On Thursday evening we came back to school after supper so that we could Skype with our friends in Mrs. Hino’s class. It was 6:45 pm on Thursday here in British Columbia and it was 10:45 am Friday morning in Tokyo. Almost all of the students in our class came back for the call and many of them brought their parents along too.
Both classes were very excited about getting to chat with each other live. Even though we live so far apart we found out that we have a lot in common with each other. Students in both classes enjoy playing soccer, basketball, and baseball. We also like to play on the bars outside and ride scooters in the gym. Bike riding was another activity that students in both classes were very excited about.
Even though we have a lot in common and enjoy many of the same things, we found out that there were also some pretty big differences too:
- There are 14 students in our class and there are 21 students in Mrs. Hino’s class
- There are 49 students in our K-7 school and there are over 400 students in the K-12 school our friends attend
- A.J. Elliott only has 3 classrooms and our friends have too many to count!
- The students in Mrs. Hino’s class have special teachers for art, music, PE, and Japanese
- Our town has a population of about 700 and Higashikurume has a population of 116,000
- The tallest building in our town is 2 stories. Their school is 3 stories tall and they have many very tall buildings in their city.
We can’t wait to work with Mrs. Hino and her students on a collaborative project. We are thinking that we might write stories together soon.
Thanks again for a wonderful call. It was great to get to know you better!
Thank you for the opportunity to watch your video Skype call with Japan.I was wondering if you could tell our class how you set up your classroom to do a Skype call and what sort of jobs different students do. We have an interactive whiteboard also so that helps.
Thanks,
Ms.Davis and Year 4A
Yew Chung International School of Beijing
Dear Ms. Davis and Year 4A,
Thanks so much for leaving us a comment! We were very excited to get our first comment from Beijing! We would love to learn more about your class.
When we Skype we use the IWB and a webcam that we have on a tripod. We try to sit so we can all be seen and then we have a “hotseat” near the camera for the person who will be speaking. We usually have a couple students act as greeters, someone taking video, someone taking photos, a couple note takers, and a couple students back channeling in Today’s Meet. Our class is very small and so that works well for us, but I know some people have more jobs than that. Have you Skyped before?
From,
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
Dear Mrs. Watson’s class,
The students in my class were very excited about the skype conversation. I will have to ask them and the PE teacher if they have ever played scooter hockey. It would be great if you could teach us a song. We are working on a Voicethread of Shape poems the students have written. When it is completed we will send you the link and it would be great if you could comment on some of the poems. We will actually have 2 threads since the students have enjoyed making them so much we have too many for one thread. Looking forward to more communication and collaboration.
Mrs. Hino
Hi Year 2/3!
I really enjoyed watching your Skype call with the students in Mrs Hino’s class. It is fantastic to make friends from all over the world. Thanks for sharing about the global connections you have made. I’m looking forward to seeing more great posts on your blog.
Best wishes from Miss Dickson and year 2/3 D at Holy Family School, Melbourne, Australia
Dear Miss Dickson,
Thank you so much for visiting our blog and for watching our video. Making new friends really is a lot of fun. Do you Skype with other classes too. It is hard for us sometimes with the time difference.
From,
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
We have never played scooter hockey. by Mua
What is scooter hockey? by Tina
What is your favorite tv program? by Mua
How do you play scooter hockey? by Lukas
Do you like scooter hockey? by Mari
Do any of the buildings on your island have basements? by Tina
How many classes have you skyped with? by Elijah
Could you take a video of your class playing scooter hockey?
from
Mrs. Hino’s class
Dear Mrs. Hino and class,
What great questions! Hopefully we can answer them all:
What is scooter hockey? by Tina
How do you play scooter hockey? by Lukas
Do you like scooter hockey? by Mari
Could you take a video of your class playing scooter hockey?
Scooter hockey is a game we sometimes play in gym. Each person needs a scooter and a really short hockey stick. There are two teams, just like real hockey, but no ice! The teams try to score in each others net while sitting on the scooters. You can’t get off the scooter. We will try to make you a video sometime this week.
What is your favorite tv program? by Mua
Some of our favourite TV programs are: Glee, Bugs Bunny, Jonny Test, Phineas and Ferb, Total Drama Revenge of the Island, Once Upon a Time, The Amanda Show, and Dumbest Things on Wheels. What are your favourite shows?
Do any of the buildings on your island have basements? by Tina
Almost all of our houses have basements. Some of them are finished basements with rooms and others are unfinished. Do you have basements?
How many classes have you skyped with? by Elijah
That is a really tough question! We have Skyped with classes from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. The grade 3s have been in this class for 3 years and so they have done a lot of Skyping. Have you done much Skyping?
We hope we can chat again soon!
Mrs. W and the 2/3s
Hi Mrs Watson & Y2/3,
How exciting for you to have a call with Japan! And how interesting that despite your very different cultures, you were able to find many things in common. I like the way you organised for children to come back in so that you could overcome the time difference – it’s good that you have supportive parents and keen children to make that happen! What a good idea!
It’s always interesting to see how other classes organise their Skype sessions. Recently we had a go at small group skyping, and the class really enjoyed this as they were able to be very involved in the calls. I hadn’t realised your class – and your school – was quite so small! We are a small school too, with 75 students, but before I worked in a school with just two classes and 45 students! Our rural area has a lot of small schools dotted around.
I look forward to seeing what you get up to with your new Japanese friends!
Mrs M & A Room with a View
Dear Mrs. Watson and class,
I am a student of Mr. Avery’s 6th grade class.
Skyping with a class so far away looks like a lot of fun! I always enjoy skyping or mystery skyping at school. 🙂 Although, we have never stayed after or come back to school later in the day like you guys did. Maybe our class will do that someday…hopefully! Maybe sometime this year we can skype! Hope you have a great day and many more to come 🙂
Sincerely Your Blogging Buddy,
Alyxandra