sutton007

By this time last year I had my summer PD all planned out . So far, I hadn't really planned anything for these first 2 weeks off from school, and to my delight a professional development opportunity arose before my very eyes. Every other Thursday night I meet on Twitter with a group of people interested in Elementary Science. The creator and moderator of that chat, Bill Krakower ( @wkrakower ) of New Jersey, suggested that we try to conduct the chat via 'Google Hangout' . I have heard Bill, as well as some other folks, referring to this 'Hangout' a lot lately, and decided I would LOVE to be involved. What is a Google Hangout ? Think Skype on steroids! Google Hangout is a feature of Google+ which allows up to 10 people to video conference at one time. Within the Hangout there are many extra great features as well. These include Screen Sharing, Google Doc sharing, Watching the same Youtube Video together, a Sketchpad and more. These features promote collab...

How do you keep 81 fourth-grade students engaged for over an hour?   The answer is simple: Skype with a group of soldiers overseas in Afghanistan! That's exactly what we did today! At approximately 0900 we received a call via Skype from Petty Officer Second Class Christine Henault. She and 4 other soldiers who are part of the NTM-A spent some time describing their days in Afghanistan to our three (3) fourth grade classes.  Back in November of 2011 our class was writing 'Thank You' letters to our veterans, and one of my students wrote to Miss Henault (who is my neighbor's sister).   After that, we sent her a package at Christmas time.  When she came home on leave at the end of March she made a surprise visit to my class.  At that time she described her training and how she ended up in Afghanistan.  Her presentation included a Powerpoint, sharing artifacts and doing some calisthenics with the group.  They loved it and HER!  As she left, I ask...