Wish for a Well

I never thought in a million years that I would be part of a team that is so willing to support student dreams and passions. Last year, my 5th grade teammates, students, and I read the book, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Together, we were so moved by this story, that we decided to raise awareness on the lack of water that the people of South Sudan suffer each and every day. Our goal of simply raising awareness turned into raising enough money to build an entire well for the village of Abyei-Cok in Makuac-Rual, Tonu, South Sudan. What people may not realize is that building a well not only brings fresh water to the people in that village, but provides an opportunity for an entire town to develop around that well. Schools, homes, shops all begin to circle that precious gift of fresh water. This is one of the most proud moments I have had in my life time, and I am so grateful to be part of this movement!

If-Then Adventure Stories

As I am in the middle of teaching all about literary story elements, this gem falls into my lap! This is a step-by-step lesson on how to create a collaborative if-then story with a group of students. If you go to this If-Then Adventure Series, it will walk your students through easy to follow instructions on how to create a story with classmates! This is something that I did in my Technology course that I am taking, that I am dying to bring in to the classroom as we approach the end of our fiction unit. It is a healthy balance of fiction meets creativity meets collaboration that is perfect for any classroom of eager learners.

#flipgrid #mysterygridpals

Wow! I cannot believe how much I have been missing out on! Flipgrid is one of the easiest ways to connect with other classrooms across the globe. Recently, I was asked by my favorite instructor, Kim Darche, to find a class to connect to, and create a collaborative activity to use as the base of our connection. I started to dabble in the world of collaboration outside of my district, and started to realize that there are so many ways to connect to others. Flipgrid in particular, had a feature that made it quite easy! They have a recently new feature called, Gridpals, that offers up an easy way to find other educators that want to connect. I used this feature to connect with a class in Alaska. We did a Mystery Gridpals activity where each student had to create a video introducing themselves, and share 2-3 facts about the place they live. Then, each student needed to respond to another student from the connecting class, possibly asking a question. Once each student received a question, they answered without completely giving away their location! Once the whole class has looked through the videos and come up with a final guess, they sent over a final guess video! It was so much fun connecting with other across our country.