Our New York Connection

As part of the Global Read Aloud, our class read Marty McGuire, along with Mr. Water's first grade class in New York. In the book, Marty is reluctantly chosen to play the part of the princess in the class play, The Frog Prince. Mr. Waters had a great idea that we could make tissue paper frogs and use them to get to know more about each other. To do this, our students took pictures of themselves and their frogs in different places near our homes and then shared them with the other class.  Our class received a package a couple of weeks ago with many pictures of the New York kids and their frogs standing in places like the Statue of Liberty and Central Park! Our class decided to create a slideshow of our photos to share them. The final product is below. We hope that Mr. Water's class likes it and will leave us a comment!

Asking Questions As We Read Marty McGuire

The students were introduced to the reading comprehension strategy, Asking Questions last week. When good readers use this strategy they ask questions as they are reading. Then they look for the answers to their questions as they continue to read more. Here is what we wondered about Marty McGuire.  

Predictions About Marty McGuire

We are collaborating with another first grade class in New York as we read Marty McGuire for the Global Read Aloud! Here are the students' predictions before they started reading the book.

Created with Padlet

Skyping with Our Partner Class in New York!

Today our class Skyped with our partner class in New York! It was amazing, to say the least!

In preparation for the Skype call, we looked up their school using Google Maps. Using the street view and pictures, we were able to learn that their school was in an urban area of Lower Manhattan. This a lot different from our suburban neighborhood school! We compared and contrasted the difference between urban and suburban communities. Then we brainstormed the questions we wanted to ask them.  During the call, several students asked and answered questions about our schools as well as the book, Marty McGuire. Here were some of the things we learned about Mr. Water's class.

• If we drove to their school and didn't stop once, it would take us over 40 hours and almost 3,000 miles to get there.
• Their school is located in a building 12 stories high.
• They have a pool in the basement and they have swimming as part of their PE.
• The playground is on the roof!
• They have 15 students in their class and two teachers.
• They love to read Marty McGuire, too!

The Global Read Aloud - Marty McGuire

Today is the start of the Global Read Aloud! Our class is going to be reading the chapter book, Marty McGuire with many first, second, and third grade classes all over the world!  You can see who is participating in the map below:

View Marty McGuire Participants Map in a larger map

Our class is partnered with another first grade class in New York! We are going to be collaborating with them as we read the book together! We are so excited!