#GlobalReadAloud

You may be asking yourself, what is the Global Read Aloud? The best way I can explain this amazing phenomenon is that it is a merging of my 2 favorite things-Reading & Technology!

The Global Read Aloud was created by the amazing Pernille Ripp. The jist is just this: Quality books are chosen for various grade/age levels. Teachers/classrooms around the G L O B E read these books...together. To make the global connection, teachers use social media outlets like Twitter, Instagram, Edmodo, Wordpress & Kidblog to connect to one another. Classroom conversations are transformed into GLOBAL conversations. (Mind Blown)

My 4th grade homeroom started today by talking about this global concept. The idea of a global read aloud was a bit difficult for some students to wrap their brains around. So, I dove in...head first, to Twitter. There, staring right at me was the TWEET that changed my students' thinking. The F AM O U S author of our read aloud, Fish in a Tree, (Lynda Mullaly Hunt) had tweeted out that a 4th grade classroom needed a companion. I immediately responded telling Lynda and the classroom teacher that we were interested! Then, the unimaginable happened. Lynda Mullaly Hunt favorited my tweet! To a group of 9 & 10 year olds, this was the single greatest thing that had ever happened to them in school this year. They were hooked. They wanted to re-tweet, tweet back and call poor Lynda. (They even suggested we call her and see if she wanted to come over. I had to let them down easy; explaining, she was probably just a tad bit busy.)

Our simple, little poster that we were going to reference (periodically) as we read...

The Tweet that changed my 4th graders' ideas about the world, forever. 

Tomorrow, we are jumping right into chapter 1. The possibilities of this Global Read Aloud are endless. In the meantime, I think I need to buy one of these really awesome t-shirts to wear as we read. 

Tune in for more excitement as my two 4th grade classes embark into the #GRA15 :)