Global Read Aloud - Reflecting on #GRA16

This week wraps up our Global Read Aloud project by writing a final letter to our new friends and finding out the results of our voting. The big question was "Who won?" so we started there. 1st and 2nd graders were in agreement about the winning book, Troublemaker.


2nd grade GRA vote.PNG
2nd grade results


1st grade GRA vote.PNG
1st grade results


I created an Animoto to reflect on our experiences:
  


To conclude our collaboration we wrote a final letter to our new friends:

Dear Friends,
We have exciting news.  We have a new student.  She just moved back here from Florida!  We have more exciting news, about our vote.  In the second grade, Troublemaker got 66.7% of the votes and won for favorite book.  Twenty Yawns and Nana in the City tied for second place with 11.1% of the votes.
We are full of exciting news.  Our class won the Golden Sneaker award.  That means that our class earned many points for good behavior in gym.  (It’s not really made of gold, it is just spray painted gold).
This month we are celebrating Picture Books and playing Picture Book Bingo.  We certainly are busy here!
Thank you for joining us on this project!
Love,
Ms. Darche’s Class (2Da)
P.S. Congratulations on the Cubs winning the World Series!

Working with Becky Swanson was wonderful!  Weeks later I still have students asking if we have mail from our friends.  We regularly share ideas with each other in class, but reaching out across the miles made an impression on my students.  The idea that others are reading the very same books and asking the very same questions (and some that we didn't think of) was an interesting experience for them.  These moments are why I seek out virtual connections for my students.  I can't wait to do this again!

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