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Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Power of Connecting - the Global Read Aloud and Other Points



My Grade Fives and I have been rather busy this October; we are proud members of Global Read Aloud 2012!

Participating in this amazing project, thought up by Pernille Ripp, has been eye-opening for my students and certainly reinforced some very important ideas for me about the value of the Internet as a tool - a space - for teaching and learning.



CONNECTING

Of course there's the thrill of connecting with students their age in other parts of the world...it is the GLOBAL Read Aloud, after all!  For my particular class, we have been delighted to participate in the project with Ms. Sandler's class in Argentina; Ms. Rinker's in Illinois and Ms. Jones' in Connecticut; Ms. Boothby's Grade 5's way  over in Switzerland and shortly we'll be hearing from Ms. Bennett's class down in New Zealand (they've been on holiday)!  

from learningresources.com 

READ ALOUD
And then's there's the book itself - The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate! It is a wonderful story about hope and friendship and art and so much more; it is sure to be a classic like the other selection this year, Charlotte's Web. The power of words, well-crafted as is so evident in this book, can move us all to places and feelings new and familiar.

Knowing that other grade fives are actually hearing the same story pretty much at the same time you are in so many places around the world is awe-inspiring for ten year olds! Finding out they have similar thoughts and interesting differences to students around the world is an added benefit of sharing!