Within Walls before now.  It is one that is on a list of Blue Bonnet Books for Texas.  These books are ones that are nominated for the Blue Bonnet Award.  Kids read the books on the list and all over Texas 3rd - 6th graders vote.  The kid vote decides which book gets the award.

Blue Bonnet Reading List 2013-2014

Now, the children in my classroom LOVE this mystery.  It is about a family that moves to 5th Avenue from Brooklyn because their dad has made it BIG with his Game Designing Company called LeCube.  The children have new things like a homework nanny, a regular nanny, playdates that are scheduled, and other strange things they have to get used to on 5th Avenue.  The kids have moved into an apartment that has strange rules.  For example, there are walls built in front of the original walls so that the house could be made into 4 apartments.  The original walls cannot be taken down or altered in anyway.  When the kids return a library book that was due back in the 1930's - they begin a journey to find a treasure that was buried long ago.

The story talks about MANY places in New York City.  The children go along with their "weekend" nanny to find the treasure.  The author used real poems to aide with the clues.  NOW - my kids LOVE poetry, too!  To make the book a bit more real to them I have been showing them pictures of the sites each day.  I use "Google Images" to help.

Chirp App

Then TODAY I ran across a site that was a virtual tour of New York City.  IT was GREAT!  I used the app Chirp (which is a phone app, but can be used with the iPad).  I used CHIRP to send out the link to all of my class.  It is fast and easy.  The kids will then push the button that says, "open in Safari" and off MY KIDS go down the streets of New York.

New York City Tour
The site is run through Google Maps.  The site isn't live.  BUT - the Google people have taken lots of pictures and put them together to
form the streets of New York.

My kids really liked the field trip we went on!  They said that they felt like they were IN New York City.  They liked seeing the people on the sides of the street and passing them quickly.  They liked looking at the tall buildings and reading on the right side of the screen the history about the building. They looked for about 20 minutes and then I had to make them "come back" to Texas.  Most said they wanted to continue to explore and I will let them do that if they finish their work or if they have a minute or two between things throughout the day.  I was so proud of the kids!  They were excited, engaged, and eager to read more in the book that we have almost finished.

When we were done today we emailed the author.  We hope that she will Face Time us or Skype with our classroom.  It would be SO awesome to talk to a REAL author and ask her questions!  IF we get to, we will let you know!

Loud MINDS - don't always think the same thoughts

Remember going to school and WAITING to talk to the teacher?  When she asked a question or when you wanted to know more about something - you had to WAIT to be called upon.  AND - not EVERYONE can answer.  Sometimes you might get to answer, sometimes others do.  Sometimes you can feel like your opinion or answer doesn't matter.

GUESS WHAT!  Technology can change THAT problem forever!  (Well, most of the time....)

Today my principal, Beth Van Amburgh sent out a message that reminded me of the site www.todaysmeet.com.  I had seen it used last year when I was blessed enough to visit an ipad classroom in another district.  In THAT classroom the children were seated around a screen and given a short sentence.  Something like, "I ride the bus."  Then- the kids would go onto the "todaysmeet" room set up just for them.  They don't have to remember a password or anything.  They type their name in and off they chat.  The task they were given was to make the sentence better and tell how they did it.  They ALSO have to give feedback to their peers as the sentence grows.  No one had to take turns.  They worked at the same time.  They worked to make the same sentence better.  The feed might look like this:

The yellow bus I ride zoomed into the parking lot right before the tardy bell rang. (Kid 2)
I like the way Kid 1 used an adjective to describe the bus.  (Kid 4)
I ride the yellow bus. yellow - adjective(Kid 1)
I ride the bus. (teacher sentence)

The feed above reads from bottom to top.  You can see that random kids call each others names to give complements.  You can see how some identify parts of speech and look for ways to add them to their sentences.  While watching last year I noticed these things:
1. The kids were taking ownership of what they said.
2.  They could all type at the same time and everyone can see their answers.  Groups cannot TALK at the same time and be heard.
3. This was a KID LED station with about 10 kids in the group.  ONE child was a time keeper and said, "Times up - let's move to sentence 2" about 1/2 way through the time.
4.  People were respectful of each other.  If someone needed to fix something - the peers would say two positive things before telling them they needed to capitalize.

Obviously - the teacher had trained them to discuss things in this way.  Today I began very small by creating my "room" - www.todaysmeet.com/millerclark3 and I had them respond to a question:
"In the story we are reading, which character do you like the most and WHY?"  We are reading a GREAT story aloud called Walls Within Walls.  This is what some of our feed looked like today.  (Remember, this is our first time.)

As you read, think about all of these children talking at once.  In their minds they were shouting their favorite characters.  They are learning to voice their own opinions - no matter what others think.  This was a GREAT activity and one I will use MANY more times!  The kids didn't have to wait to answer.  They answered and read others opinions while they were typing.  We have a long way to grow - but its a good start.

I am so glad I was reminded to use through a random staff email from my principal.  It goes to show - you NEVER know what you will send or say that could INSPIRE others!

millerclark3

Who is your favorite character in the story Walls within Walls? 01:36PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Clark

Elise because she is the dauther of mr.post 02:22PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jenna

Cj 02:23PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Ayden

cj because he tricks people 02:23PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Ayden

My favorite character in walls with in wall is Patrick cause he is funny 02:23PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Casey

Cj because he's cool 02:24PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jed

My favorite is Brid 02:25PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

I like Eloise since she is wise 02:26PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Gunner

My favorite character is Ray because he helps out and if it wasn't for him they wouldn't know that Elise lived done there 02:27PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Dillon

Eloise because she's funny! 02:27PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jessica

And I like Brid because she takes notes on everything 02:27PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

Patrick because he fingers out the pomes. 02:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Eden

Brid is in second 02:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jed

I like brid because she is nice. 02:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Caitlyn

Cj 02:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by James

pat because he is smart and funny 02:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jenna

My favorite character is Eloise. I like Eloise because she helps CJ Brid & Packrick find out the secret. 02:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Isabella

And I like ray cause he helps a lot and it's cool how he drives them to places and stuff. 02:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Casey

Patrick because he is 02:29PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Grayson

My favorite is Cj because he is funny smart and creative 02:29PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jeffrey

My favorite character is brid because he is very funny. 02:29PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Karlee

I also like Cj 02:29PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

Cj is awesome!! 02:29PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Rileigh

And I also like Patrick because he can help 02:30PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Ayden

Also I like patrick 03:18PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jeffrey

Brid is awesome 03:18PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

Patrick is really 03:18PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jed

My favorite character is Brid because she is smart and cool 03:19PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Aubrey

I like Carron because she I funny. 03:19PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Dillon

Read www! 03:19PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

Patrick is very helpfull 03:20PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jed

I also like Patrick LOL! 03:20PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jessica

My favorite character is Brid because she is nice 03:21PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jolee

Also I like Brid 03:21PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jeffrey

I also like Cj because he is funny 03:21PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Caitlyn

I also like Patrick 03:21PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

I also like Elwes. 03:21PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Eden

Eloise is cool 03:22PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

I like Raphael is cool 03:22PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jed

I also like Brid 03:23PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Rileigh

Great job, guys! Thank you for telling me your favorite characters! You are jumping into Today's Meet very well! 03:23PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Clark

Rafael digyspy 03:23PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

Brid is really cool 03:24PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jessica

Thank you 03:24PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Rileigh

Is cool 03:24PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

Thanks Ms.Clark 03:25PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jessica

My favorite character is CJ because he is very smart, kind, my 03:25PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Avery

Thx 03:25PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

I also really like the way Ayden and Casey and Bella tell WHY they like the characters! 03:25PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Clark

I like Brid most because she is always doing something and so am I and she is always curies about something that is why I like her the most 03:26PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Alyssa

My favorite is Elise she dad is Mr .post 03:26PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Autumn

pat because he is smart 03:27PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Gunner

Try ur best 03:27PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Georgia

Patrick because he was so funny! 03:27PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Grayson

I like all the caricatures 03:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Rileigh

Patrick is also cool 03:28PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Grayson

And cj is really funny and he knows a lot about every thing 03:29PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Alyssa

and ray is a little bit suspishios 03:34PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Alyssa

I don't like really carron 06:00PM Wed, 02 October 2013 GMT by Jed