Bat Exchange, you know, like flying mammals!

Have you  heard of a poly com?  Well, I had not until very recently.  Essentially, it is similar to video chatting.  My school has a poly com system and one of our technology specialists in my district asked me if I would like to participate in a "Bat Exchange."  I said, "why not?"   So here's what we did:

1. My students constructed a bat using black construction paper, googly eyes, and their imaginations.
2. Each student then wrote a descriptive paragraph about his/her own bat.
3. Another 2nd grade classroom across town did the same thing.
4. Each teacher snail-mailed the bats to the other teacher.
5. We set up a date & time to poly com; we chose Halloween Day.
6. Each classroom took turns reading a description of a bat while the other room tried to find the bat based on the description.

It was such fun!  I let my district media department know about the exchange and I was visited by Susan Arnsemen who witnessed the event, took pictures, and put an article on the Wichita USD 259 website.  My class is "famous!"  Wichita Public Schools Newsroom Events

I hope that we can do similar events in the future as well as different poly com events.

Following is a picture of Ms. West's class's bats all laid out on the floor of my classroom.  As one of her students would read their description, we would find it.

Below is a picture of my SmartBoard where we could see the other classroom on the poly com.  It is super fun using technology in my classroom!