After discussing different character traits at the beginning of the year, I talk to my students about classroom ambassadors. We start with the word “ambassador,” which is (according to google dictionary): 

We talked about how ambassadors are very important and highly respected because they are representatives for their countries or organizations. We also discussed why we need classroom ambassadors. They are the first members of our classroom to greet guests who come to visit throughout the year. After discussing the duties of our class ambassadors, I give all students the opportunity to apply for the position. It is not required and it is something to be completed outside of class because I only want students who are really interested and will use their own time to complete the application.

You can click on the picture to get the application for free from my tpt store!

I LOVE giving my students this opportunity and I always make a big deal out of it when I announce the students who will be class ambassadors for the year. They are always so excited and proud of themselves! And now I will have these snazzy buttons for them to wear when they are doing their job! I don’t usually say ahead of time how many ambassadors we will have… it depends on the number of applications and the students who I believe I can trust to be responsible. This year I have 4. I have the ambassadors go 2 at a time, so I paired them up with a partner and we just alternate the students each time we have a guest. I also schedule a time during recess or lunch to walk them through what I expect of them, from meeting our guests to giving the tour, and they get to practice several times before we have a “real” guest!

On another note, we have had extra excitement in our class the last couple days because we had a VIDEO CHAT with other 4th graders all the way across the county in Florida!!!

We “met up” with my sweet friend (and AMAZING teacher!) Tara from 4th Grade Frolics and her wonderful class!

After I posted about my students writing pourquoi tales, Tara had the fabulous idea of having a video chat so that my students could read their pourquoi tales to her students, who were just going to be starting to write their own! A few days later (and with the help of her wonderful daughter!) we had our video chat up and running!!! It was such a great experience and my kiddos were SO excited to be able to share their stories with other 4th graders in another state! Some of them had never had a video chat before, so they were beyond amazed that we were looking at and talking to kids were were 3 hours ahead of us! Once they got over their nerves they were all smiles!! 

Now I am excited to hear Tara’s students’ pourquoi tales when they are done writing them!!

I’m sure they will be fabulous!