On Friday, we were lucky enough to be able to Skype twice in just one day! We started first thing in the morning by getting to Skype with a soldier who is over in Iraq. It just so happened that the soldier is Ariel and Jacquelyn’s uncle! Mrs. Reynold’s class came over to join us as we learned all about what life is like in a country in the Middle East. Then, we had an opportunity to Skype with Mr. Salsich’s class to share all about the kites that we were making as part of the Kites Around the World project!
To start our Skyping sessions, we made a call into Iraq. That’s where Ariel and Jacquelyn’s uncle is currently stationed. He shared all sorts of wonderful information with us. We learned that even though they’re in desert and we think that temperatures are always hot there, they can actually get quite cold as well. He’s experienced temperatures as low as 30° F. Of course, it still gets very hot there with temperatures as high as 130° F in the summer. That’s definitely quite the temperature difference! We also found out that there’s a part of the year where they get quite a bit of rain and it stays muddy for a really long time! Then, during the time of year when it’s dry, if it’s windy, it becomes very dusty and they sometimes have dust storms! Since he flies a helicopter, that makes it very difficult for him to see. It’s a good thing he’s a great pilot! Students had so many great questions and it was amazing to be able to talk to someone so far away!
Right after we finished our first Skype call, we dialed Mr. Salsich and his class in Connecticut. We are taking part in the Kites Around the World project that Mr. Salsich started. He created a wiki that contains all sorts of great information about creating a kite. It also gives classes from all over a world a place to share their results! Click here to visit it!
Every student in both classes had an opportunity to share their favorite part about making a kite. We learned that many students really enjoyed getting to design the kite. Others loved trying to figure out the measurements. At the time of Skyping, neither class had flown them yet but the students were all very excited about getting the chance to!
*What did you learn from our two Skype conversations?*
*How are Iraq and Connecticut similar and different?*
*What is your favorite thing about Skyping?*
Hello Mr. Avery and students,
I’m commenting from Naples, Florida. I think that skyping is pretty special. Not only because you get to see the person you want to communicate with, but you get to see their smiles as well. I think skyping brings out the fun in people. Lots of great information can be found out and I like being able to show things on the screen, rather than just describe it over the phone. This skype-age is just the beginning of the new way of communicating. I can’t wait to see what they think of next. Your class with Mr. Avery seems like a blast!! Keep having fun and experimenting with new things.
All the best,
Emma’s grandmother.
Dear Mr. Avery,
Dave is home! Well, he’ll be home for 2 or 3 weeks! I’m so excited. I haven’t seen him but I’m so excited he’s home.
From,
♥Ariel♥
Dear Ariel,
I’m so glad to hear that he’s home! I’m sure you will be so excited when you finally get to see him. When you do, you’ll have to tell him I said thank you for skyping with us. I was so glad that we got a chance to talk to him. It’s not often you get to talk to somebody all the way in Iraq. I hope he enjoys his time home!
Your teacher,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
This Friday we’re heading up to New Hampshire to see him! I’m so happy! It’s going to be very fun. I wish that it would be Friday! But New Hampshire is a long way from here. I love to go there. We get to drive through Boston and it’s very cool. I also love to go because there is a lake there and we get to ride on the boats.
From,
♥Ariel♥
Hi Mr Avery and class,
You have been very busy with your skyping.
I think it is fantastic that you had the opportunity to learn about the life of a soldier through Skype. This provided the children with the opportunity to ask questions which are meaningful to them. They may not have been able to find the answers in a book.
The kite project sounds fantastic. I am going to look this up and have a think about taking part next year if possible.
You have a very creative classroom.
Miss Docherty and the Brilliant Bloggers
Dear Miss Docherty and class,
We are very thankful that Ariel’s uncle could skype with us. It was wonderful! Ariel’s mom came to our class to skype with us. I hope we can do the same thing again soon!
Has your class flown a kite before? That was my second time! My other kite kept crashing along the beach. I have never made my own kite before. It was fantastic! Maybe I can make another one sometime!
Sincerely,
♥ Natalie S. ♥
Dear Mr Avery and class,
Wow, what fun you had on Skype! I think it was amazing that you were able to make two interesting Skype calls from (fairly) nearby and faraway!
How amazing to hear from a soldier serving in the Middle East. That certainly beats reading about it in a book!
Mr Salsich is a good friend of ours and we would love to skype his class one day too! The kite project sounds like so much fun.
Skype is one of my favourite tools to use in the classroom. We have skyped with Mrs Yollis’ class lots of times and also Mrs McKenzie’s class in New Zealand. Last year, when we were studying dinosaurs, we skyped a dinosaur expert from a museum! We learnt so much.
I hope one day our class can skype Mr Avery, or I can skype your class!
Happy Easter!
Best wishes,
Mrs M☀rris
Dear Mrs. Morris,
First off, Happy Easter to you as well! We hope you’re having a wonderful vacation so far.
Skype is definitely an amazing tool. We’ve had so many great experiences with it so far. We’ve had the opportunity to learn about so many different schools and different parts of the world. One of our favorites was getting to skype with a meteorologist from one of the news stations in Boston.
We’d love to skype with you! The only problem is, when we start school, it’s about 10:30 p.m. for you! We wouldn’t want to keep you up too late!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
I was very excited to Skype with my uncle. I was happy to see that he was safe. 🙂 He looked pretty happy about it. I was nervous. I have absolutely no idea why.
I hope you had a good vacation and happy late Easter! 🙂
Sincerely,
Ariel D.
Dear class,
We had such a fun morning! It’s not too often you get to talk to people who live in different states and countries in the same day! We did it all in an hour!
I learned some great facts about Iraq. I thought it was very interesting how they have to have their water shipped in to them on a truck. When you get temperatures as hot as you do there, you definitely need lots of water!
I can’t wait to see how Mr. Salsich’s kites fly. His student sounded like they were off to a great start. If there’s turn out as well as ours did, they’ll have a ton of fun flying them outside!
Hope you’re all enjoying vacation!
Your teacher,
Mr. Avery