Mystery Skype with Indiana

Today we had the privilege of Skyping with a third grade from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Carmel, Indiana.  Their computer teacher, Mrs. Barks, and I connected on the Catholic Schools Week Mystery Skype site.  Instead of doing the 20 questions type of Skype, we decided to use a set of 10 questions that I formulated that give more facts about the state.  Some of them included weather, crops, location in the USA, famous people and places in the state, nicknames, state symbols, etc.  The children worked in pairs to ask and answer the questions during the Skype so that every student had a chance to talk to the other class.  The OLMC students only had 10 minutes before the Skype to prepare their answers.  We were very impressed with how well they did!    Before we started the sharing, we all stood up to say a prayer together.  How wonderful it was to pray together across the states!

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Here are some of the things we learned:

  1. Their town has 79,000 people compared to only 2,500 in Yardley.  But our state has twice as many people as their state.
  2. Both of us have singers that were born in our state.  Taylor Swift in PA and Michael Jackson in IN.  We also both grown corn and produce milk.
  3. Their state nickname is the Crossroads of America and the Hoosier State.
  4. The Indy 500 takes place in their state.
  5. They have also experienced very cold weather and snow this winter.  They sometimes experience tornadoes.
  6. They have over 600 students in their school compared to only 300 in ours.

At the end of the call, we asked some questions about books that we like to read and we also talked about our uniforms and our weather experiences.  We had a fun time and hope we can connect with them again!

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We were planning to share some of the things that we do during Catholic Schools Week but we ran out of time.  Maybe the OLMC students could leave us a comment telling us?  We’d love to hear from other Catholic Schools too!

At our school we had an Olympic theme for Catholic Schools Week.  Each classroom created an anthem and a flag and we shared them at an Opening Ceremony and Prayer Service.  All week long the students earned points for their room by doing good deeds, winning competitions, keeping their lunch table neat, etc.  At the end of the week we will add up the points and award medals to the winning homerooms.  We made cards and gift baskets for our bus drivers, fire fighters, police and the armed forces.  We also created Birthday Boxes.  We get large cake boxes from a local bakery and fill them with all the things someone might need to celebrate a birthday party: cake mix, candles, frosting, sprinkles, hats, plates, cups, napkins, party favors, a book, a toy, etc.  The boxes are decorated by the children and donated to a local food pantry to be given out to those who might not have the means to buy party supplies for their child.   Our week ends with an annual Talent Show which is always a fun night.

Birthday Boxes

Birthday Boxes

Please leave us a comment to share how your school celebrates Catholic Schools Week!