Students, in their various classes, in the Young Global Citizens Program at Tudor, have had Mystery Skype/Hangout sessions with over 46 schools since the end of 2016. This adventure, performed in our library, is an amazing opportunity for students to connect with others around the world, learn geography, and perform as a team.
Here is an awesome Mystery Skype Mannequin Challenge video we did in partnership with another school (click the red word)
We connect with a mystery school and use our maps to try and find out where they are. How do we do that?
We ask Yes/No questions back and forth and use our maps to narrow down the location of the Mystery School.
Recently, we got to have an amazing session that stumped up! Once we finally realized they were not in the same country as us, we were rushing to the big map to brainstorm!
We did finally discover that our mystery school was in Mexico City! Another exciting day for Mystery Skype! (If your class or group would like to play, too, send us a message)
I really enjoyed participating in the Mystery Skype activity in class. The students were excited about learning about Alaska and were very much engaged. It is a great way to connect with other classes around the world. I am anxious to try it this fall with math.
I loved this experience yesterday and can see it’s value in so many ways, teamwork, geography, vocabulary, mapskills, communication, perspective taking, etc. Thanks for this quick and easy entree into global engagement! I am spreading the word to fellow teachers!
I can see this being a powerful activity for teaching both critical thinking and geography skills. The students who participate are lucky indeed.
Mystery Skype is such a fun, engaging, and unique way to help students learn about reading maps and connecting with the world. This is such an easy way to help bring the world to your classroom and capture the attention of all students. I can’t wait to use this with my students.
I love this concept! It was really fun trying this out today. What a great way to work on geography and map skills, questioning strategies and teamwork.
I hope that Google keeps the Hangout application – I wonder which format works best. Skype, Hangout, or Zoom.
This seems like such a great idea! I am excited to use this in my classroom! This will b a great concept – like pen pals also.
I LOVE!! this. What a great way to connect my students to other students around the world, country or continent. I can see using this to learn around environmental needs other students experience such as Alaska dealing with global warming.
I LOVED!!! this. I can see using this is my classroom next year and learning about other students around our country, continent and world! This is a great way to get my students interested in other students outside of of Anchorage/Eagle River bubble.
Love Mystery Skype! The kids seemed super engaged through the whole activity. And what a fun reveal at the end. What a great way to get kids thinking about geography/maps/etc and collaborative problem solving all the while expanding their global citizen mindset.
The problem solving, even at 2nd grade level, is pretty powerful. They are able to do those skills we want them to be able to do. Complete a task, collaboratively, things about impacts of their questions, use clues. These are life skills!
I had fun participating in my first Mystery Skype this morning! It was such an easy way to connect and share with students, all while learning geography. I can’t wait to try this out with my library students next year.
This was a fun activity today! I love that students on opposite sides of the continent can participate in a mannequin challenge at the same time! How fun:)
I love that Mystery Hangout or Skype can be wahtever the two teachers decide, be it Mystery Location or animal, number, or other. I hope you are able to experience one of these with students next year.
I really want to try this! I may have to give you an email for guidance!
The mannequin challenge is so funny! What a great idea! I wonder if 23 5 year olds could stay still (and quiet) for the whole thing! LOL
It took many takes for this to work! You can create a mannequin challenge for a lot of things. If they write messages on posters and you scan across them, that could be powerful also!
I was so blown away by this fun activity that I immediately shared my experience with my family that night. What a great way to connect with other classrooms around the world with relatively low time dedication.
I love the techniques demonstrated to us today, especially the tips about using table groups and having lots of signs to encourage more student engagement. I’ve long had my classroom tables in rows, because it allows for better attention to what I’m presenting, but I’m rethinking that. I may need to change to table groups for better student engagement and sharing, but I’ll need some tips for maintaining control of the off-task talking and behaviors.
That is good for reflection, for sure. Let’s talk more and brainstorm together.
Mystery Skype seems like a fun and exciting way to engage with students around the world! I really enjoyed getting to understand how Mystery Skype works. I look forward to using it in my first grade classroom next year!
We played this today. It was so much fun! Good luck in your future world travels!
What a great way to learn about geography, team work, the power of deduction, and other classrooms around the world!
I loved trying this out in class today! It’s so simple, fun, collaborative, and engaging for students! I can definitely see my students that tend to sit in the back with their head down and hard to reach, being interested and wanting to join in on the activity. I’d like to use this as a classroom reward/incentive.
This concept is so awesome! What a great way to stay connected with the whole world. I would like to try this out in my classroom.