The Global Read Aloud Begins!

From October 6-November 14, students in Mrs. Pritchard's 5th grade class will be talking a lot about goldfish.  No, they are not doing any crazy science experiments or bringing in a class pet.  These students are just a few of the over 300,000 students worldwide taking part in The Global Read Aloud.  Mrs. Pritchard has chosen to read aloud The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm.  Today she officially began the read aloud.  Before starting, the class checked out the posts that have been added to Twitter using the hashtag #GRAGoldfish.  Students were able to view the predictions made by other classrooms and see some photos of how others are beginning the project.  We added our own predictions using Mrs. Young's Twitter handle @donnalynnyoung.  This activity created a lot of anticipation, and the students were anxious for the read aloud to start.

Next, it was time to jump right in and begin reading.  Students gathered around Mrs. Pritchard as she started. 

While Mrs. Pritchard read, students grabbed sticky notes and added what they wondered, felt, and thought about during the reading.

At the end of chapter two, when Mrs. Pritchard announced that she would stop there for the day, students BEGGED for just ONE MORE CHAPTER!  I think that this is definitely a sign that they are very excited about participating in this year's Global Read Aloud and can't wait for tomorrow to hear more!  We also cannot wait to hear the reactions from students at our partner school in Duxbury, MA, when we Skype with them soon.

You can follow @donnalynnyoung on Twitter to read our thoughts and watch our progress during this six-week project.