Friday, June 10, 2016

A Student's Take on Mystery Skype



  Just so you know, this is not Joe Dombrowski writing. This is 4th grader Connor Pullen. Today, our class played a game called Mystery Skype. In Mystery Skype, we skype a class without knowing where they’re from. We ask them yes or no questions while they ask us questions to find out where each other are. The first one to find out where the other class is wins. We live in Royal Oak, Michigan, but the other class does not know that! After reading this, make sure to check out twitter and instagram for more Mystery Skype action! We also recorded the entire thing on Periscope which you can watch by following @mrdtimes3!



    First off, and we skyped 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Bowers. Griffin, our welcome committee leader, played Rock Paper Scissors with Mrs. Bowers’  welcome committee student to find out who would do their presentation first. They played it again to see who would ask their question first. Mrs. Bowers’ student won. The first question asked was “Are you east of the Mississippi river.” As the game went on, we found out that the other class lived in the Southeast region of the U.S. Our wall mapper, Matt, crossed off everywhere but the Southeast region. At this moment, we were doing well, but then they asked if we bordered the great lakes, so they were getting very close.



We took a short break. Unfortunately, the other class guessed that we border Indiana, so they were getting even closer to guessing where we are. Luckily, the wall mapper had crossed off many states. The questioners took a short time to figure out what question to ask. But after a question that we had to contemplate in order to come up with, they were still on a roll. They guessed that we touch Ohio, so they were still very close. Luckily, our next guess was “Do you live in Virginia”, which was correct. But they also guessed we live in Michigan’s lower peninsula, so it was going to be a close game.


After that, the pace turned up a notch. It was only a matter of time before they guessed Royal Oak, Michigan. We knew they lived in, or near, their capital. We took a guess. Richmond, Virginia. We got it right! It took ten questions, twenty one minutes, and thirty nine seconds to guess Richmond.



We had a great time with Mystery Skype. The questioners were working very hard to get the best questions they could. The photographer was taking lots of pictures. Everyone was working very hard. If you’re a teacher, I recommend this game! Can’t find a teacher to pair up with? No problem! We need more people for Mystery Skype also, so if you’re a teacher, please respond! #MysterySkype  

-Connor Pullen 4th Grade Student Blogger

8 comments:

  1. Connor, I love this post and your writing. It sounds like the Mystery Skype was such a blast. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!! I loved watching the Periscope too!

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  2. I loved reading your post, Connor! This is such a neat idea and one that I may have to incorporate next year in my 4th grade class. I love when kids have fun and learn at the same time!

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  3. It sounds like it was a blast! I will have to do this with my fourth graders! Thanks for the student perspective! :) Great job on your post, Connor!

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  4. What a fun way to learn about other places in the country and have fun. Sounds like your class had to work together to decide on questions and strategies. Well done. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Sounds like you had a blast and made mew friends in the process. I loved the way you explained how the Mystery Skype went. I felt like I was right there with your class. Congratulations from Texas!

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  6. Thanks for sharing, Connor! I'm sure that my 5th and 6th graders would LOVE to do Mystery Skype. I appreciate you sharing your experience-it's always fun to hear what activities students enjoy from their perspective! :)

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  7. Hi, Connor. I teach 4th graders in New Orleans, Louisiana and they love doing Mystery Location calls. We call them that instead of Mystery Skype because we tend to use Google Hangout to connect with the other class. I loved "hearing" the excitement in your writing as each class got closer to the other's location. I know my students' geography skills and their listening and speaking skills improve every time we play the game. I hope you get to do many more as you go through school. If your new teacher doesn't know about this, I'm sure you could help him/her get started. Keeping on playing #mysteryskype and blogging.

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  8. Mr. D, do you still do Mystery Skype? I'd love to connect with my 5th grade rugrats!
    Keep being awesome.
    Emily

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