Around the World with Skype

Each semester our Rocketeers choose a topic of interest to explore. Our curiosity about life around the world was the source of inspiration for our Around the World with Skype Project. Here are some highlights of our calls and the friends we were lucky to meet along the way! 

2nd Grade 

Our 2nd graders had a blast meeting their new friends in Miss Julia’s class at Jules Verne School in Mexico, D.F. and Ms. Jodar’s class at Atenue Instructiu in Barcelona, Spain. Before our calls, we explored images on Google Maps and Google Earth to see what both cities looked like. During our call, our 2nd grade Rocketeers introduced themselves in Spanish and participated in a Q&A session to learn more about life in both countries. 

Here are some of our favorite clips:   

We learned different Catalan phrases from our friends in Spain. They are trilingual and in addition to Catalan, a regional language, they also speak Spanish and English!

Our friends in Mexico sang a folk song for us titled, cielito lindo.

3^rd Grade

Our 3rd grade Rocketeers enjoyed their call with their new friends in Mr. Wilson's class from Camrose, Canada. During our introductions, our friends shared something special about Canada and asked us questions about life in Mississippi.

Have a look at these Venn Diagrams we made to compare life in Mississippi and Camrose.

4^th Grade

Our 4th grade Rocketeers had fun talking to our amigos in Miss Araceli's class at Jules Verne School in Mexico, D.F.  During the call both classes asked questions about likes and favorites. We were excited to learn that our friends in Mexico were also huge fans of Disney Channel's Shake It Up! and singers like Selena Gomez. We also discovered we liked similar foods like tacos and hamburgers. 

Watch as we dance to la vibora de la mar. 

 Acknowledgements 

We want to give a huge thanks to all the classes who participated in our project. We enjoyed learning and sharing with you all!  

Math Poster Contest: 4 Steps to Solving Problems

      

During our TEA Time, our students have been going over the four steps to solving word problems. To assist students in this process, we have gone over these steps:

1. Understand
2. Plan
3. Do/Act
4. Check

To make the process more meaningful, our TEA Timers outlined each step with illustrations to help them understand and remember them. Here are our top finalists for our classroom poster contest.

Finalist #1: Yumna 

Finalist #2: Adrienne 

Finalist #3: Cole 

Finalist #4: Taressa 

Alright friends, we need your help! We need you to vote for your favorites for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place. Who had a thorough explanation? Who included details and examples in their illustrations and explanations? Who seemed to understand the 4 steps? Please leave your votes in a comment below and don't forget to mention what country or US state you are voting from. Our TEA Timers eagerly await your responses!  

Talking with Olivia Holt from Kickin' It

Last week our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade Rocketeers participated in a very special Skype call with actress Olivia Holt from Disney XD's Kickin' It. Throughout the call, Olivia encouraged us to plan for the future and follow our dreams. She also told us to work hard and reach our goals, even when challenges come our way. We were also delighted to find out that she was raised in our home state of Mississippi! Her message was a positive one and we were thrilled that she took the time out of her very busy schedule to share her experiences with us. Thanks, Olivia! 


Have a look at our call below. 

We were so excited about our call, we even tweeted about it.

And we were even more thrilled when Olivia responded to us!

Virtual Career Skype Tour: Our Talk with Dr. Lora Wilson

As part of our Virtual Skype Tour, our fourth grade Rocketeers had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Lora Wilson. Dr. Wilson is a scientist and post doctoral fellow who works for The University of Colorado’s Health Sciences Center. She does research related to treating and curing pulmonary cancer.

After briefly introducing herself, Dr. Wilson showed us around the lab where she spends most of her days. She explained a typical day at her job and showed us different areas of the lab. We even had the chance to meet and chat with other scientists! 

After the tour, we interviewed Dr. Wilson to learn more about her job and her career path. She gave us some great advice and described her work in the field of science. Here are some clips from our interview. 

We thank Dr. Wilson for taking the time to talk to us. We learned the ins and outs of working in a research lab and respect her work in finding a cure for cancer. 

Global Read Aloud

This year our 5th grade Rocketeers participated in the Global Read Aloud for a novel studies unit on Tuck Everlasting. This was an excellent opportunity to connect with other classes around the globe who were also reading the same novel. Here are some of the tools that helped us achieve this:


Edmodo- Throughout the Global Read Aloud we used this secure networking site to post the journal prompt in our Tuck Everlasting Group. Our journals revolved around themes for each section in the book and students were able to make personal connections with the novel. Our partner classes in Delaware and South Korea were also part of this group and posed questions and polls that our students responded to. It was nice to see students and teachers responding to each other and Edmodo allowed us to share and reflect in ways we have never imagined.

Skype- This project has also granted us the privilege of meeting our Delaware friends through Skype! Thanks to Mrs. Mims, we were able to arrange a call and participate in Literature Circles virtually. Students from both classes were responsible for sharing their assigned jobs and discussing the novel. Our students put a lot of thought and effort into their Literature Circle jobs and discussion.

Have a look at some clips from our call.

Watch as our Delaware friends guess an illustration for a scene in the book. 

Take a look as our friends answer one of our discussion questions. 

Our experience with the Global Read aloud was such a success that we will continue novel studies units with other grade levels later on in the year. Please let us know if you are interested in participating in our Skype Book Clubs on different novels for grades 2nd through 6th. We hope that you can join us!