It's already almost the end of October.....

The year has gotten off to a crazy start!  I hit the ground running and haven't looked back.  I am finally getting some time to fill people in on what I have been up to for the school year.  On the telepresence front, I have already had four guests connect with my classes virtually and quite a few more scheduled ahead.

The first virtual connection was with author Jonathan Emmett who is a children's author from Nottingham, England.  Mr. Emmett is the author of over 51 books, many geared to the younger students. He read aloud to the Kindergarteners one of his books titled "Wanda Wallaby Finds Her Bounce". This story was about "Wanda Wallaby has lost her bounce! Try as she might, she can’t find it. She asks all the other animals, but no one can help. Until, that is, she meets the crocodile – whose advice has a remarkable effect on the innocent Wanda.” The students then were able to ask Mr. Emmett questions like “how many books have you written” and “how do you come up with your characters”. 
Check out Jonathan Emmett’s website at http://www.scribblestreet.co.uk/

The second one was with second graders at Roosevelt Elementary skyped with the Night Zookeeper all the way from the United Kingdom. The Night Zookeeper is a character based on a magical story about the adventures of a night zookeeper and the fantastic animals he meets on his nightly rounds. Students then went into the computer labs and designed their own Halloween animal that would live in the night zoo. What great imaginations they had. Next week they will continue on by writing their own Halloween stories about an evening in the Night Zoo!
https://www.nightzookeeper.com/

My third virtual connection was with Kindergarteners  at Jefferson.  Students spoke with Firefighter Dayna Hilton and Molly the Fire Safety Dog all the way from Arkansas. Firefighter Dayna is a children's author, firefighter and director of Keep Kids Fire Safe Foundation.  She has been featured in USA Today, People magazine, and on PBS Kids.

Firefighter Dayna read the students her story called Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog and talked with them about Fire Safety.  They discussed smoke alarms, practicing fire drills at home, having a meeting place, and having 2 ways out. Dayna went through the steps to take when the smoke alarm goes off at home. 
Check out the website: http://www.firesafetydogs.com/ 

The last connection I made was with the Yellowstone National Park.  Fifth Grade students at Roosevelt Elementary got to speak with a park ranger from Yellowstone National Park.  He touched on a great deal of topics for the kids and took the lesson wherever the students' interests lead making it very informative and engaging.

Some of the topics that were discussed and addressed were geothermal events in the parks, like hot springs, and geysers.  He explained that Steamboat is the geyser that can shoot water the highest but it is not as well known as others like Old Faithful, which at 50 feet below the surface has a temperature of over 400 degrees.  He also showed and discussed obsidian rocks and petrified wood.

The most interesting topics to the students were the fact that Yellowstone sits on a volcano, there are about 20 wildfires a year, and the bison is the most dangerous animal in the park.