Connecting Your Students To The World Through Mystery Skype!

One of our favorite ways to connect to others around the world is through Mystery Skype. 

A Mystery Skype is an educational game which is played by two classrooms trying to guess the location of the other class.  The two classrooms ask yes or no questions back and forth, until one of the classrooms correctly guesses the location of the other classroom.  

It is so much fun and we all learn so much about the location and classroom we are Skyping with! 

My colleague and friend, Ann Volk, who teaches third grade at Van Meter, wanted to kick off the year with Mystery Skype's as we had so much success with them last year.  

Mystery Skype's are a wonderful way to teach and practice geography skills.  By kicking off the year with Mystery Skype's, we are making sure we hook them with a passion for wanting to know more about the geography of the United States and the world. 

 On Friday, we set up a Mystery Skype with my friend and fellow Skype Master Teacher,

Steve Auslander and his students in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

To prepare for the Mystery Skype, our 3rd graders discussed the geography of the United States and familiarized themselves with the map of the United States and other landmarks and geography facts.

As each class asked yes and no questions back and forth, we all learned a lot about the geography of the United States.

To make sure everyone was involved, I created these Mystery Skype Yes and No Signs for everyone to hold up during the Mystery Skype.  You will find them here.  Please feel free to copy and make changes.

The Mystery Skype Yes and No Signs, ensure that every student is involved and engaged during the Mystery Skype. 

It is also important to have students maps, globes and classroom wall maps available during a Mystery Skype.

The students can look at the maps and have wonderful conversations around the questions asked and things being learned.

We loved our Mystery Skype with Steve's students and can't wait to many more this year with Ann's group and all of the other classrooms at Van Meter too. 

As we head into the new year, we will be visiting the Skype online, especially the Mystery Skype page here. 

If you are new to Mystery Skype, there are lots of helpful resources on this page on the Microsoft site. 

First, click on Opt in for Mystery Skype. 

You will find the Mystery Skype Activity Plans here. 

 Second, click on Mystery Skype Resources. 

You will find the Mystery Skype Curriculum OneNote here. 

As shared on this page, This OneNote was created by educators just like you and includes free resources and ideas on how you can incorporate this game in your classroom and will help you plan and play Mystery Skype with another classroom across the globe … or around the corner.

And third, you will find the Mystery Skype GoNoodle Song here too!  This is a great way to get your students excited about Mystery Skype. 

You will find it here. 

You can find another classroom or guest speaker to play Mystery Skype with here. 

The sky is the limit of who you connect with and who you bring to your students. 

This year, Ann and I can't wait to bring lots of amazing and meaningful connections to her students.  And we can't wait to bring to even more to other classrooms at Van Meter.   

You can find out more about Mystery Skype here and please let me know what questions you have and how I can help you too. 

Hey, Future Ready Librarians.....Let's Grow Our Community & Invite A Friend or Two To Join Our Group!

This has been quit the week for amazing conversations within the community we have brought together of Future Ready Librarians. We are starting back to school, trying out new ideas, taking over new spaces, and finding lots of way to develop wonderful years with our students, teachers and families in our libraries and communities.  

As I do this in my library and school, I am constantly turning to the Future Ready Librarian Facebook Community we have built and fostered together over the last two years.  It is now over 22,500 special members who come together to share, support and celebrate the impact we, as Future Ready Librarians, have on our communities every single day.  

As we kick off this new year, let's reach out and bring others into our special community too by inviting them to join us in the Future Ready Librarian Facebook Community here.  Share it with other librarians and also remember to share it with teachers and administrators too.  I even had two parents join over the summer, because they want to advocate and support our library program and others too.  

Future Ready Librarians Facebook Group · 18,688 members Join Group Welcome to the Future Ready Librarian Facebook Group,

Thank you friends for the amazing community we have as Future Ready Librarians.  We are all so lucky.  I hope your year is off to the best start yet!  

Let's Learn & Practice Keyboarding This Year....Kicking It Off At Van Meter!

Keyboarding is an important skill we want to support and encourage with all of our students.  

We start this work with our youngest students through very simple sites of moving objects by using the keypad and keyboard.  As our students move up through grade levels, they will be using Typing.com and other programs and sites that instill and strengthen their keyboarding skills. 

We also know how important it is for students to practice their keyboarding at home so share a Symbaloo with families to use throughout the year too. 

You will find a link to our Keyboarding Symbaloo here.  Please feel free to use or make a copy for your school community.  

We all put together a Keyboarding Smore each year that you will find here.  This is a great way to share important information about keyboarding and lots of resources with our students, teachers and families. 

And let me know what we need to add.  We are always making changes and updates to make sure we have the best resources available for our kids.