See You in 2013!

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To say that this year’s Global Read Aloud was a success is an understatement.  With almost 30,000 students, more than 800 different facilitators and 6 continents represented, this project has truly taken on a life of its own.  So thank you if you participated or helped in any way.  Next year the project will be even better (hopefully) and will be either 5 or 6 weeks long per feedback from this year.

Who knows which books will be shared but I am already open to your suggestions.  Sign up now to participate next year and stay in the loop of all things Global Read Aloud.

And you are not quite sure what the Global Read Aloud is, please read this.

And if you have signed up and don’t know what to do now, just wait, information will be coming in the summer of 2013.

And the Winners Are….

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With over 150 entries, the call from Katherine Applegate was very hard to choose.  So we picked our top 30 entries and then did a random number generator.  There were just too many of you that we would have loved to give a call to.  But if you didn’t win, please don’t despair.  Katherine is currently filming a video just for all of us it will be finished soon.  And if you did win, congratulations, and do try to have as many classrooms part of the call.  Spread the love just a little.

Drum roll please…

The winners are the classrooms of…

Janet Connoly

Jillian Heise

and

Lorie Bane

But wait, because Katherine was blown away by all of the entries she agreed to do just one more call, and that call goes to…

Stockwell Elementary School and Kim Howell.

Congratulations and thank you for reading and loving Ivan….

Show You Participated in the GRA

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We finally took the plunge and decided to create some merchandise so we can show our pride of the Global Read Aloud.  Through a partnership with Cafepress, there are now 130 items with the design up for grabs.  Another design is coming as well.  So consider sharing your participation with the world and showing your support to for this project.  Click on any of the links to get to our store.

Our kids shirt comes in many colors and sizes

A funky magnet for your file cabinet

We certainly always need totebags

Countless styles of t-shirts 

An Animoto of The GRA History

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Week by Week Reading Schedule #GLRead12

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Finally a weekly breakdown has been selected for both books.  That means that I encourage you to read these pages or chapters in the designated week and then share your thoughts with the world that week.  Although you can certainly read at your own schedule, part of the magic of the global read aloud is the discovery of new things together.  As always, I ask that if you do read ahead of the weeks to not share with the whole group what will happen, it is such a spoiler for the kids.

Charlotte’s Web:

Week 1: chapters 1 through 6
Week 2: chapters 7 through 11
Week 3: chapters 12 through 17
Week 4:  chapters 18 through 22

The One and Only Ivan:

Week 1: pages 1-78 

Week 2: pages 79-146 
Week 3: pages 147-236 
Week 4: pages 237-300 

The Official Tools We Use #GLRead12

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The thing that I have always loved the most about the GRA is that every person makes this project into whatever they want it to be.  That also means that you choose what ever tools and methods of sharing that you feel most adventurous or most comfortable with.  In the spirit of this, here is what is officially available for participants.
We will have:
A central wiki – this will have time lines, helpful tools, but no teacher contact info.  This will be be the main showcase piece for people to share what their students have been doing.  http://globalreadaloud.wikispaces.com/
Edmodo for teachers to connect.  Both groups have been set up already.  These are where you can set up contacts with others such as for skyping, quad blogging, book discussions, whatever you choose.  This is also another great venue to share any tools or resources you may be using.  These groups are only adults, no students/kids allowed.  You will need to join Edmodo to connect to the groups.
  • Charlotte’s teacher group code is 93pop0
  • Ivan’s teacher group code is njco4k
Edmodo groups for students and yes, these will be much smaller, there will definitely not be one large group for students.  I encourage you to start reaching out to others and make those connections, put “want ads” up on our Edmodo teacher group and get those connections going before October 1st.  As much as I would love to facilitate all of these connections it is not going to happen with this many people involved.  These student groups have therefore not been set up yet and can be set up by you.
Google groups – these are solely for behind the scenes communication because not everybody is signed up to receive these emails.  I finally got the planning group sign ups to work and have been approving members as the requests come in.  Soon, I will be using that more to speak specifically to groups and this big group will be for once in a while updates or discussions.  These can be joined by signing up your email on the right side of this blog
Our Blog – http://www.globalreadaloud.com – this is used for posts on the project both from students and teachers, like a front window for the project.  If you would like to write a post for the project please do so and send it to me, I would love to hear whatever you have to say about why you are doing this, your hopes, oyur past experience, etc.  The same goes for during the project and after, I particularly love hearing from the students and their thoughts.

Twitter – the hashtag is #glread12 – use this to share ideas and to reach out to others as well.  Follow me on Twitter @pernilleripp and I will gladly help get you connected.

Anything else you choose.  People in the past have used all sorts of various tools and places to connect; Twitter, Facebook, Teachmeet, classroom websites etc.  This is all up to you.

Introducing www.globalreadaloud.com

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As many of you know being heavily pregnant means I am in full nesting mode, so this morning, as I got up way too early, I decided to clean things up a bit.  This website therefore has a new (shorter) address:  www.globalreadaloud.com

So what does this mean for the old address?  I am pretty sure absolutely nothing but it should be easier to get to now.

Plus it just feels more official now, so there you have the news of the day, a new address for all of us to use.

So I Joined, Now What?

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First of all, thank you!  This project started with a simple idea 3 years ago now and has blossomed into something much bigger or better than I could ever imagine.  So while we wait until the project actually starts here are just a couple of details to get you started with the Global Read Aloud 2012.

The dates have been set with the project starting October 1st and going until October 26th, while you can start sooner or later than these dates please do not give away any information about the happenings of the book except for in the designated weeks.

Choose your book, Charlotte’s Web or The One and Only Ivan.  I love reading the book before the project so I can think about what we will discuss, you may want to order your own copy and decide whether you want each student to have a copy as well.

Decide if you want to work behind the scenes on either book.  If you really want to have  say or just connect even more with people join the Google Groups set up for planning.  Both can be found on the right side of the Global Read Aloud blog.

Join the Edmodo groups for teachers to connect.  Last year these were used to set up Skype connections, ask for ideas or support and just general sharing.  This is for teachers only, smaller Edmodo groups will be set up for students closer to the start date.  Log in to Edmodo and enter in the code for the group you wish to join.  If you are not sure how to do this please reach out.

  • Charlotte’s teacher group code is 93pop0
  • Ivan’s teacher group code is njco4k

Check out the wiki, right now it is filled with info from last year but it will soon be updated.  Browse through what happened last year to give you an idea of what you can do with the book.

Follow the hashtag on Twitter #glread12 and follow me on Twitter to stay updated @pernilleripp

And other than that, just relax, this project is what you make it out to be.  The bottomline is connecting with others through a book, you decide how much time you want to dedicate to it and what you feel most comfortable with.