Imagine a classroom full of reading buddies in another country — you’ve all read the same book, you’re all in the same grade level and you’re all excited to connect as peers from thousands of miles away. That’s exactly what happened in Ms. Waters’ fourth grade class as students participated in the Global Read Aloud project.
Created in 2010, this project focuses on connecting students through one common book. This year’s book was A Boy Called Bat written by Elana K. Arnold. Classes around the world read the book and connected with one another in a variety of ways.
For this project, 4th graders in Ms. Waters’ class skyped with a combined 3rd and 4th grade class in Winnipeg, Canada. Together, students discussed the book, made short videos about themselves and shared facts about their schools and cities. In addition, Ms. Waters’ students are exchanging postcards with schools across the country and from Canada as part of this project. Right now, the postcards they’re receiving can be found outside of their classroom door.
Ms. Waters shares, “This is really a fun project. I did it last year and will do it again next year. It gets the kids very excited about reading, and it connects us with schools from around the country.”
Over 4,000,000 students have now participated in the Global Read Aloud project. What a great way to inspire students to read and connect across nations!