Our first Skype session of the year was a success! Last week my class decided to write fan mail to Stuart Gibbs (our class's favorite author this year), author of Belly Up, Poached, Spy School, Spy Camp and four other outstanding books. They wanted him to come for a visit, but since that was waaay out of our price range, we set up a Skype session instead. He got our letters yesterday (and said they were wonderful) so he was a little familiar with our class when we made the call.
The IT guys actually called me last night to go over how to plug in my laptop so the class could see. After much plugging and switching and turning things off and on, I figured out how to get the sound system to work... for some reason, my laptop screen wouldn't sync with the projector screen. I got it to work early this morning with a shorter cord. Later, I switched to a longer cord so the laptop webcam wasn't at a weird angle and that's when the projector wouldn't read my laptop. It ended up being fine. He could see and hear all of us; the kids were excited to hang out on the floor. Of course they had a ton of questions to ask... Stuart was only scheduled to Skype for 20 minutes, but he said since we took the time to write to him, he could take time to talk with us. What a great author! We only went ten minutes over.
He told us about his trips to Africa seeing elephants and rhinos and an attacking sloth. His next book is called Big Game and will be out in almost exactly one year: October 13th, 2015 (it's about rhinos and poachers). My class wants to Skype with him again... and send him their NaNo stories once they're finished. Stuart was very impressed at our November noveling plans.
It was also a day full of food. I brought the brownies I made for the bake sale (but didn't bring because I was sick) to share with my class. And everyone was ooing and ahhing over how good they were. One kid said it was the best brownie he'd ever tasted. I was a little surprised because I accidentally used too much cocoa and then added a bunch more sugar to make up for it... personally, I don't think they were my best batch, but when you're a fifth grader, your taste buds aren't too picky when it comes to dessert.
Shortly after passing out the brownies, a 3rd grader came in with a container of cookies. Then another 3rd grader brought me a huge slice of angel food cake! (Their class did "how-to" speeches and had leftovers they wanted to share). I think I've reached my dessert quota for today!
Our day ended with a nature walk through the woods... which I missed because I had to stay inside with a student who didn't get her MN history project finished. Partly my fault, I forgot to email what she had already typed to her mom last night. But she had all morning and noon recess to work on it and still didn't get it finished. Sigh.
But. Today is Wednesday. Lutheran Educator's Conference is tomorrow (yay! no school Thursday or Friday!). The book orders have been ordered. My desk is cleaned off. I am all set to go to pottery tonight. And I found a place in Slayton where I can get arrows for my bow. So my life is looking pretty good. Thanks Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment