Mystery Skype Call With Mr. Avery!

Mrs. Tolisano invited Mrs. Yollis' class to be part of a 

Mystery Skype call with a group of teachers! They had such a good time...they did another one!

This time, they had to cover the screen so the caller was not identified by name.

RULES:  Two groups come together via Skype, but neither know the other's location. Closed questions, or questions that can only be answered with a YES or a NO answer, were permitted. If a question got a YES answer, a follow-up question was awarded. 

Every third grader contributed and tried to solve the Mystery. Before the call, the class decided who would be in each role. 

They used the same job titles they created for the last Mystery Call:  Inquirers, Clue Keepers, Question Keepers, Google Mappers, Logical Reasoners, TodaysMeet, Runners, Big Blue (giant atlas), and photographer. 

However, this time they added a new job. One person sat with Mrs. Yollis at Google Central. Mrs. Yollis supervised the Google searches and helped with spelling.

Inquirers, Question Keepers, and Clue Keepers worked close together.

"Are you east of the Mississippi River?"  

Yes!

 Google Mappers worked diligently to figure out the mystery location.

TodaysMeet typers had a difficult task. The speakers were out in Mrs. Yollis' room, so it was difficult to record the events. Click here to read the transcript.

Although Mrs. Yollis' class did not discover the identity of the caller first, it was still a fun game to play!

The mystery caller was Mr. Avery and his class in Massachusetts!

Photos by Tucker  (Photo of him to be added tomorrow.)

What questions would you like to know about Massachusetts? 

How was this Mystery Call different than the last?

How was it the same?

What job would you like to be next time and why?

Mystery Skype Call With Langwitches!

Mrs. Tolisano invited Mrs. Yollis' class to be part of a 

Mystery Skype call with a group of teachers!

 ♪  ♬  ♫  We opened our call by singing the Hello Song!  ♪  ♬  ♫

Mrs. Tolsano came on and explained the rules:  Two groups come together via Skype, but neither know the other's location. Closed questions, or questions that can only be answered with a YES or a NO answer, were permitted. If a question got a YES answer, a follow-up question was awarded. 

Every third grader contributed and tried to solve the Mystery. Before the call, the class created some useful jobs and gathered resources that would help them be good geography detectives.

Because Mrs. Yollis' third graders were younger than the teachers, the students got to ask first.

We decided that three students should be our Inquirers. They asked the yes or no questions.

 Two Question Keepers sat next to the Inquirers and typed the questions and answers in Word. 

It was helpful to review the yes and no answers quickly. 

Click to Enlarge

Others were Google Mappers. They used Google Maps and traditional atlases to zero in on the clues.

A few students used our giant atlas we call "Big Blue" to find the mystery location.

 

 

Another station was filled with Logical Reasoners. They listened to the clues and tried to eliminate states that did not match the clues. 

 Behind the Inquirers were the Clue Keepers. They collected relevant information from everyone.

Jaden and Alexa took notes on TodaysMeet. Here is the transcript!

 Nick was the Runner. If students had problems, Nick would try and solve them. In addition, he would run facts to the Inquirers that the Logical Reasoners wanted to contribute.

 It was a very close game filled with fantastic questions, but we were running low on time! The adults gave the third graders a final clue that they thought would really help. They said, "Pony Express." Sadly, the Pony Express is taught in fourth grade!

So, the teachers quickly offered a geographic clue and...

Mrs. Yollis' class asked if the Mystery Callers lived in St. Joseph, Missouri...

Yes!

The students then offered a big clue: Our city has the largest population in California!

Yes!

Kristen was our phabulous photographer!

What did you like about the game?

What were some of the best clues given or received? What would you do next time with the words Pony Express?

What job would you like to be next time? Why?