Global Read Aloud 2014, Our First Digital Project

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Week 3

We just finished chapter 9 of Edward Tulane. The Cool Cats have now read about Edwards journey to

The Fisherman, Nellie and Edward.

the murky depths of the ocean, his very lonely time spent by himself at the bottom of the ocean, and his glorious rescue by a fisherman.

Edward has a new life now, but we imagined that he misses Abilene a great deal, and if he could, he would write a letter to her. So, The Cool Cats decided to create a digital postcard using ThingLink.We have been working on recognizing key details in a story using both the text and the pictures, so we practiced this skill in our letter writing, adding important details that we did not read about, but think may help someone visualize Edward's situation. We assumed that this way, no matter where in the world Abilene may be, she could stumble upon Edward's messages. Not only did The Cool Cats write letters as if they were Edward, but we did some searches together to find images and examples of things that Edward experienced throughout chapter 9 so that Abilene could understand and expereince some of what Edward has gone through.

Please take a minute to view our Digital Postcard (ThingLink) here:

If you can not see the ThingLink posted above, you can also find it here.

International Dot Day

Make Your Mark

Monday, September 15th was International Dot Day. A day to celebrate creativity, risk-taking, and encouraging others. After reading Peter Reynolds book, "The Dot", the Cool Cats created some watercolor versions of their own dots. Later that day, everyone worked on Whiteboard, a digital art app, to create their own digital dot. Please enjoy our video which contains our digital dot creations, pages from the book, "The Dot"' and the song, "The Dot Song" by Emily Dale. (Click here if you can not see the video below.)

If you have never read "The Dot," by Peter Reynolds, you can view it on YouTube here: (Click here if you can not see the video below)

It's the Middle of the Summer....

Wordles are Simply Awesome!

...so why am I working on my blog? I don't even have any Cool Cats (students) with me to update or share learning with. Well, I was cleaning off my computer desktop and I came across this wordle that my Yearbook Club students helped me create earlier this school year. I thought it was appropriate to publish to our learning blog as a record of just what our school looks like. Perhaps we will discuss it during our first Unit of Inquiry. I think it would fit into the Lines of Inquiry....