Actor and comedian Gerry Dee visits virtual classrooms across Canada

When Christine Stephen created a Twitter account last week, she had one person in mind — actor and comedian Gerry Dee.

Dee tweeted on Jan. 5 asking educators across Canada to send him a link to their virtual classrooms so he could pop in and surprise the kids. Stephen's first ever tweet was directed at Dee, asking him to meet her 24 kindergarten students at Janet Lee Elementary School in Stoney Creek.

The next morning, she saw a notification.

"When I checked the notification and it said 'Gerry Dee is following you,' I was so surprised. Then I was a little bit dumbfounded, thinking it must not be real," Stephen said.

"I showed my son, who is 17, who then went crazy."

She was full of excitement, but had no idea if the celebrity would turn up.

If he did, it would be a highlight after a long and hard two years of teaching that have been full of twists and turns.

Stephen was about to start another day of class from her makeshift remote learning station in her dining room when she noticed a new name pop up into her class.

"My teaching partners and I ... had seen his name down the side and were making faces at each other in the camera like we just couldn't belive his name was there and he was going to be joining us," Stephen said.

Moments later, Dee was on screen. Even Stephen's dog was excited to meet him, she said, as it barked at the screen.

Dee tweeted some of the class visit for others to see.

"Does anyone know who I am? Not one kid?" he said.

"Am I an astronaut? Am I an actor? Or am I doctor?"

The class got the first question of the day right.