My first classroom Skype visit

Over the summer, my husband and I took a trip to Europe and on my last night there (my husband stayed behind for work) we stayed with Lenore Appelhans and her husband Daniel Jennewein. If you don't follow Lenore's awesome blog, you might not already know that Daniel is a very talented children's book illustrator having illustrated a pair of books written by Audrey Vernick:

A few weeks ago I asked Daniel if he'd be willing to Skype with my 6th graders because, well, even though they're in 6th grade, they love picture books too.

So today was our Skype visit, and other than the first few moments of frustration where my Smartboard speakers wouldn't work, the rest of our visit went swimmingly. Thank you so much Daniel! The kids and I had an awesome time!

 

 

The pictures Daniel drew for my students - taken from their suggestions:

Elephant on a unicycle

A toucan skiing

A frog in a straw hat and Hawaiian shirt eating bacon

If you're a teacher and you've never done a Skype visit before, I highly recommend it. Not only was it educational, but it was a blast for the kids too.  I will definitely be doing more in the future!