Loved the idea of KeyPals. Think I'll pair up my K/1 class with a 4th grade class. The 4th graders will be favorite children's book characters (cat and the hat, clifford, hungry caterpillar.) My class will ask them questions and they'll make up or research the answers. I'll use a website called Voicethread and let all the students post their questions/answers verbally. My K students can't read yet so e-mail won't yet work.
First day of school was crazy. I'm excited to get 1 hr. of computer lab time this year. Hoping my 16 ESL Kindergartners learn to use technology in some new and fun ways!
Going to try and edit my profile. Be back next week
Great idea to pair up with the 4th graders. How did it turn out? I didn't know about Voicethread, so I'm happy you shared that. I look forward to hearing how you use all the new things you will be learning. :-)
ReplyDeleteHurray! See - a design strategy/process - Keypals. It goes in the bag of tricks so you can pull it out when it is the right tool for the job. The trick - what is Keypals good for? Clearly, getting students to communicate and to practice their communicating skills (literacy). A second thing is giving students access to expertise. Fourth graders have more expertise in writing, researching, and understanding characters - so you are providing students with their own personal mentor. Tag the strategies/processes you put in your design bag with the affordances they bring uniquely to learning.
ReplyDeleteThat said . . . I am anxious to read a future blog on how your design decisions with Keypals works :-) What do students say? How do they feel about it? What do you see happening - good, bad, indifferent? And, how does it impact the 4th graders as well. Priscilla