What's Going on in Your Classroom?

Have you ever been in the middle of a lesson and thought, "Wow, my kids are doing some amazing things! I wish people could see the awesome learning happening now!" but don't have a way to get it out there? I don't know about you but I find myself thinking that daily! My kiddos amaze me everyday with their learning! Since I have turned the control over to them (read more about that here), some great things are happening in the lab! But other than just talking about it over lunch and discussing it on my blog, I didn't really have a way for others to SEE the awesomeness that my kids are getting into....until now!
I have used Padlet (formerly known as Wallwisher) for a few years now. We used to it collaborate and share ideas as a class. However, it wasn't until I went to a workshop with Kevin Honeycutt, who is an AMAZING and INSPIRING educator, that I thought about using it as a doorway into my classroom! Padlet lets you change the layout of the posts to a stream, a lot like Twitter. This works great as a timeline! I have started taking pictures of the inquiring, learning, and collaborating that happens throughout the day in the lab. I then, upload the images to Padlet and type a little blurb describing what's happening with each grade level that day. I may post as many as 3 or 4 pictures that day, just depending on the lessons. I have embedded the Padlet wall into my class website and onto our blog so that the students, parents, and other teachers can get a first hand look at what's going on in our room! Check out our Padlet wall below! How could you get the word out about how awesome your students are?

Created with Padlet

What's the Hype with Skype?

So today I did my first Skype session with a group of 2nd graders in Mrs. Cozart's class. We connected with another 2nd grade class in Baltimore, MD! The kids had so much fun introducing themselves and learning about one another's school, classroom, and community! I could not believe how easy it really was! All I had to do was sign up for a Skype account, install it on the computer, plug in my webcam...and off we go!!! To find the class, I simply signed up for Skype in the Classroom and created a project looking for 2nd grade classrooms around the globe who would like to do a year long connection with another group sharing what they were learning throughout the year. I got messages back almost immediately!

We plan to reconnect with the class again within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we will be able to connect with some other classes around the globe throughout the year as well. We would also like to add some authors, illustrators, and people of different professions to our contacts as well!

If you have never Skyped, you don't know what you are missing! It is such an awesome global project for kids of all ages! It helps them to learn about the world around them while talking to others their own age! To learn more about Skype and how to get it in your classroom, click here! What are you waiting for? Join the hype with Skype!!!