Reflecting on our Learning from the Global Read Aloud Project

CR's beautiful drawings of the 6 books we read during the #GRA15

We have really enjoyed participating in The Global Read Aloud Project over the past few weeks. Students looked forward to finding out about the newest book in the author's study each week. We read 6 books in total. We used the books to increase our vocabulary, to become better writers and to connect and share on a global scale. Thanks to the project, we got to collaborate with a number of classes around the world via Twitter, Padlet, Google Hangout and Google Slides. The students loved seeing how they could interact with a story in so many different ways. We learned a lot about collaborating with friends in our room, and with new friends we are meeting online too.

Students have become better writers as a result of the author study. They are comfortable with answering questions on the books that we read. We used the books to work towards writing descriptive paragraphs that had at least 5 sentences. The students worked hard to write about their best memories and built on the strategies that they've been learning about to write a descriptive paragraph.

Students loved that creating their own OK Book on Google Slides. They are hoping to use the tool again to create books that they can share with the world. They are many blooming authors in our classroom. This book inspired some students to create their own book at the Writing Center!

 

One of the highlights for many of us was the Google Hangout that we got to do with Mrs. Mason's Grade 1/2 class in Kanata. Our classes chatted about our favourite  books in the author study. We shared our OK Books that we both wrote on Slides and took turns answering questions and sharing our learning. It was such a great way to open our classroom and chat with a class who read the same books as us!

@MrsCiampaClass We had a great time hanging out to share about these inspiring, funny & creative books #GRAAmy pic.twitter.com/Jtsgsdi48T

— Mrs.Mason (@MrsMasonOCSB) November 7, 2015

I am grateful to a wonderful teacher who lives in the United States named Pernille Ripp. For the past few years, Pernille has organized and ran The Global Read Aloud Project. Her concept has quickly spread across the world and continues to be a Global Project that many teachers (like me) look forward to teaching each year. She tweeted a thank you on Friday and asked us to share what were our best memories. Students went to the Writing Center during our centers time to reply to Pernille's Tweet with some of their best memories. TC received a response from her and he was SO excited about it. Have a read below at some of our best memories!

EB saya; my favourite book is the ok book because he had a pancake of he head @pernilleripp

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 13, 2015

PernilleRipp CD says: My favourite moment is when Mrs. Ciampa went on facetime whith another class. we talked about amykrouse books.

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 13, 2015

EB says: My favourite book is plant a kiss because when she kiss the ground and I like your book @pernilleripp

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 13, 2015

DS says: my favorite moment is when we did the sides in the ok book by Ds. @pernilleripp

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 13, 2015

BRM my favourite part was the google hangout and writing about if I planted peace !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! @pernilleripp #gra15

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) November 13, 2015

@MrsCiampaClass Awe that is awesome, I am so glad you had a great experience! #gra15

— Pernille Ripp (@pernilleripp) November 13, 2015

GRA Week 3: It's Not Fair

This week during the 3rd week of the Global Read Aloud project, we read a book called It's Not Fair. The story talks about a series of unfortunate events that are just not fair. We made many personal connections to the story as we read through the events that were not fair. The book taught us that sometimes things in life are just not fair, and that it's ok not to get what you want sometimes.

We made text-to-text connections to the story as well as text-to-self connections and talked a lot about what kind of things we feel aren't fair. We wrote about something that isn't fair to us. Some students were reluctant to share what isn't fair, but we reminded ourselves that we are allowed to feel like something isn't fair. As long as we know that everyone feels that way sometimes, we just need to accept it and not let it bother us.

We posted and shared some of our connections to the story on a shared-Padlet again. It is so great that the students have opportunities to post their learning on Padlet with other students from around the world. The students are using Padlet weekly and are becoming experts on how to post. They are also becoming safe and responsible digital citizens who make sure they use their online presence for safe learning.

Created with Padlet

Some students got to read with a friend on the AudioBoom app. Some students are becoming experts at using this awesome iPad app. We are using it to help our reading fluency and to see if there is anything that we are missing before completing our writing task. AudioBoom is a free app. Your child can use it at home to practice reading their favourite book. When you play it back, it is neat to see how we read since we don't get to hear ourselves read very often.

Finally, we attempted to do a Google Hangout with another Grade 3 class in our city this week. We wanted to meet some other students who were participating in the Global Project like us. Students were really excited and had some questions prepared. Unfortunately we weren't able to make the facetime opportunity work. We hope to be able to do our first Hangout this week...stay tuned!

GRA Week 2 Duck Rabbit

This week we participated in the 2nd week of The Global Read Aloud Project. This time we read the book Duck Rabbit by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The students really enjoyed reading and laughing along with this story.

While reading the book, we made many great connections to the story. As a class, we talked about the Making Connections reading strategy and recalled the 3 types of connections you can make when reading a book: Text-to-Self, Text-to-Text and Text-to-World. After reading Duck Rabbit, we talked about what other books or personal connections we can make to the story. We had many great discussions and ideas to share. We wrote about our connections and shared them with our partners.
This project is helping us to work on our reading strategies. While reading a story, good readers make connections to better understand the books that we read. Ask your child to make some connections while reading with them at home!

While reading the story, the students had many opinions to share on whether they thought it was a Duck or a Rabbit. We had many great discussions and students and to prove why they thought it was a duck or a rabbit. We still don't know for sure what the answer is. We took the official Duck Rabbit poll. We can't wait to the the results!

Is It a Duck Or A Rabbit? – Take the Official Poll #GRA15 #GRAAmy http://t.co/87D1qUG4Wf

— Pernille Ripp (@pernilleripp) October 14, 2015

A great thing about the Global Read Aloud Project is the opportunity to make global connections with other students who are also reading this story. This week we collaborated with friends in our class to share on a Padlet created by a teacher in the Ottawa area. Students are learning to share and collaborate with friends by sharing ideas together when posting online. This Padlet was used by other classes from around the world to write about what they liked, their favourite parts and their connections to the funny story Duck Rabbit. What a fabulous opportunity to connect and share with other students globally. Big thanks to Mrs. Martel for inviting us to share our learning with her class and others from around the world. Have a look below at the great learning our class got to share. Students loved that they could read the learning of students that they haven't met too!

Created with Padlet

Additionally, we continue to use the AudioBoom app to read with a friend. Students are using the app to read their work orally. This helps them to practice their reading fluency with a partner. When reading with a friend, we are practicing how to read clearly and with expression. Our partners also help us to make corrections to our writing too. Have a listen below to some of our great connections to the story Duck Rabbit.



Finally, after reading the story it reminded some of us of optical illusions. We looked for many great examples and were really excited about this one. What do you see in the picture?

While talking about DuckRabbit it reminded us of illusions. What do U see? @lcaluori @Gr1MrsMartel #GRA15 @missamykr pic.twitter.com/VfodJMCtP0

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 16, 2015

Global Read Aloud Project Week 1

This week we began working on another Global Project. The Global Read Aloud project is a 6 week author study project focusing on books by the author Amy Krouse Rosenthal.This project will take us on an interesting adventure. We will read a book by the author each week then share, post and collaborate with it online with people from around the world.

The first book in the project was called Chopsticks. After reading the story, we wrote about what we thought the author's message was. Students worked with a partner to come up with the moral or message in the story that they author wanted us to learn. A few students read their author's message on the AudioBoom app. Have a listen below at some of our great learning.
Additionally, we used Twitter to share our learning with the author of the story herself. In the first week of the project, we've already heard back from her. The students were so excited to hear from her and to see that she pays attention to Twitter messages that we send out. It is great to see the positive interactions we can make with Twitter. Not only are we using it to share our learning on the Global Read Aloud project, but we are interacting with the author of the book too. We are using the hashtag #GRA15 and #GRAAmy to share our learning with students from around the world.  Ask your child about it!

@MrsCiampaClass Well said, each and every one. :)

— Amy Krouse Rosenthal (@missamykr) October 7, 2015

The students were curious about chopsticks after reading the story. They often used pencils to try to imitate how to use chopsticks to  pick up objects. We played a Chopstick Challenge on Thursday to end the first week of the #GRA15. It was so much fun to see who could pick up and place marshmallows in a bin the quickest in 1 minute. The winning student got 26 in 1 minute! It was a great way to end our first week in the project. Next week we will continue with the project and read the story Duck Rabbit.

Showing grit in the Minute-to-Win-it Chopstick Challenge! #gra15 #globalreadaloud pic.twitter.com/wieQGFm5rA

— Paul Gautreau (@paugaut) October 8, 2015

Hi @missamykr Thanks for the message and the amazing book Chopsticks. We think it's really fantastic! #GRA15 #GRAAmy https://t.co/OaABlqhpEL

— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 8, 2015

DotDay

On Tuesday September 15th our class celebrated International Dot Day. Dot Day was celebrated by over 4 million students from 115 countries around the world!

Dot Day is a day created by the author Peter H. Reynolds. He wrote an inspiring book called The Dot. A story that taught us about perseverance and to make our mark by starting with a simple dot. Dot Day inspired us to  use our imagination and take a chance even if we don't think we know how to do something. DotDay was a great story to start the year off with a focus on building our confidence and perseverance.
To celebrate DotDay we used only Q-Tips and paint. Students had to start with a dot and then see where that dot took them. They were challenged to use dots in their picture to make their mark and be creative. It was great to see the students take chances with their work. We used our dot work to write about what inspired us.

Created with Padlet

We also used our dot work to try out some new tools in our room. We are learning how to scan QRCodes to read and post our work. We are practicing our reading fluency on the app AudioBoom. We are learning how to post our ideas on Padlet using iPads and Chromebooks. We are also working to explain our thinking in writing and explaining WHY using words like because to extend our thinking. Some students got to read their work on the AudioBoom app. A huge thank you to those families who have read and signed the internet permission forms. Please sign and send to school if you haven't done so already. Below is a picture our our artwork. We can't wait to show you at our school's Open House BBQ on Thursday September 17th. See you in Room 222!

Our First Week

We celebrated our first week together with many games and getting to know you activities. There are a few new faces in our room, so the students got to know one another in fun ways. We began our journal writing this week by reading morning messages. Students read letter style messages from me to get used to the letter writing format. In their journals today, students brainstormed and wrote about their favourite parts of Grade 3 so far. We shared many ideas as a class and tried to write 3 sentences in our journal today.

A few friends shared their journal on the iPad app AudioBoom. Have a listen below to some of our favourite memories from our first week in Grade 3 together. Thank you to those of you who have read and signed the Blog permission form so promptly!

Open House Persuasive Letters

Our current writing unit focuses on Persuasive Writing. We completed persuasive letters to the Once-ler in The Lorax last week. This time we brainstormed and worked to persuade our PARENTS why it is important that they come to our Open House taking place this Thursday May 7th from 4:30-7:00.

Amelie on Educareations:


Freyja on Chatterpix:


 Brandon on Chatterpix:


 Hyabeal on Educreations:
 
Calvin on AudioBoom:

listen to ‘cw open hose’ on audioBoom

Elizabeth on Chatterpix:

 Zachary on Chatterpix:

 Jeremy on Chatterpix:

 Styve on Educreations:

 Winnie on Educreations:

Naisha on AudioBoom:

listen to ‘NN's open house letter to mom’ on audioBoom

Tomi on Educreations:

Alessia on AudioBoom:

listen to ‘AO openhouse letter’ on audioBoom

Narratives

Last week we completed our Narrative stories. Students had the opportunity to write their own Narrative stories and referenced a checklist to help keep them on track. We used the Padlet that we created together with Mme. Erskine's Grade 4 class to recall what Narratives must have.

We participated in the 5 Sentence Challenge for homework where we were challenged to write a narrative paragraph. Students really enjoy this challenge. They get to receive comments from participants from around the world!

For our final Narrative task, we came up with our own story line and tried to be as creative as we could when writing our own stories. We worked with a partner to read and edit our work. We wrote our good copies on our KidBlogs. Our goal was to share the story creatively with our partners on KidBlog so that after we read the stories, we could offer comments. The students love reading one another's blog posts. It is powerful to receive comments from our friends. The comments help us become better writers. They also give us a real life audience!

Please go to our KidBlog accounts to view or read the Narrative stories of our classmates. We always welcome anyone to comment on our blogs!

We used some tools to share our writing in a creative way after writing our good copies. Some students recorded themselves reading. Others used an app to draw  a picture and narrate their story.

Expert Posters

This week students completed their expert posters! All students decided to complete their good copy on the Pic Collage app. We followed the procedural writing model to write about what we think we are experts on. Below students came up with what they know very well, and used our procedural checklist to write about what they want to teach people about. We have posted these posters around our school and hope that we can teach others about our expertise!

Students also recorded their reading on the app AudioBoom. We are assessing our own reading and working on our voice. Students can listen to one another's reading and see if they used good expression and a clear voice when reading. Enjoy!

          

    

 

 

Below are our AudioBoom readings. We are working on our clarity and expression - we hope you learned something from us today!

listen to ‘NN Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘JP Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘FMF Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘ZK Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘FF Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘DL Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘CW Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘RC Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘HH Procedural Writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘EB procedural writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘TO procedural writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘BT procedural writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘KI procedural writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘SM procedural writing’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘AO procedural writing’ on audioBoom

New Literacy Centers

This week we worked on 3 of our Literacy Centers. We are now working on Read to Self, Working on Writing and Working with Words. Our Literacy Centers time gives us an opportunity to practice the our literacy skills. We also use our centers to investigate our wonders and our great ideas. Students are very comfortable with these centers.

Some of our students are using their Literacy Centers time to plan a class party. They are making lists, creating a guest list, writing invitations and conferencing about what we will do at our party. The party committee is also blogging about our upcoming party. Please refer to our class Blogs for more information. Feel free to leave them a comment too!


kidblog.org/MrsCiampa/


Students are adding their own ideas to what we can do at our centers. We are playing word games featuring Christmas and Word Wall Words. We are writing our own stories on our Blogs. We are reading on our Raz Kids accounts. We added reading our writing on the AudioBoom iPad app. We are also making our own stories about Tallulah! We are learning so much already. Students will continue to work in  their Literacy Centers weekly to practice writing and vocabulary skills. Ask your child what they learned at their centers this week!

listen to ‘Wn's why tallulah should tell santa to put me on the NICE list.’ on audioBoom

GRA Week 5 - Shared Padlet

Together with Mrs. King's Grade 3 class, we posted what we thought the Author's Message was from the story Going Places. We read our predictions and our connections on iPad apps such as AudioBoom and Tellagami. We also used Pic Collage to post our thinking on Padlet. This was a shared learning opportunity between our two classes. Students had the chance to read and view the thinking of students in our class and in Mrs. King's class. Click below to listen and read about our ideas!

Created with Padlet

GRA Week 1: The North Star

This week we were so fortunate to begin participating in the Global Read Aloud project. We are participating in an Author Study featuring books by the author Peter H. Reynolds.
As part of the Global Project, students will be connecting and sharing their wonderings and learnings with other classrooms online. This week we received a tweet from a Grade 3 class in our city (Mrs. Caluori's Grade 3) and we replied to her with our connections. We hope to connect with her class more often as we navigate and wonder over the course of this author study project .

@MrsCiampaClass @jluss our class would like to ask your class a question. What did you think the story was about? #GRA14
— Mrs. DelahuntCaluori (@lcaluori) October 6, 2014

The first story in the author study was The North Star. The story is about a boy who faces many obstacles along a journey of discovery. Along the way he meets animals who help guide him along his true path. At the end of the story, the boy discovers his true path by following a North Star in the sky.
Students discussed what the story reminded them of by making a list and tweeting ideas. Students had the opportunity to reply to Mrs. Caluori's tweet to explain what they wondered or what connection they could make to the story. Have a read at some of our great ideas.

BT says: The star reminds me of when Jesus was gating born. #GRA14 #GRAPeter
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 6, 2014

FF says & AB say: today we read about a story called the North Star it was about a little boy who went on a journey in the forest. #GRAPeter
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 6, 2014

FMF says: the bird flew up to the sky and the boy looked up at the stars! #GRAPeter
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 6, 2014

ES jp say: the nonth star he fawnd a star and it ramindid us of a story of baby jesus. #GRA14 #GRApeter
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 8, 2014

MD says: The boy helped the rabbit on the log. He made a boat out of wood! #GRAPeter
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 6, 2014

The author concludes the story with the words "The Beginning".

CW says: at the end it says the bigneing. i think it's a new journey. #GRAPeter #GRA14
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 6, 2014

We had many class discussions about what that means and why the author chose to use those words to end the story. Students wondered if it was the boy's new journey. Students also wondered where the boy was heading to...where would he go next? As a class, we came up with ideas about what Part Two of the The North Star might look like. Students made the connection between part two of a story to the words "To Be Continued..." We discussed how sometimes author's do this when they write another part to a story like in comic books. Students creatively came up with part 2 ideas and wrote some amazing part 2 stories!

Some students had the chance to practice their reading fluency using the app AudioBoom. Have a listen to some of our Part 2 stories:

listen to ‘TO reads part 2 of north star’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘EB north star part 2’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘MD part 2 north star’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘AO north star part 2’ on audioBoom

The stories by Peter H. Reynolds are already inspiring us in many ways. We previously read the story The Dot on International Dot Day and showed our creative side. We are also using his stories to guide our line focus in Visual Art by allowing our creative side to pour out!

Next week in the author study, we will be focusing on the story "I'm Here". We already have a Google Hangout meeting scheduled with another Grade 3 class in our city. Mrs. King's Grade 3 class is also participating in the Global Read Aloud project and we will be discussing our wonderings and our connections together. We can't wait!

Looking forward to our #GoogleHangout next Thursday @mrskingocsb #GRA14
— Mrs. Ciampa (@MrsCiampaClass) October 10, 2014