Our Skype 2 Learn Adventures
NACP is a School Without Walls
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Ireland, Antarctica, Kenya . . . oh my!We love connecting with authors, experts and classrooms around the world and have been logging a lot of miles doing so. Explore our Skype map to see all the places we've been. Hover over a marker for more info and then visit Camp Read Smore's YouTube Channel to relive many of these great adventures.
Ms. Olson's 5th graders saying good bye to their Transylvania pen pals.
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We just skyped with our 2nd penguin!
Scroll down the page for our latest Skype Adventure!
Our First Skype in NACP History with the lovely Ame Dyckman!
Ame Dyckman wrote Tea Party Rules and Boy + Bot. (You can click on her book titles to learn more about the stories. Be sure to click on Boy + Bot to watch the book trailer!) The First graders at our school had the privilege to meet Ms. Dyckman via Skype last January and at the same time help make NACP history as this was the first Skype we have ever done at our school. What a treat it was to have Ame Dyckman as our first! Check out our January web page here for some pictures of our time together and a video of the Skype!
Ms. Dyckman was amazing! Not only was she fun to chat with, but she answered all of the fantastic questions our first graders had, shared her current projects and introduced us to many of her favorite titles and authors! I can't wait to add many of them to our shelves at Camp Read Smore!
Ms. Dyckman was amazing! Not only was she fun to chat with, but she answered all of the fantastic questions our first graders had, shared her current projects and introduced us to many of her favorite titles and authors! I can't wait to add many of them to our shelves at Camp Read Smore!
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Frans Vischer helped us continue to make history by making sure all grades were able to have the amazing experience of Skyping with an author for the very first time!
Meet author, illustrator and Disney animator Frans Vischer! Here he is pictured with his cat and star of his picture books, Fuddles. Click on the Fuddles books below to watch his book trailers and on Fuddles' picture to learn more. Our Kindergarten, 2nd, 3rd, 4th AND 5th graders were fortunate to Skype with Mr. Vischer in February.
We had a great time with Mr. Vischer and the students loved meeting Fuddles. We were shown some test animation that Mr. Vischer worked on for Frozen, his current projects and so much more. I think one of our favorite parts of Skyping with him was getting to hear him read his book to us, complete with some pretty amazing sound effects! Please be sure to check out our February by clicking here page to learn all about our time together with Frans and Fuddles. There you will find fun facts, information, pictures, Fuddles' blog and you can even click to hear/watch Fuddles snoring! (Soon, a video of our Skype will be available at that link as well.)
We had a great time with Mr. Vischer and the students loved meeting Fuddles. We were shown some test animation that Mr. Vischer worked on for Frozen, his current projects and so much more. I think one of our favorite parts of Skyping with him was getting to hear him read his book to us, complete with some pretty amazing sound effects! Please be sure to check out our February by clicking here page to learn all about our time together with Frans and Fuddles. There you will find fun facts, information, pictures, Fuddles' blog and you can even click to hear/watch Fuddles snoring! (Soon, a video of our Skype will be available at that link as well.)
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Fuddles
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Here's another book
by Frans Vischer.
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Connecting from California to Ireland,
5th Graders Skyped with the amazing Michael Scott!
For their Fantasy Unit, the 5th graders at NEW Academy Canoga Park have been reading the first book in Michael Scott's Nicholas Flamel series, The Alchemyst. I am always encouraging the students at Camp Read Smore to dream big and go after what they want. So, I took my own advice, reached out and asked Michael Scott if he would Skype with our 5th graders. HE GRACIOUSLY SAID YES and we were able to Skype with him on April 11th, while he was in his home in Ireland! Click HERE to watch the video of our Skype with Mr. Scott. (I missed recording the beginning of our time together, so pardon the rough start.) You will learn more about the legends and historical figures in his books and you will see the varying book covers of The Alchemyst from all over the world. Even more importantly, you will discover how kind, funny and knowledgeable this man is, that writers are readers and that authors really do want to hear from you. Please visit his website (www.dillonscott.com), watch the video of our Skype and check out Camp Read Smore's
Author Spotlight on Michael Scott to learn even more about the legendary Nicholas Flamel, his wife Perenelle, the philosopher's stone and more.
Author Spotlight on Michael Scott to learn even more about the legendary Nicholas Flamel, his wife Perenelle, the philosopher's stone and more.
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series
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Pictured above is Nicholas Flamel's house. It is the oldest house in Paris and today serves as a restaurant.
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Plaque on the house of Nicholas Flamel
and his wife in Paris, France.
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Our 1st Mystery Skype!
On May, 22, we had our first Mystery Skype! 5th grade students came to Camp Read
Smore to meet some new friends in Ohio as we narrowed down and guessed each
other's location through the use of printed maps, online Google maps and a lot
of teamwork. It was a lot of fun! Big thanks to Big Walnut Elementary in
Sunbury, Ohio for playing with us! (For more pictures visit our May page by clicking here.)
Smore to meet some new friends in Ohio as we narrowed down and guessed each
other's location through the use of printed maps, online Google maps and a lot
of teamwork. It was a lot of fun! Big thanks to Big Walnut Elementary in
Sunbury, Ohio for playing with us! (For more pictures visit our May page by clicking here.)
We Skyped with a park ranger from Yellowstone National Park
We learned so much about Yellowstone National Park from Park Ranger Mel! On May 27-28th , she taught 1st - 4th graders all about geology (geysers, hot springs, volcanoes), ecology (fire, wildlife such as bears, bison, elk, wolves, etc.) and cultural history (Native American, the fact that Yellowstone is the world's 1st national park, tourism, etc.). The students loved the pictures she shared with us and enjoyed the opportunity to speak directly to her. Soon, there will be a video of our Skype and you'll be able to hear the
fantastic questions our students asked. (For more pictures and information about this experience and a fun fact about Christmas in Yellowstone, please click here.)
fantastic questions our students asked. (For more pictures and information about this experience and a fun fact about Christmas in Yellowstone, please click here.)
Global Video Message Exchange That led to a Skype with Kenya, Africa
Mrs. Tafoya's class traveled around the world without ever leaving our campus in their participation of the Global Cultural Video Message Exchange. We shared videos answering cultural questions across the states and across the globe to Greece, India, Africa, Venezula, Austrailia, Canada and more! The pictures on the left are still shots from Mrs. Tafoya's class videos. Visit our October 2014 page to learn more.
We met some new friends in Kenya, Africa!
Through our Global Video Message Exchange with Mrs. Tafoya's 4th graders, we met Livingstone Kegode. He's a teacher in Kenya, Africa and on October 24th, Mrs. Tafoya's class was able to Skype with him. It was 9am here and 7pm there, so he joined with a few of his neighbors. One of them is sharing her Tennis trophy in the bottom right picture. They sang us a song and then we sang them our school anthem. Thanks to technology, our world is growing so much smaller. It's such a fun time to live and learn in!
Sharks 4 Kids Skype
Our students were thrilled to meet Jillian Morris, a marine biologist with Sharks4Kids via Skype. From a tiny little island in the Bahamas, called Bimini, she taught us about sharks and the importance of protecting them. In the days preceding our Skype, we became familiar with Sharks4Kids and Jillian by watching some of the amazing videos on their website. We had our own “Shark Week” and each day the students received a fun shark related activity, The day of the Skype was incredible! Jillian was able to Skype with all 500 of our students over three different sessions in ONE morning! Each Skype session had about 160 students and each one was as fresh as the first. They loved it and are still talking about it. Be sure to check out our October 2014 page and our posts on Camp Read Smore's Facebook page for more pictures and information.
4th Grade Mystery Skype With Peers in North Carolina
Our 4th graders met fellow 4th graders in North Carolina for their first Mystery Skype on October 10th. Special thanks to our awesome 4th grade teachers for coming along on this adventure and to Mrs. Grimes and her students for joining in on the fun from across the country.
We learned American Sign Language with Skype and Mrs. Marhefka!
We Skyped with Kim Marhefka, an Advanced Signing Time Instructor, from Signing Time Academy to go along with our school wide read of Sharon Draper's Out of My Mind. We practiced our signs and the following week she taught us how to use them to play I Spy! (Watch us learn the game!)
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I Spy with Mrs. Marhefka and
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4th Graders Get a Surprise Tour of Microsoft's Commissary
On January 30th, 2015 our original Skype had to be rescheduled due to unforseen reasons, but Microsoft (headquartered in Washington) and @SkypeClassroom jumped in and saved the day! Our 4th graders were given a tour of the company's commissary and even had a c...hance to speak to their top chefs. The head of the cafeteria, Cosmina, took time out of her busiest hours to say hi to our students. She shared her favorite and most challenging parts of her job. The students most enjoyed seeing all the Seahawks fun in and around the building.
2nd Graders Discuss Weather and Climate with New Friends in Kansas
On February 25th, 2015 our 2nd grade students in Mrs. Dixon's class had the opportunity to learn about the weather and climate with Mrs. Dyane Smokorowski's 2nd graders in Kansas. They told us about tornandoes and we told them about earthquakes. We even swapped practice drill stories. One of the teachers Skyping with us shared her childhood experience of a tornado destroying their home. Fortunately, her story ended well, but it was fascinating to hear about tornado shelters and so much more. Mrs. Smokorowski's class have been learning about their own weather and climate and how it is measured and predicted. Thank you Mrs. Smokorowski's class for skyping with us and sharing your research! We learned a lot!
Best Ever World Read Aloud Week 2015
We had the BEST time Skyping with over ten authors during World Read Aloud Week this year. We even had our first ALL SCHOOL SKYPE with Ame Dyckman AND Adam Lehrhaupt! We skyped with Corey Rosen Schwartz, Dev Petty, Christian Robinson, Jess Keating, Marla Frazee, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, Tara Lazar, Lori Nichols, Katherine Roy and were treated to a LIVE reading by author Jason O. Silva! To top it all off, Mrs. Tyner's 7th Graders in Andover, Kansas read Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches to our Transitional Kindergarteners. The students LOVED every second of it! Please visit our February page to learn more about these amazing authors and delightful people who were so gracious to connect and spend some time with us celebrating books.
Mrs. Greenan's 4th Graders Skyped with Chris Burkard at TED!
Pics and info to come!
Our Skype with Tim Harris, restaurant owner, special Olympic athlete, dreamer ...
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Tim Harris gave us a virtual hug! More info/pics to come, but I can't wait to find out how many of our student saw this over the summer.
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1st Grade Skype with SANCCOB in Cape Town, South Africa: October 20, 2015
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Wow! We traveled 9,990 virtual miles for this Skype! It was 8:30 am our time and 6:30 pm in South Africa when Tamlyn at SANCCOB introduced us to Stubby and reminded us that no matter what, we are all very special by sharing Stubby's story. "Stubby is one of the hundreds of abandoned African Penguin chicks SANCCOB sees every year. The majority of their African Penguin chicks are reared and released back into the wild but unfortunately Stubby cannot be released because his flippers are too short. However, what he lacks in flipper he makes up for in heart!" Check out these links on Camp Read Smore's YouTube channel for some snippets of this amazing and information packed skype!
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"Kids Are Heroes" Connects with our 3rd-5th Gr Heroes
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On December 11, 2015, Kids Are Heroes , 17 year old co-founder, MaryMargaret, skyped with us from Georgia to brainstorm ways that we can help change the world. Students were able to share what they've done and dream up new ways they can help others. It was a very inspirational skype and a great reminder that there is a hero in all of us!
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Learning about Extreme Weather with Tornado Hunter, Ricky Forbes
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On December 11, 2015, Ricky Forbes, Tornado Hunter, skyped with our Kinder, 1st and 4th grade classes to teach us about extreme weather through his harrowing experiences chasing tornadoes. Did you know that the largest hailstone ever recorded in the United States was approximately the size of a basketball? (It was found in Nebraska.) Mr. Forbes skyped with us from Calgary, Canada and we are all in awe by his presentation. I am so excited for our 5th graders to Skype with him next February after they finish their extreme weather unit. It's going to be another Skypetastic experience. Ricky Forbes just wrapped up season two of Tornado Hunters, a Canadian television show that will be available in the United States in Summer 2016. We're going to have fun watching it and remembering his wonderful and informative presentation. Thank you Ricky! You rock!
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Holiday Joy via Skype with Mr. Bedley's 5th Graders in Irvine
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Mrs. Potts' TK class received a special treat when they came to school today (12/16/15). Mr. Bedley's 5th graders at Plaza Vista in Irvine, connected with them via Skype to sing some of our favorite holiday songs. It was a sweet treat for everyone.
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ANTARCTICA! We skyped with Jean Pennycook, Penguin Research in Cape Royds.
We skyped with Ms. Pennycook
to learn about the Adelie Penguins in Cape Royds, a remote field station on Ross Island, Antactica that is 25 miles from the largest U.S. research station (McMurdo). Every year, the Adelie penguins come to Cape Royds to raise their chicks. This is one of the only places in Antarctica where the ice-free land with small rocks that they need to build their nests occurs. Check out their penguin-cam HERE. Ms. J. Rod’s class, with the help of Ms. Olson and Ms. Christina, created this awesome flag to send/fly in Antarctica AND then were able to send post cards to Ms. Pennycook so they would have the fun of receiving mail back from the McMurdo station with an Antarctica postmark! For more information, visit http://www.penguinscience.com/. |
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Our Skype with Adam (Lead Design Engineer) from Great Coasters, International
Mrs. Yates, Mrs. Guirola, Ms. Herrmann and Mrs. Reeve's 3rd graders studied engineering and matter in motion. Upon their unit's completion, we skyped with Adam House who shared more about how and why physics, physical science, energy and math are so important when it comes to "Energizing the Thrill." You can watch his thrilling presentation to the right.
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NACP's 3rd Gr. Matter in Motion STEAM Project: "From Here to There" It was wonderful to continue the conversation started by Adam House from Great Coasters, International during our #skype2learn just minutes before.
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