I will start today with a big thank you to all the parents that came out to conferences! It is with your help that makes each of our students so successful. Thank you for entrusting us with your children and helping us to make their educational experience the best it can be. 
Next, let me just say how fun Tuesday was in the world of reading. Each class performed readers' theaters, and they all did a fantastic job. It makes it so fun for me to see how excited they get about performing these. I had everybody from Harry Potter to Farmer Brown in my classroom and it was so fun to watch. 
Last week two of the three classes finally got to meet their Global Read Aloud partners. We visited Manitoba, Canada and Waco, Texas. The kids had a great time Skypeing with these classes and learning a little more about them and where they are from. We have continued reading One for the Murphy's, and when we return from break we will be discussing with our partner classes parts that we have read so far. Mr. Brown's class will also, fingers crossed, finally get to meet their connecting class in one way or another. There have been some technically difficulties and timing issues on their end that have prevented this from happening as of yet. 
When we come back from break students will also start meeting one-on-one with me to discuss what books they have reading and we will look at non-fiction. I hope everybody has a great, long weekend! See you Monday!

*Here are some pictures from our Skype sessions and Readers' Theater!

Global Read Aloud

Wow, it is already October! Where does the time go? Sorry I have been a little detained lately. I forget how busy the beginning of the school year is, and how every year I think it gets a little busier. Some exciting news is happening in the world of reading in fifth grade...this week we are starting our Global Read Aloud! You may have read this in last week's Chalk Talk, but let me explain a little more about it. Mrs. Haglin and I have been working together to start a connection with three other fifth grade classrooms somewhere in the world. All of us (our classrooms and theirs) are going to be reading the same book, One For The Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. We are then going to use a few different ways to communicate about what we have read with these other classes. This Friday each class will meet their connecting class through Skype (video conferencing). We will do a round of 20 questions to see if we can figure out where in the world the other class is located. Earlier this week students paired up to think of questions they could ask...for example: are you in the United States? Are you near an ocean? Do you live in the mountains? And so on. The students will have a paper map on their desks on Friday so that as they answer our questions we can cross areas off and hon in on where they are located. I am so excited for this! It's a lot of work, but we will be so worth it and the kids are really looking forward to it. 
In other news; new reading logs went home today. These will be due October 31st. Your child should be reading 5 nights a week for minimum of 20 minutes. I will end with a picture of a little visitor we have had in our classroom the last few weeks. My son Jackson goes to ECFE here at Maple Lake on Tuesdays and helps Mrs. Kath in the library on Wednesdays and he can't resist stopping by to see the big kids! They love it too, and he eats up all the attention! Thanks for a great first month. I will let you know how our fist Skype goes after Friday! 

(Jackson and his daycare mama, Fran)