“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
-- Ignacio Estrada

Monday, October 29, 2012

Global Read Aloud ~ Week 4 Review

This week, like last, was quite a busy one! We had our Harvest Parties and Costume Parade  as well as a new student start this week.

We did read severe more chapters from our adapted version of Charlotte's Web and we completed the comprehension sheets. We reviewed all the "webs" that Charlotte had made for Wilbur. To compliment the "word webs", we created our own. We used this as an opportunity for the students to practice spelling and typing his/her name. (See below for our work - versions have been altered to keep names private) For this project, we used an app called SKITCH. This app allows you to take any photo and annotate it (which is basically a fancy word for add things to it or draw on it). I searched and saved a couple different types of web pictures. The students were able to choose which web they wanted to use. With varying degrees of assistance, the students then types his/her name onto the web. The students also had the option to change color of font and/or resize name.

This is the last week for the Read Aloud so we will be wrapping up Charlotte's Web by completing our comprehension books as well as creating our favorite setting from the story to complete the story web outside of our classroom.



I hope you enjoyed Charlotte's Web as much as I did. Even though the book was a little above our reading level, the students did a great job of identifying the characters by animal name and some, even by character name. They also were able to recall the various settings of the story. Looking forward to #GLRead13 already!


Saturday, October 20, 2012

Global Read Aloud ~ Week 3 Review

This week was quite a busy one! 

Although we read and completed our comprehension sheets for a couple chapters, we did not get very far on our extra projects this week. One reason for this was that we were invited to a "going away" party for a student. We made a trip up to Ms. Henry's class to wish him well....and enjoy decorating and eating pumpkin cookies!

This week we will continue to read and discuss the characters and setting as well as create our own spider webs displaying the students names similar to the webs that Charlotte made for Wilbur. Check back next weekend to see our creations!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Global Read Aloud ~ Week 2 Review

Week 2 of Charlotte's Web

This week we continued reviewing favorite characters and the different settings. We continued reading chapters from book as well as reviewing chapters using the adapted version of the story and our comprehension notebook. The students used an iPad app called TypeDrawing to create a visual representation of their favorite character. Check out there work below.







This past week was also busy with conferences. We used our class projects to begin constructing a story web outside of our classroom. Check out In Pictures ~ Room 220 (our class photoblog) to check out a snapshot of our web. We also took some time to do a "free draw" of our own webs on the SMARTBoard.



KB creating her web.
KB and her finished web with spider in the middle.

AH creating her web (after some help with drawing Charlotte first).
IH creating his web.















This week we will be constructing our own webs using various iPad apps as well as craft materials. We will also be creating visual representations of the 4 main settings from the story: barn, Arable's Farm, Zuckerman's Farm, and the county fair.

On a side note, today Charlotte's Web turns 60!! "Sixty years ago, the book Charlotte's Web first appeared in print. This children's classic is often seen as a story of a spider and a pig. But when E.B. White recorded a narration of the book, he said something different: "This is a story of the barn. I wrote it for children, and to amuse myself." NPR Staff 10/15/2012

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Global Read Aloud ~ Week 1 Review

Abilipad screenshot
This past week was the official beginning of the Global Read Aloud event. We reviewed Chapters 1-4 as we had started reading the book a little ahead of schedule. As we reviewed the chapters, we also discussed the characters and settings again. The students then chose their favorite character from the first four chapters. On Wednesday, the students colored in their favorite character and practiced reading the sentence "My favorite character in Charlotte's Web is [insert character]." using a variety of AAC options to read the sentence. The students had the option of using a Big Mack (single message voice output device) and an iPad using 2 voice output apps: Answers Yes/No and Abilipad

Answers Yes/No screenshot

On Friday (after an initial Skype malfunction on Thursday), Room 220 was about to video conference with our Room 5 Friends from Cleveland. This was the first time we were successful at "Skyping" another classroom. I think the students were a little taken back by the fact that we were looking into another classroom on the SmartBoard, but on the whole they did well. Each student had a chance to tell their favorite character and we also exchanged a couple of other questions, such as if we were enjoying the book and what's the weather like.


Who is your favorite character in Charlotte's Web?? Please leave your answer in the comments section! It would be also great if you left your location so that we can see who has been visiting and reading our posts.


Check out our pictures of your favorite characters. 


HM chose Wilbur, KB chose the goose

DJ chose Wilbur, AH chose Mr. Arable, IH chose the goose