Thursday, May 16, 2013

Our First Mystery Skype!

Today we Skyped with a class from...Massachusetts! It was really fun. Neither class of students knew where the other was located until the questioning ended.

Here are our new friends! They had done this before, so they were really organized. 

Julia and Xavier got us started by sharing a little about our current weather.
Linnea and Dyna shared about Washington's climate.

Famous people who were born in Washington!
Next, it was their turn to share clues about where they are from.
 
Gavin using the iPad to search for answers.

Eli is working hard to type all the responses!

Atlases come in handy, too.
Fiona reading one of the questions to our new friends. 

While it was fun sharing clues and trying to figure out where our friends were located, one of my favorite parts of our Mystery Skype was the sharing we did about ourselves at the end. We talked about what we like to do for fun, what kinds of pets we have, what we like about our schools, and several students told what languages they speak at home other than English. Wow! Both of our classes have students who speak another language! How terrific!


Well, once again, we had a great time participating in this Mystery Skype. Thank you SO MUCH to our new friends, the Ladybugs  from John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Franklin, MA which is right next to another town called Bellingham! Fun stuff.



Please comment!

  • What was the most fun about our Skype today?
  • What is something you learned about Washington or about Massachusetts?
  • Have you been to Massachusetts or other places on the east coast? What was it like? What things were similar to the West Coast? What was different?
  • What are some other questions you'd like to ask students from other places?

35 comments:

  1. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I thought it was very fun. My favorite part was answering there questions about where we live. And where they live too. Plus there teacher was funny .
    From, Austin

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    Replies
    1. Austin,
      Thanks! I thought it was fun, too. A cool part of Skype is that you can see who you are talking to and that you can see their reactions. I could tell some of them thought they knew where we were because they looked excited after we answered some of the questions. Austin, what is something you learned today? Why did you think their teacher was funny? I'm glad you thought it was fun.
      Sincerely,
      Mr. Pahl

      Delete
  2. Dear Class,
    I think that my favorite of today was trying to use all of our hints, and putting together which state they are from. What was your favorite part?
    Sincerely, Devin

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  3. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I think that Skype is really fun because it lets you see anyone, anywhere. Listening to them and talking to them is awesome. Also, a thing I learned about Massachusetts is that Boston is a city in it. Before I thought Boston was in New York.
    From, Linnea

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    Replies
    1. Hi Linnea,
      Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I totally agree about Skype. I think it's a lot more fun than the telephone. It was fun to see how excited they were about figuring out who and where we are.
      From,
      Mr. Pahl

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  4. Dear Room 12,
    Wow! That was really fun, learning a lot about Washington and a little bit about Massachusetts. I used to live and east Coast myself once. I lived in Michigan and Main. In the winter time it got like a feet of snow every year! In the summer time it got really, really hot! We also had an earthquake once in a while, which was scary for me because I was 5-6. Then I moved to Washington and I’m probably going to move again.
    Sincerely,
    Karoline

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  5. Dear class,
    My favorite part of the Mystery Skype was that we had to figure out where the other class was and you actually had to think. Something I learned about Washington is that there are quite a few famous people who were born here. Something I learned about Massachusetts is that it also got hit by Hurricane Sandy. Some questions I would like to ask people from other places is if they like where they live or if they live or if they want to move somewhere else, if their state has a interesting history and if there are lots of wild animals in their state.
    Sincerely,
    Julia

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  6. Dear Class,
    I learned that Hurricane Sandy didn’t only hit New York but that it also hit Massachusetts. What did you learn?
    Sincerely, Devin

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    Replies
    1. Dear Devin,
      Something I learned about Washington is that there are quite a few famous people who were born here. Something I learned about Massachusetts is that Hurricane Sandy also hit there not just New York.
      Sincerely,
      Julia

      Delete
  7. Dear Class,
    Even though it was really scary, I thought it was pretty funny also. When they said that they got hit by hurricane sandy, I was hooked on New York but they said that one of the states that boarder’s theres was New York, I got pretty confused. Some People whispered the whole time! The place they were located in was Massachusetts, one unlikely guess for me.
    Sincerely,
    Avery

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  8. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    Skypeing with our new friends from Massachusetts was really fun. But when we were Skypeing we didn’t know they were from Massachusetts, we had to ask questions about where they live. I learned that Hurricane Sandy didn’t just hit New York it hit Massachusetts too. I really hope when we do it next time it will be just as fun.
    From, Claire

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    Replies
    1. Dear Claire,
      I didn’t know that Hurricane Sandy hit Massachusetts either. I also think that doing the Mystery Skype was really fun and exciting. What was your favorite part of it? My favorite part was when we found out that they were from Franklin Massachusetts.
      From,
      Julia

      Delete
  9. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    The thing I like about my mystery Skype today is that I got to talk to a person that from another class that’s not even from our state! I also like it how it’s my first time Skyping. But I was also felt sort of nervous talking to somebody on an iPad and felt weird talking to an iPad so the mystery Skyper could listen to what I’m are saying. Other than that, My day turned out pretty good!
    Sincerely,
    Alvin

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  10. Dear class,
    I think that the most fun thing about our Skype today was when I got to go up in front of the camera and talk to the class by myself. Was the most fun thing about the Skype at least that was what I thought!
    From, Rhiannon

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  11. Dear Class,
    Today we did mystery Skyping and I think it was one of the most exciting things of done in room 12! I had a great time giving out answers to questions and searching for answers on an iPad. The mystery Skype class had been hit by hurricane sandy a little bit and that hint gave me the information I needed to figure out which state they were from. I thought a cool question we could ask other classes was “did Native Americans once live in your state?” I hope you had fun doing it to.
    From,
    Gavin

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    Replies
    1. Dear Gavin,
      I liked the mystery skyping as well. What was your favorite part of it?
      Sincerely, Devin

      Delete
  12. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    When we skyped today the most fun I had was when we were about to figure out where there were from. Something I took out of it (Learned from it) was that the Snake River is in Washington. I also learned that hurricane sandy hit Massachusetts alongside many other states. Doing this was really fun and I’m glad that you took the time to set it up.
    Thanks,
    Phoebe

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  13. Dear class,
    I learned some stuff about Massachusetts weather. And there hurricanes and blizzards that happen often. I hope we get to do it with a less harder state to figure out!
    Sincerely,
    Avery

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I’m glad that everyone else and I enjoyed the Mystery Skype a lot. I’m extremely excited for the next Skype which I believe is called Where in Washington. Also, when I written this which was 12:40 pm, since they are in Massachusetts, it is about 2:40 pm for them, I don’t know if I’m exact though.
    One of my favorite things from the Mystery Skype was the part when we found out where in the United States they lived in. I also learned that Hurricane Sandy also hit Massachusetts, I’m very happy none of them got hurt. I usually go to one place on the East Coast, Lowville, Kentucky, because that’s where some of my relatives live. I wish I could have asked them if they enjoyed using technology, I would like to hear their perspective of it. Hopefully I can ask the next class in Where in Washington!
    Sincerely,
    Sophia

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  15. Dear Room 12,
    I liked the Skype. The questions helped me learn a lot about Massachusetts without even knowing it was Massachusetts! I also learned that Massachusetts can have nasty weather sometimes. It would also be really fun to do a Mystery Skype with fourth graders from Texas because I have always wondered how school would be different there.
    Sincerely,
    Shawn

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    Replies
    1. Dear Shawn,
      I totally agree with you it was awesome learning about Massachusetts and more about Washington. I also liked working together with Xavier and for once we did not fight.
      From, Austin

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  16. Dear Class,
    The best part about Skyping today was having fun talking to people from other states instead of just Skyping to another classroom in Sunnyland Elementary. I learned how other places can be so different, it would seem unrealistic. (I.e. Tucson AZ is sunny almost every day, etc.) Skype is a fun way to communicate with people all over the globe. What if you could Skype with creatures from other planets? Wouldn’t that be awesome? What is your favorite part about Skyping? You could reply to me if you’d like.
    Sincerely, Fiona

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    I learned that Ben Franklin was born in Massachusetts and that Hurricane Sandy also hit Massachusetts. My favorite part of the Skype was when we figured out where they were and we all cheered and danced.
    Sincerely,
    Ella

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  18. Dear Class,
    I had so much fun today doing the Mystery Skping, which I got to scared to do it. On my first question for them, me and Linnea were walking toward the front of the room I got too scared that I couldn’t do anything nor move, that I stood there, as Linnea was telling them our question for them . After all I got used to it because I had to do twice, one on the second question also on the third one with Donna, then my fear was got. Also the most fun part was when we all started to try to find out where they were, once we found out we got to shout out are the answer.
    Sincerely,
    Dyna

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  19. Dear class,
    I learned that Olympia is Washington’s state capital I never knew that. I also never knew that Hurricane Sandy hit Massachusetts I thought that it only hit New York.
    from, Rhiannon

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dear Mr. Pahl,
    The most fun about the mystery Skype was when we got to ask questions and the people on the computer had to type fast. Most people got atlases and look for where they lived and we found out they lived Massachusetts. But I was nerves at first but it turned out to not be so scary.
    Sincerely,
    Xavier

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  21. Dear Mr. Pahl
    What I learned with our Mystery Skype is to project are voice to the audience, how to look up stuff in a atlas, and look for stuff on google maps.
    From, Oscar

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  22. Dear class, I think Skype was similar to Pen pals because they try to guess where you live and we don’t know who they are so we talk back and forth to each other. Then slowly we get to know each other
    Sincerely, Rajveer

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  23. Dear class, what was your favorite thing about the class we were talking to.
    Sincerely, Rajveer

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dear Mr.Pahl,
    Some questions I would like to ask other students are: What is your favorite color? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite animal? What is your favorite movie?
    Sincerely,
    River.

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  25. Dear Mr. Pahl and Class,
    Thank you ! Thank you! Thank you for your thoughtful comments about our Skype. We had so much fun meeting you and learning about your state. You did a great job answering our questions! I loved seeing the pictures you took! I can't wait to show our class tomorrow.

    One of my favorite parts of skyping is seeing each other. It seems scary at first, but then it is so much fun!

    Your new friend,
    Mrs. Merten

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  26. Dear Mr. Pahl and Class,
    We were excited to meet children from across the country! We had a fun time Skyping with you. We learned that you get a lot of rain in your state! It was cool when you said that a volcano erupted in your state. After our Skype discussion, we watched a video of Mt. St. Helen's erupting. We learned that your state nickname is the Evergreen State (even our teachers didn't know)! It's funny that your town is called Bellingham, and Bellingham is a town next to Franklin.It was cool to meet you and learn about Washington.

    Your new friends,
    Mrs. Merten's and Mrs. Williams' Classes

    ReplyDelete
  27. Dear class,
    I think that the mystery Skype was really fun because we got to guess where they were in the wourld!
    from Eli,

    ReplyDelete
  28. dear mr.pahl
    i had a great time with you in skype. it was a good way for us to know you and your state (Washington).
    -hani, from mrs.mertens class

    ReplyDelete
  29. Glad to see this great way to use iPads! Karen

    OTinPublicSchools.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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