This morning we had a Skype call with an International School in Spain. We were not able to post video on this call because of privacy issues with the other school. We learned lots of interesting things about their school and their students. They have lots of different countries represented at their school including many American students. They told us that this is because of families from America that have moved their because of companies or because they serve in the military.
They explained that they have a King and a Monarchy. Their school speaks mostly Thai and English, but many other languages as well. We learned that they like many of the same video games and television shows that we do. They also play sports like rugby and football (which we call soccer). For fun, they like to go hiking and explore their city. One of the students told us her hobbies in Spanish. The kids said that this was their favorite call so far!

My fifth graders have had so much fun Skyping with other classes, I thought we might try it with other grade levels. Today, Mrs. Combs' second grade called Shepherd Elementary in North Carolina. They did a great job and had some great questions!

Today we Skyped with third-graders in the "windy city". We learned that they have a school similar in size to ours, except with a few more teachers. They have also used a lot of the same technology we have. We also found out that we have several differences. They don't have a cafeteria! Every student brings their lunch every day. They also travel to school and around using public transportation. They were very surprised that we had no public transportation except for our school buses. They also noticed our accent as most schools that we have communicated with have. Must be pretty obvious!

So sorry for the delay in posting. We have had a very busy week! We have been preparing for TCAP all week and I feel very confident that the kids are going to do quite well. Testing begins on Monday so please be sure that your child gets a good night's rest each night and eats a good breakfast each morning. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to send snacks. You will receive a schedule on Monday.

Well, it is nice sometimes to have an unexpected day off! This isn't the greatest time to have one, but oh, well...we'll take it, right?? I hope everyone had a very blessed Easter holiday. This week, of course, we are doing a lot of review in preparation for TCAP coming up next week. I will be out tomorrow. I'm going to visit another school. It is so nice to be able to watch other educators and learn from them. On Wednesday, we will have our D.A.R.E. graduation at 10am. Thursday the students will have their quiz on hyperboles, similes, metaphors, etc. Hope we have some sunshine by then and get everyone in good spirits going in to testing week. I will be asking parents to donate snacks for next week. I like to have a small snack for the kids during our breaks. Look for a letter later this week. Lots of happenings coming up..Stay Tuned!

Today we continued workstations in Reading and began a new unit in Social Studies. We are studying the Civil Rights Movement and began the study with a little in-class segregation. The students were clueless as to why some of them were being 'left out' of the activity, but by the end everyone was included. We have several things going on this month, so be sure to check the calendar often. Cap and gown pictures are Friday and the money has to be paid ahead of time. Be sure to check out VoiceThread in the portaportal. Very neat!!...