An Interview With Amanda Fahey

A Little Bit About Amanda

Amanda is a grade three teacher with the Lethbridge School District No. 51. She is on Twitter, @amandafahey13, and Google+. Her Google+ profile says: Never let an opportunity pass you by! And if you follow her on Google+ or read her blog, Mrs. Fahey’s Class, you will see she does not let an opportunity pass her class by. 

I have always been inspired by Amanda's ideas and classroom activities. I think after you read this interview you will be, too!

What technology skills should students have before coming into the grade(s) you teach?
Students should know the basics:

• how to log on
• how to find various programs (Chrome, searching with Google, Word)
• how to copy/paste
• how to save documents to a USB.

Where do you get your educational technology ideas?
I get ideas from Google+, Professional Development Days, colleagues and blogs.

What type of technology do you use in your school?
My school has laptops, desktop computers, iPads, webcams, and Smartboard.

Imagine you only could keep one technology at your school. From the ones you listed about what would be the one you would keep? 
iPads

Based on your response to the question above. Why would you keep that technology?
There are so many useful iPad apps that I enjoy using with my students. Students can still access the internet (Google) from an iPad, as well as use Google Docs, or Microsoft Word to complete class assignments. It also opens opportunities for new apps and ways to complete assignments rather than basic paper and pencil. As well an iPad has a camera, therefore we could complete Hangouts with other students.

What is one piece of technology would you like to try in your classroom that you haven't had an opportunity to yet?
3D printer

What is something new or different you are planning to try this year?
I plan on teaching one-on-one Google Hangouts with our penpal/collaborative blog class. I am also going to attempt a Robotics lab this year. 

How has technology changed the way you teach?
Technology has allowed me to go outside my comfort zone and find new ways to be innovative within the classroom. Instead of all students having the same project, which needs to be completed in the same way, I find technology allows me to give my students more opportunity to be unique and creative and find their strengths to show their learning. As well, technology has allowed me to meet and collaborate with so many other teachers all over the world. Completing mystery hangouts, or collaboration projects with classes in the USA, Brazil or Australia has allowed me to change the ways I teach being a Global Citizen and how to be a "safe" technology user to my students. My focus is to teach my students about a positive digital footprint.

How do you decide what is worthwhile for students to learn through technology, given literacy and skill challenges in division one?
Technology is incredible, but students still need the opportunity to use paper and a pencil. However, I decide what is worthwhile based on my individual students. I assess their needs and go from there. I try to find apps or tasks that can be easily modified to meet my students needs. For example, having a built in voice recorder or a "read to me" feature is always helpful for those struggling readers/writers. 

What apps or technology tools do you use? Are there any that you use for specific projects?

• Google Hangouts - As a class, we complete many mystery location hangouts, mystery number hangouts, as well we meet with our penpal class. This year we are working on a Connected Reader’s Club as well which is absolutely fantastic!
• News-O-Matic - I use this app for our Newspaper day. I also incorporate it into Daily 5 centers for a listen to reading center.
• Popplet - This is a favourite when we are brainstorming, specifically before a writing task.
• Green Screen - I use across all subject areas. I enjoy using Green Screen mostly for social and science as a way for students to show their learning at the end a specific unit. For example, students use it when describing an animal, or a country in social studies. We've also used Green Screen as a way of publishing fractured fairy tales. Students draw the scenes, and as we read the stories, their drawings are the backdrop. Super student friendly.
• Class Dojo - I use it for classroom management.
  
• Google Translate - I use this to support ELL learners.
  
• Google Earth - I use Google Earth when we have mystery location hangouts. This year we’ve used Google Earth quite a bit as an introduction to the Grade 3 Social Studies curriculum which focuses on Peru, Tunisia, India and Ukraine.
• Word Clouds - I use this for writing activities.
• Skitch - This is a great labelling app which is extremely useful, specifically in science, when introducing a new topic. As well I use it in Language Arts for vocab development in word work centers.
• QR Code Reader - I use this app mainly in math for games or problem solving. Students use the QR code to check their work. However, we use QR codes in language arts for tricky words, and to listen to reading.
• KidBlog - We journal using Kidblog rather than a typical journal notebook. Our blog is then linked with our grade 3 classes throughout Canada and the USA, where we discuss various topics, and complete collaboration writing projects.
• Quiver - This is a fantastic app that makes artwork pop like 3D! 

What are your hopes for educational technology in the future in your classroom? Alberta? Canada? Globally?
I would like to see a specific technology curriculum, where skills are broken down into grade specifics. Not all teachers are as comfortable with technology as others, therefore we get students who still are unsure how to log on etc which makes things rather difficult sometimes. But in order for that to work, more professional development would have to be offered. I hope that educational technology becomes the norm within our classrooms, and students become great global technology users where they are aware of how to be safe and effective users.

I also hope for generalized programs where the province or even country can use similar programs, ie. Google Apps for Education, so that students of similar grades can collaborate with other students throughout the country, opening up more opportunities and giving students a wider perspective on the topic, or life in general.

---

Check back for the December interview with Marjorie Foth.


Related blog posts:

• Mystery Location Hangouts
• Bringing Canada Into the Classrom with Google Earth and Maps

Reflections On: Connected From The Start PART 2: Blogging

Connected From the Start

At this year's Greater Edmonton Teachers' Convention I went to see Kathy Cassidy's session called "Connected From the Start" which is also the name of her book, which covers the same topics. 

Like many teachers who use technology in class, Kathy uses a wide variety of technology devices and applications. It is important to note that her classroom has one-to-one iPads. Her session had three main sections: Skype, Blogging and Twitter. I am going to review each section in a separate blog post.

Part Two: Blogging

Like Kathy, I have blogged with my students for a number of years. Unlike her, I have used laptops, netbooks and Chromebooks, not iPads. I do not have one-to-one access but I do have regular access to technology.

Kathy's top choices for student blogs are: Edublogs, Kidblog and Easyblog. All have a financial cost to someone. I liked how she reminded participants that storage costs money and that is what you pay for.   

EduBlogs

She blogs with her students (using iPads) on the Edublog platform which uses Wordpress.  She pointed out that Wordpress can be somewhat cumbersome to someone new to blogging. It is also important to note that the free account does not have Student & Class Management options. The "Pro" account costs $39.95 USD a year. 

Kidblog

I have used Kidblog over the past two years. Last year I used a free account, but that option is no longer available. They do have a one month free trial. The "Premium" account costs $36 USD year. Kathy felt the Kidblog platform is less complicated than the Wordpress-based EduBlogs platform. Div1 Edtech in EPSB posts on blogging:

• A Spring Blogging Activity With Kidglog
• Jump In and See What Happens!
• KidBlog: A Review (based on the now obsolete free version)
• Concrete Graphs, Photos and A Blog Post
• This is the blog post that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on my friend.

EasyBlog

Kathy also demoed EasyBlog which is available for iPads only. It is VERY slick! If you wanted to start blogging with students as young as kindergarten, then this is the platform to do it (if you have iPads)! There is no cost to teachers but all the data is lost at the end of each year (unlike EduBlogs or KidBlog). Parents can choose to purchase the data at the end of the year. If you want to do blogging in primary classroom with only one iPad Easyblog makes it... easy.

Other Blogging Platforms

Kathy mentioned ePals as another blogging platform teachers could try. That's how I cut my teeth on connecting my classroom globally and blogging with students almost a decade ago. I moved away from ePals when EPSB moved to GAFE. Since I have used it, ePals has been taken over by Cricket Media.There is no cost to ePals.

I often get emails asking for suggestions for free blogging platforms that are suitable for younger students. I usually suggest Blogger as we have it as a part of our GAFE suite in EPSB. I do not find Blogger the best choice for teachers wanting to start blogging with younger students but it is the best FREE option I can suggest. However, Seesaw has just launched a blogging platform that is available for use on iPads and Android tablets as well as via the web (from what I can tell). I have only done some preliminary research but I believe it is free. Check out Richard Byrne's blog post for more information. 

Parent Permission

Kathy shared that her division uses a form that informs parents and requests their consent for students working online. She also brings parents in to her grade one class and shows parents examples of what she wants to do with student work online. As a result, she has not had parents who have not provided consent. 

She uses blogging as well as Skype and Twitter as a way to show younger students how to be on-line and show what you learn. She does post pictures of students but she never links a student's name to their image. She reminds students and parents not to use full names (so no last names) when blogging. She will even delete parent comments* when the parent uses a full name/last name in connection with a student. (*The class will read the comment as a class and discuss why it has to be deleted. Then she contacts the parent and explains that is was shared in class and gently reminds them to not use identifying names when commenting in the future).

She provided some good options for those families who are concerned about their child's work being public. You could provide that child with a pseudonym and/or never post that child's image. This became a bit of a discussion during the session. 

I shared that one workaround I have used is that I have a form specific for my classroom when parents have been uncomfortable with signing the EPSB FOIP form. I explain to parents in person or via email that without the FOIP form signed their children will sit off camera for Google Hangouts as I cannot always control if the teacher on the other end will take pictures or video. Parents can provide specific written permission for allowing their child on screen for Google Hangouts. As well, I let them know their child will only be able to post to connections or classmates for Kidblog unless they provide written permission. 

Honouring Student Work

As someone who has blogged with students for a number of years I found this section of her talk reaffirming (which is sometimes as useful as learning new things). That said, when she shared one of her students blog posts (excuse the blurry photo) I was forced to stop and reflect on my practice. 

She had honoured the student's writing by letting the student's errors be posted as is but she added clarification for the audience in brackets. I have a tendency to require more "publish" ready posts. 

I think there is a fine line (and I do not think I have found it yet) when it comes to blogging, especially with younger students. I believe publishing work (of any kind) to the 'public' requires a certain set of standards that we do want to establish. At the same time, we do not want students to be so controlled by "perfect" writing expectations that we stifle their desire to write. Thanks for the food for thought, Kathy.

Activity Review: Acrostic Poems (Read, Write, Think)

Acrostic Poem Generator Review

I really like Read, Write, Think's Acrostic Poem Generator. It is not 100% ideal for grade two but its positives out way the hurdles. 

Used As A Centre In Grade Two

We had been doing a focus on poetry in class. Students had done guided collaborative acrostic poems using Google Drawings. I wanted to move acrostic writing so that it could be an independent centre during literacy centres. Here is my mini-lead-up lesson:

1. Open Read Write Think's Acrostic Poem Generator on the Smartboard. Click "see answer" to the question What is an Acrostic Poem? and read the answer together. (I have a class website so I put the link to the activity there).
2. I told my students they would have a choice between two words: valentines and heart (can you tell we did this at the beginning of February?)
3. We reviewed they only put their first name on activities on the internet when the prompt for "your name" comes up.
4. Together we brainstormed eight keywords/ideas for Valentine's Day.
5. Then I showed the students my favourite feature - when you mouse over any of the letters in the title/topic of your acrostic, the program provides hint words.
6. Using the hint words and our brainstorm words (which are visible while you write the acrostic, too) we wrote a poem.
7. When we were finished, I modelled how to save it. 

Hiccups

During the first week of centres a few hiccups arose in my students ability to do this independently.

1. As they did not do their centres on the same day we did the model lesson, their braintorm list was full of spelling errors and therefore so were their poems. More importantly, however, my struggling students spent A LOT of time on the brainstorm part of the activity.
2. Saved final copies are PDF. Saved incomplete copies allow students to open and continue to work on their project. How is this a problem? Well, I noticed one student spelled their topic word HAERT and another spelled it HEEART (despite having the words on my website and on the whiteboard). However, we could not edit them as they had saved their poems as PDFs there were no working files saved to allow for editing.

Week Two Of Centres AKA Modifications

I do not believe in one-offs for most activities. I think its ideal to have students do an activity a number of times. Therefore, I wanted to add this acrostic activity in my centre rotation. To do so, however, I needed to make some changes. 

I followed much the same lesson plan as I did the first time I introduced the centre. I did another model lesson.

1. Open Read Write Think's Acrostic Poem Generator on the Smartboard.
2. I told them they would have a choice between two words: love and hockey.
3. We reviewed they only put their first name on activities on the internet when the prompt for "your name" comes up.

1. Together we brainstormed  keywords/ideas for hockey on chart paper. We did the same for love. These charts were then posted during centre time each day for students to reference. 
2. Then I reviewed the students my favourite feature - when you mouse over any of the letters in the title/topic of your acrostic, the program provides suggestions for words.
3. Using the hint words and our brainstorm words (which are visible while you write the acrostic, too) we wrote a hockey poem. 
   
4. When we were finished, I modelled how to save it as a RWT file only.  Students were told not to save it as a final copy.
   
5. All these steps and hints were written on chart paper and  then posted during centre time each day for students to reference.

Printing

During the second week, I had students who were finished their final copy, leave their Chromebooks logged on for me at lunch. I opened up their file (you have to go to the Acrostic Generator and open it from there) and saved it as a final and emailed it to myself. For those poems that needed edits, I had student make corrections at another time before I emailed the poems to myself. As most of the edits were minor, this was easy to do during class. Once I had all the PDFs, I simply printed them from my computer.

I Co-Taught... With Myself!

A Little Bit Of Background

A few years ago I started making short math videos and uploading them to YouTube. The point of these were three-fold. First of all, I used them as sets to my lessons. I was able to use school manipulatives, and Alberta curriculum terms to tailor the video to my students' needs. Second of all, by having the sets as a video, I was able to provide students with opportunities to review the material if they wanted or needed to. Finally, I was able to share these videos with parents to help them better understand what math looks like in the grade two classroom of today.

Then last year I was in need of more differentiation in my literacy centres (long story, see this post) so I started creating making words videos. This year I decided to introduce this centre earlier in the year. As a result, I created a new video that would be the model for the centre. I like to teach whole class lessons and do whole class practising of centres to build independence when possible.

The Ah-Ha Moment

The majority of my teacher made videos have been short or made for students to use independently. This was the first time that I had a longer instructional video playing for a whole class activity. The video was a recording of what I would normally be modelling on the Smartboard for the Making Words lesson. This freed me up to walk around, observe, intervene and praise more frequently and effectively than if I had been doing the lesson "live". I basically was co-teaching, with myself. It was great and I believe it could be a very powerful strategy if used thoughfully. 

Now I just need to find some time to make more videos!

A List of Christmas Sites That Will Engage Students in Learning

Ahhh, teaching in December! Report cards and conferences are done, but we still have another few weeks to teach while working around Christmas Concert schedules and uber-excited students. Some of us dig down, ignore the holidays and get through as much curriculum as we can, while some go all out and embrace the holiday spirit. However, who says we have to give up one for the other? Here is a list of Christmas sites that will engage students in learning, with a few games for when they (and you) need a bit of a break!

Language Arts is one of the best ways to integrate holiday themes into your classroom. TheNorthPole.com offers reading and writing activities related to Santa and his North Pole workshop. The Elf Pal Academy has many printable activities especially suited to little ones and English Language Learners.

My students LOVE MadLibs. Classroomjr has a variety of printable winter and Christmas MadLibs, word puzzles, mazes and math sheets.

ABCteach also has a variety of printable Language Arts activities, including word scrambles and comprehension sheets. (ABCteach does require an account, however it is free.)

Storynory is an online story resource that has Christmas-themed audio stories that can be listened to online or downloaded for later.

Social Studies

How do students around the world celebrate Christmas? Education World has more activities than Santa has in his sack (sorry, couldn’t help myself!). This Christmas Symbaloo also offers links to Christmas around the world sites.

While NoradtracksSanta starts tracking Santa on Christmas Eve, the site also offers games, books and music related to Santa.

Need more ideas? Here are a few Symbaloos  (my favourite bookmarking site for younger grades!)  

Christmas Fun has over 15 000 users, and no wonder, with math, stories, games, and puzzles

for all grades.

And Christmas 23 is the place for holiday music for your classroom!

Do YOU have any favourite sites for the holiday season? Share them with us in the comments!

(And have a Merry Countdown to Christmas holidays!)

Lissa Davies

Persons, Places And Things And Technology

My Twitter handle is @sundayideas. I chose that as my handle because, at the time, I was regularly emailing colleagues technology ideas I had found during the week... on Sundays. Usually I had a theme. Either it was related to an upcoming event/holiday, or to concepts/activities I was researching for use in class. When I joined Twitter, I initially saw it as an extension of what I was already doing. This blog post is a bit of a throwback to my pre-Twitter days. Here's what I have going on for teaching nouns next week.

No-Tech

This may come to a surprise to many, but my class and my teaching is filled with no-technology activities. I introduce my students to nouns with a book: Chicken In The City. In addition to that, my spelling words for the week are all nouns. I review nouns later in the year again and at that time I read A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What is a Noun?

Using Read and Write For Google 

Using the SmartBoard to demonstrate, I demonstrate the technology task I assigned (using Google Classroom) students for nouns. As it is still early in the year, I first I review how to use Read and Write For Google for those students who want the text read to them. 

Then I demonstrate how to highlight text in Document. We will do other parts of speech activities throughout the year, so nouns will always be green (it matches the colour of the nouns poster I have in class). 

The Google Document I used for this activity, along with others, is available at the site: Division One Collaboration Site For Educational Technology.

For those of you working with older students, you could have students use the highlight function in RW4G and then have them "collect" the highlights to create a list of the different parts of speech you want them to identify.

I also show students how to use the dictionary tool in RW4G. The dictionary identifies the part of speech of word, so students can double check if they are unsure. What I like about this process is that often a word can be a noun or a verb (or other parts of speech). So students still have to "use their brains" and not simply rely on RW4G. It is a good introduction for younger students to not relying on computers/Internet for answers, that they still have to use their own critical thinking in combination with the tool.

Initially this is a whole class activity to teach students the steps. Eventually, this will become a literacy centre that I differentiate for students' abilities (using Doctopus). Students will do the same activity with verbs, adverbs and adjectives. Eventually students will also do similar edit/proofread activities and then a revising activities. I hope to expand this centre even more this year.

Practice Through Games

One of the powerful things about using computer/Internet games is that students get immediate feedback about their answers. In my literacy centres, students will first answer a Google form about nouns and then play:

• Turtle Diary Nouns 
• Feed the Noun Fish

I also include a two video playlist at that centre. 

I am on the look out for more grade two friendly noun games, so please post your favourites in the comments.

The Google FormI used for this activity, along with others, is available at the site: Division One Collaboration Site For Educational Technology.

Global Read Aloud - Finding the Right Tool to Connect

Were you inspired by Colette Mondor's post to participate in The Global Read Aloud? 

Now, are you wondering how to make connections with other classrooms?  

Looking for something simple and effective?  Me too! 

I was mulling over my options for sharing, when a colleague mentioned  Padlet, and I knew I found the answer.

The creators of Padlet describe it as, "possibly the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world."  And in many ways it's true! 

Padlet is an online bulletin board, where students share their thoughts and ideas with others. Participants share via text, audio, video, photographs or documents.  

Using Padlet for The Global Read Aloud

It is easy to create and share a Padlet with others, enabling Read Aloud participants, to share their responses to the weekly chapters. This week, students reading, The Year of Billy Miller, are reading Chapter 5 of part one, and chapters 1-3 of part two. 
Take a look at this Billy Miller Padlet created and shared for week 2 by a teacher in the United States.

The Year of Billy Miller Week # 2

You will see this tool in action during the second week of The Global Read Aloud, October 12 - 17, 2015.  
My grade threes are using Padlet to share their Text to Self and Text to Text connections. And we are eager to share with others. Let me know if your class wants to connect with us.

Get Started 

Once you have signed up for your free account, (limited features) log on using your Google user name and password. You can purchase an education account with added features, however I found that the free account meets my needs for now. 

Once on Padlet, click - Create a New Padlet. There are two easy menus, to help you design and share your padlet.  Start with Basic Info which enables you to state the purpose of your online bulletin board. 

The Gear Icon enables you to modify your padlet, by selecting the wallpaper, adding an image to associate with the wall, writing a description, and determining the layout of the posts. 

The Privacy Icon, a small lock, enables you to set the visibility settings for your Padlet. There are several levels of privacy and I chose 'Hidden Link' which means that it is public on the web but not searchable on Google.  You can also select levels of accessibility for participants. Do you want participants to write, view or moderate posts? However most important, scroll all the way down and check  the box - Moderate Posts, which will allow you to approve or delete any posts before they are public. 

Sharing Your Padlet

Under the Link Icon you can find an assigned URL for your Padlet, which you can also personalize. This is the link to share with collaborators.

Another option is to click on the Export and Share arrow where you'll find countless ways to share. I used the embed code to add the padlet below to this blog post. To do this, copy the code under the embed title.  In editing mode for a Blogger post click on the HTML button on the upper left of the screen. Scroll to the end of the text on the page, and paste the embed code there.  Now click on Compose and you will be back in editing mode. The Padlet will appear in your post.  

Try Padlet

Think of the many ways to use a tool like this in Division one.  Now go ahead and try it! Just double click on our wall and share your ideas.  Just so you know, comments on this Padlet are moderated and will appear once approved. 





Padlet is a great way for Division I students to share and collaborate.  In many ways Padlet is like Twitter, students are sharing short snipits of information. The strength is that everything on one Padlet is about a related topic. There are no hash tags to follow and no one will retweet your post. 

Finally,  you can observe others posting on your Padlet in real time.  Share your padlet, keep it open and you will see the bulletin board change as others contribute.  What fun!

So You Want To Participate In The Global Read Aloud

What Is Global Read Aloud?

Last May, Div1Edtech blogger Marge Kobewka mentioned learning about The Global Read Aloud (GRA). The tagline for GRA almost explains exactly what it is: one book to connect the world. GRA lasts six weeks. Teachers who participate read the GRA book(s) with their students and then use Twitter (#GRA15), Google Hangouts or Skype, Kidblog and other internet tools to connect their students to others reading the same book. 

As not all students around the world are the same age, or reading ability, there are actually a number of books that are a part of the GRA. For instance for older division one students there is The Year of Billy Miller. For division two students there is Fish In A Tree.  For division three students there is Fish. For division four students there is Yaqui Delago Wants To Kick Your Ass. While there are suggested ages for each book, there is no hard and fast rule for which book you pick for your students.

There is also an author study for picture books, so each week there is a different book you read. This year the author is Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  Global Read Aloud nicely ties into Read In Week in Edmonton as both are in October. 

How Do You Participate?

This is my first year participating in the GRA. What I have done so far:

1. Selected the book(s) I was going to read. This year I decided to do the author study.
   TIP: Do not wait until the last minute to locate the books. I did procrastinate. I found out that our school library only had two of the six books. So I went to the Edmonton Public Library (EPL). They had nine copies of first book, Chopsticks, but they were all loaned out. As a back up measure I looked to see if any Chapters in Edmonton had Chopsticks available. They were all sold out! Fortunately the hold I put on a copy at the EPL became available in enough time to have it for week one. In the meantime, I have had my school librarian borrow copies of the other books from other EPSB schools. We now have all the books! Phew.
    
2. Filled out the form on the GRA website. This populates a Sheet.
   TIP: Do not fill out the form and hope you will be contacted. I filled out the form and forgot about it. Then during the first week, I was left without any "global" connections to kick off GRA. So I spent sometime looking through the Sheet for other people doing the author study. For my purposes, I wanted people who were also on Kidblog and/or wanted to do Google Hangouts. I sent out a number of emails. I heard back from three people and made two connections so far.
   
   There are other ways to connect with GRA participants. Facebook seems to be a popular way to connect this year.  I did not find using the Twitter hashtag #GRA15 helped for making connections yet. Regardless of how you try to make a connection, remember to be proactive. Do not wait for others to come to you.
    
3. Planned how I will make my students' learning public. I decided to use Kidblog. I decided to get my student blogging earlier this year because of GRA. I felt that blogging was the best way to make my students' learning visible because it was a platform I was comfortable with. Also, it was a way to start participate in GRA without having secured connections. As well, it is an easy platform for others (even those without a Kidblog account) to interact with my students because of the comment feature.
   TIP: Test your settings for accepting comments from the public. I some how had turned that setting off initially.
    
4. Started reading and writing.
   I explained what The Global Read Aloud was on Friday as a wrap up to Read-In Week and a kick off to the GRA. Then we read Chopsticks.  Students did a first draft of explaining their favourite part in their reading journals. As my students are still new to blogging, I am currently requiring them to do a paper draft first. When the recess bell went, some students asked if they could stay in for recess to work on their writing because they knew other children were going to be reading their thoughts! That's the power of having an audience and purpose for writing!
   
   Students will be typing their blog posts about Chopsticks this week. Stay tuned to Team Spectacular's Blog.
    
5. Gave a shout out to the author on Twitter.
   We wrote a short tweet to Amy. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we'll get a reply. Students enjoyed the play on words in Chopsticks, so wanted to use the word "sweet" (said by Sugar in the book)  instead of awesome. There was much debate if the word sugary was needed. 
   

It's Not Too Late To Join!

As it says on the GRA website somewhere: it's okay to get behind, just don't get ahead. Do not worry if you are just getting started. Just start! You can make this as a huge event as you want, or, if you are like me, keep it simple. Check out how Shannon Pasma's class started: CTV Edmonton, Global Read Aloud.

Want To Know More?

There are a lot of resources for GRA. Here are just two:

• Official Website: The Global Read Aloud 
• On The Eve Of Global Read Aloud, Tips For Success