First class Twitter experience

Hi all,

Last May I posted about ways to use a class / school Twitter account to connect classrooms across the world. So it was time to put my money where my mouth is and get my class Tweeting. I teach Grade 3 (7 year olds) in Italy. I'm hoping the children can interact with other English-speaking children through Twitter.

Here was our first venture. We tweeted a photograph of our resources before doing an investigation.

Unfortunately we didn't get any responses during our school hours so I mentioned a few of our followers and asked if they would like to join in. Then we got these responses.

I'll show these to the children on Monday and we'll Tweet a photograph of our results and some of the children's reactions. Here's the photo we'll be sharing:

On a side note. If any of you were curious to see how our bulletin board outside the classroom turned out with the children's first day work on it, here you go! Each badge has the children's name, favourite animal, favourite colour and the superpower they would like.

How to use a class/school Twitter account in primary school

Hello there! 

I've been thinking of starting a school / class Twitter account in the next school year. Many schools have them and it has so many benefits. Children can interact with other classes, all over the world. They can share what they are learning to keep their parents in the loop. They can share work that they are proud of with the whole world. Obviously, you need to be very careful to seek permission from your principal and all parents. You may be allowed to share images/videos of the children. However, if you are not, it's still possible to share photos of their work or their reactions to something they are learning about.

I want to share some fantastic examples of Twitter accounts from Irish schools and how they have used this medium in a variety of ways. Firstly, I can't start off without asking you to follow @mrsbellsclass and their teacher (and edtech guru herself) Mary Jo Bell @7MJB. Her senior infants class is very well connected. They often share what they are learning and I particularly like how they interact with other schools. Here's an example of how they are learning a little more about a school in Texas. Also, you have to check out the adorable nuacht recordings they have shared using Voki. Here's a lovely example of Jamie's nuacht. It's such a great way to improve confidence and work on oral language skills. This would also be fantastic in English and particularly useful for children who have English as a second language.

 

Twitter is also a great way for classes, nationally and internationally, to tweet about the same topic. Two examples of this are schools sharing #tablestips or taking Spring pictures using the hashtag #antearrach

          

...and here you can see how Mr O'Callaghan's 6th class @MrOCallaghanWNS shared these lovely posters about the universal topic of internet safety on Safer Internet Day.


Initiatives like #MathsEyes @Maths_Eyes are great to get children thinking outside the box and looking out for practical applications of their learning in everyday contexts.
            

Mr. Moynihan's class @mrmoysclassglns and Ms Sullivan 4th @msmcormack4th have good examples of how they share what's going on day to day. The children in Mr. Moynihan's class often tweet about something they've enjoyed learning or share pictures of their work.

                     

And, of course, in the midst of following these blogs, you're bound to stumble upon teaching ideas that interest you. As I'm very interested in using ICT in education, I loved stumbling across this video of these junior infants @naionainGUF15 using Bee Bots to code and seeing how Miss Ward's class @misswardsclass were doing an assessment using Kahoot!

           

If you know of any other great class / school Twitter accounts, please comment below or tweet @ACrucialWeek and let us know why you like them.