The 14th Goldfish #gra14

"A book is a dream that you hold in your hand." ~Neil Gaiman

One of my favorite parts of the school day is teacher read-aloud. I love how my class of 4th graders eagerly gathers around and anticipates what will be read next!

This year is the first year I'm participating in the Global Read Aloud. This project, created by Pernille Ripp, a Wisconsin teacher, is a 6-week project during which teachers from all over the world choose one of a list of books to share with their class. Teachers are also encouraged to make connections with other classes in the country and world and enlighten their students to the fact that kids just like them are reading and enjoying the same books! More information about the Global Read Aloud can be found here.

Starting today, October 6th, through November 14th, my class will be reading "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jenni Holm. It's a brand-new book (August 2014) and we're excited to read and have a collaborative question discussion using Google Docs with other classes from California, Texas, and Minnesota (and maybe more!). 

So excited to receive this in the mail today! Looking forward to #GRA14! @jenniholm pic.twitter.com/5UvR09L7N5
— Jennifer Houlette (@JenHoulette) September 15, 2014

I was excited to win a copy of a signed book from the author, Jenni Holm, so that is just another neat aspect of reading a new book!

We started off the day with our read-aloud time and discussed what it might be like to stay young forever, or a "fountain of youth." We also watched this book trailer which was a neat way to "meet" the author and see how she came up with the book idea.

We LOVE goldfish! #gra14

We look forward to the next six weeks and all it has to offer. It will be fun to collaborate with the other classes and have some discussions about the book. It will also be great to see the connections we can make to science and to the concept of the impossible becoming possible!

My GRA t-shirt & autographed book!