Global Read Aloud Connections

I've been participating for many years, but the Global Read Aloud remains one of my favourite learning activites of the year! The idea is that classrooms around the world read the same book on the same schedule and then make connections with partner classes in a different location to learn and share. I believe these connections are the most powerful part of the project!

This year in Park West School Division, a number of classes participated in the Global Read Aloud and made connections in various ways. Our students have sent postcards digitally or on paper, made Padlet posts online to discuss the book, participated in video discussion on Flip and met online via video conferencing to talk about the books and learn about each other.

One class got to experience an extra-special connection this week!

Ms. Courchene’s Grade 5 class had the incredible opportunity connect with their Global Read Aloud partner classes in New York to meet author Jarrett Lerner online for a Q&A session!

The students in both locations read A Work in Progress by Jarrett Lerner and connected online via Padlet throughout the 6 weeks of the Global Read Aloud to discuss the book. We were so excited when our partners in New York asked if we'd like to join their video call with the author!

The Grade 5s in each location created some great questions to find out more about the author and the process of creating the book.  We had watched some of Jarrett Lerner's Behind the Scenes videos about the book and used that information to revise and improve our questions.  We wanted to ask questions that he hadn't already answered in his videos or on his blog. 

I am super proud of the thoughtful questions that the Grade 5s created!  Students were brave about speaking up to ask the questions they'd planned and it was very interesting for all of us to hear Jarrett's answers.  

To put in perspective what a unique opportunity this is: I’ve been participating in Global Read Aloud since 2014 (with my own class and then with other classes as a tech coach) and this is the first time I’ve ever had the chance to meet a GRA author!  What a special experience!

Story Studio with Mrs. Howard's Kindergartens

I saw the idea for story studio shared on Instagram by Mrs. Leslie Dent Scarcello, a teacher and teacher librarian.  I saved the idea and was excited when I had the chance to share it with my colleague Mrs. Howard.  She was as excited as I was to try out this idea with her Kindergarten class.

What is story studio?

The idea is for students to tell a story orally while using loose parts and classroom materials to "show" the story.  The story is recorded to be shared.

How did we set up story studio?

Mrs. Howard found a wonderful assortment of loose parts and classroom materials to put out for students.  I modelled how to select materials from the options and then set up a scene (a playground with snow hills in my demo story).  We talked about taking the supplies we need, but making sure there is enough for everyone.  

I modelled how I would practice telling my story out loud with a beginning, middle and ending.  Then, we showed what it would look like for the video recording.  I told my story and "acted it out" with my items and Mrs. Howard video recorded for me.  

After modelling, students were allowed to select their supplies and set up their story.  We encouraged them to rehearse and let us know when they were ready to record their story.  We roamed the room to record each student on video and then posted their videos into their Seesaw learning journal for families to see. 

Students were highly engaged in their play and stayed on task so well.  Many of them were hoping to record more stories at the end of our allotted time, so that's always a great sign!  It was awesome to see and hear students express their ideas.  There was lots of originality --seldom did we find the same details in two stories!

What did it look like?

Check out this video for a few clips of the story studio experience in Mrs. Howard's classroom:

Book Trailers by MPS Grade 6

Mr. Baskerville's Grade 6 class at Major Pratt School has been working on creating book trailers to showcase some of their favourite books!   We started by watching some book trailers and determining what elements should be included in a good book trailer.   This process of co-constructing criteria gave students a list of elements and features to include in their videos.

Next, students were given a graphic organizer to plan the content for their trailer.  Once students had done some planning for their trailers, they were introduced to Powtoon and given an overview of the tool.   Students were also introduced to sites for sourcing public-domain images such as Pixabay and Unsplash.

Students then spent additional work sessions putting together graphics, text, animations and music to bring their plans to life!   Some of the book trailers are now complete and published on YouTube (with permission). 

Watch some book trailers below to see the final products or visit our YouTube playlist.

The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh
Book trailer by Julie


Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
Book trailer by Otello


Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Meltdown by Jeff Kinney
Book trailer by Kenneth


Zombies Attack! The Rise of the Warlords Book 1 by Mark Cheverton
Book trailer by Drighton

I Survived the Hindenburg Disaster by Lauren Tarshis
Book trailer by Alex

Can You Say Catastrophe?  by Laurie Friedman
Book trailer by Alexsa

TBH, This is So Awkward by Lisa Greenwald
Book trailer by Charlie



Haunted Canada by Joel A. Sutherland
Book trailer by Caden


I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies by Lauren Tarshis
Book trailer by Katie
Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
Book trailer by Nathan

Human Rights Project

One of the exciting learning activities that my grade 6 class worked on this semester was their human rights project. They studied the human rights in their social studies class and had the idea to create videos to explain each of the 30 rights.  Since their social studies teacher only has 30 minute classes, we decided to make this an interdisciplinary project and use our ELA class to explore video creation.

The students learned to plan videos, write scripts, film scenes and edit videos.  In creating their first "batch" of videos, most groups chose to act out scenes.   When students reflected on the process, they felt strongly that making their videos was harder than they anticipated.   They weren't sure they wanted to continue creating videos.   We gave it some time and then I proposed that we try a different method for creating videos.   Instead of filming their own clips, the students used video clips, photos and characters available in Powtoon to create their videos.  This was a different creative process for the students and, based on their feedback, they felt more successful in creating videos this way. 

The students built a website with Google Sites to showcase their work and I'm pleased to say that all videos are now uploaded!   Please check out their work here. 

Smart Kids Use Numbers

We made our first video yesterday.  It was about numbers and we shared it with our families at the open house last night.  Now we hope more people will watch it.