My two classes are often following different inquiries and interests. The magic of sharing with each other through document panels, class-made books, notes left on our "sharing" parking lot, and other artifacts of learning, has led to sparks in one class provoking interest in students in another class. I have loved watching this purpose-driven print unfold in my classroom this year.
This month, ongoing class books were suddenly left behind as new ideas sparked new projects. One such spark came from the "We Can See" project. My morning class saw the first post, and several students made this connection: "We make books too!", "We could go and see what we have at our school", and "We have a park next to us too!". We headed outside and took notice of what we could see from our playground.
The next day, I invited my afternoon friends to see the same post, and they were likewise excited to head outdoors for a walk to take pictures to share. They liked the format of the Bond Lake story, so we chose to use the same form even though we're more adept at telling our stories with Voicethread.
My kindergarten friends are intrigued by the idea that other students will read their book and might communicate with them. We hope you like our book!
This is a wonderful book!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to sharing it with my students tomorrow.
We will send your two classes a response soon.
Thank you for taking the time to post on our new blog!
Thank you!
DeleteI anticipate much excitement when I tell my students that one of the classes whose books inspired us has seen our book. In fact, they'll be delighted to know it was the very class whose book was picked at the model for how we should make our story, so that we could print it and keep it in the classroom for all to see. I'll share your responses with them soon!
No problem!
DeleteI hope that they enjoy the response!!
We were so pleased you were inspired!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteOur class just read your beautiful book!
Here is our response:
Compliments:
D.B.: Thank you for writing your book. We really loved your book! It was really cool and detailed.
L.N.: That was a nice book, because it was kind of like our book! We are glad you liked our book!
J.A.: I liked your book, because I liked the leaf pictures.
R.J.: I liked all of your book, because I wish I was in your school!
S.F.: I love your pictures, because they are so beautiful.
Z.L.: I loved your book, because the pictures were nice!
Connections:
T.M.: We have lots of the same things, but some things are different. The hopscotch was a little different and you have big buildings outside your school. Why are some of the things the same?
M.Y.: I think that their school is just like our school! They have a fire hydrant!
Questions:
G.G.: I wondered why you have a city around your school.
An. Si.: What were the numbers on your school wall for?
Thank you for sharing,
Ms. Babalis and Mrs. Ham's Class
Bond Lake P.S., Richmond Hill Ontario, Canada
Hello Bond Lake Kindergarten!
DeleteWe are the morning class in Ms. Fynes' room 109. We just read your wonderful compliments, comments, and questions. We are so happy to hear from another kindergarten class! Hello to Ms. Babalis, Mrs. Ham, and all the students in your class.
We like the way you gave us compliments first. That made us feel happy.
We made connections too! When we read your book, we thought: "Hey, we make books, let's try to make one like that class so we can share it with them!", and some other friends noticed: "They have so many things like our school. We should take pictures of our school to show them how many things are the same, and different".
Now we want to answer your questions.
First, G.G.'s wondering about the city all around us.
E.M.: Mississauga has a lot of big buildings.
J.A.: Toronto is close to us. It has big buildings too, like the C.N. tower.
Ms. Fynes: We are in the valley, near the downtown of Mississauga. That's why you see those tall buildings all around our school.
Next, An. Si. asked about the numbers on the wall.
J.O.: We have lots of numbers all around!
E.M.: Our address is on the wall so people know where we are.
A.K.: Maybe someone drew the numbers with chalk, and it dried there.
T.P.: They used yellow paint, and it dried.
S.S.: We line up there (under the numbers).
Thank you for writing us and sharing your ideas. We like this project.
Ms. Fynes' AM Kindergarten Class