A System and a Skype

We had a very exciting week in Room 222. We have some projects that are in the works and a special Skype visit was planned.

Room 222's Mail System:

During a particularly exciting round of our Creative Workshop, a few weeks ago, A.H. and B.W. brainstormed a possible Mail System for Room 222. 

Since then, their passion project has motivated all of us to inquire into this topic and learn more. We are wondering if this is something that could work in our room.

So we have split into 4 teams to start discovering all we can about our topics. Our teams are stamps, delivery and sorting, mailboxes and rules/jobs. The students were able to choose the small group that they were most interested in and they began working. 

Right now, we are in the discovery phase. We are discovering all we can using our resources. We have been reading books and watching videos all about mail systems so that we can best prepare our own. 

At the end of each session, we gather at the carpet and share what our group worked on or questions that we may have. 

While the iquiry process is super fun and informative, we have discussed that the collaboration is what we are really focusing on. 

We have been practicing our collaboration skills while trying to focus on the following skills:

• Active Listening
• Eye Contact
• Asking Questions
• Kind Words

Check out this video and see how our groups have been doing:

Inquiry Groups - Mail System from LBright on Vimeo.

Our Sharks 4 Kids Skype Visit:

We are starting the process of informational writing and to do this, we need to gather information. What better way to do this than to talk with an expert...

On Friday, we talked with our 1st expert of the year, Miss Jillian, from Sharks 4 Kids. To prepare for our talk with Miss Jillian, we talked about types of questions. We wrote our questions down so we wouldn't forget. 

We also did a bit of our own research so that we were prepared for our expert.

On Friday, we all came in very excited! Some of us even wore our most shark-rific attire!

Sharks 4 Kids and Skype in the Classroom even tweeted about us!!! It was a very exciting moment. 

Finally, it was time to officially meet Miss Jillian.  She called us from Bimini Island in the Bahamas. How cool is that?!?

She told us all about different kinds of sharks and their cool characteristics. 

Several of us were also able to talk to Miss Jillian and ask our specific questions. 

It was amazing!  Check out our reflection video that was made immediately after this exciting event:

*note: this video contains a password because it contains names and faces. 

Shark Reflection from LBright on Vimeo.

Last, but certainly not least, is the most important part of our week... Reading. We celebrate books every day in Room 222. We celebrate by reading our favorite books to ourselves, reading fun and silly books with our buddies and often sharing a new book with the class. C.D. shared the classic The Three Little Pigs. We loved listening to him read this to us. 

Thank you for checking in with us. Please feel free to leave us a comment. We read aloud and celebrate every comment that we receive.