The Internet is a valuable teaching and learning tool. One of the most rewarding things in educational technology is to have the experience of working collaboratively with other children in schools throughout the world. This fall we will be hosting an Apple Project. This is my first attempt at a global project and it is off to a good start. I already have a wait list for classes that wish to participate. I will be hosting a winter project in January. Although this will not be officially announced until November, feel free to preview the site Winter Wonderland. Our spring project,Stellaluna's Friends will be on bats.
In addition to our projects, we will be participating in projects hosted by other schools that I will write about on this page.

I am excited to say that we will be a host family for Operation Webfoot. As described in the link below, Operation Webfoot originated as an idea to help stimulate young minds in the area of geography, history and science. Stuffed animals traveled around the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Guam and Israel, to various host families. These families took the animals on outings in their local areas, wrote in journals about the animal's experiences, and sent pictures and postcards and/or e-mail from their local area to Cucamonga Middle School in Rancho Cucamonga, California. The host families then mailed the animal to another host family. U. S. History teacher, Paul Myers , is the animals' sponsor. If you click on the badge you will be able to read all about it and see some pictures too!

This will be the third time that my students will participate in Deborah Falk's story writing project. My class will be writing a paragraph as part of a collaborative story. We will be told in advance where the other classes are from so that we can also learn some geography. You can read about this project at Story Writing Project .

Travel Buddy

Last year my students exchanged a travel buddy with a class from Wisconsin. It was a wonderful experience. We traded stuffed animals and each student in the class had a chance to take the buddy home and write about the experience in journal. My students put photographs, postcards, wrote stories, and drew pictures all about their stuffed elephant buddy Peanuts. One parent made the most adorable outfit for Peanuts. After every student had a chance to take Peanuts home he went back to Wisconsin with his journal and presents. Sometime this fall we will be exchanging a travel buddy with Mrs. Quirk's Class. These second grade students are from Baldwinsville, New York. You will be able to read about this exchange in my journal.

This is the second year that my students will be partipating in the Thanksgiving Dectives project. The teachers and students at Kyrene de la Paloma Elementary School in Chandler, Arizona are hosting it. Participating classes will be gathering data on traditional Thanksgiving Day foods, and sharing their results. They will be involved in letter writing, math activities, social studies, research, and technology. You can read more about this project at Thanksgiving Detectives.

Tammy Payton is the coordinator of this wonderful project. My students will discover the global outreach the Internet offers our schools by exchanging e-mail greetings with children around the world. Children will see on a map where the greetings are coming from and will be learning geographical skills. They will also develop writing and keyboard skills by writing thank you letters to the schools that send us greetings. There will be a map outside my classroom for all the students in school to see.

Splash the Traveling Dolphin

Splash will be visiting our class on March 9, 1998. This adorable stuffed dolphin's home is with third graders in Ohio. You can read his Itinerary and follow the communications with host classes at this site.

The Great Chocolate Experience II

My students participated in this wonderful collaborative project. Click on the above link and read all about it! The Great Chocolate Experience II motivated me to create an entire unit on chocolate. We read books about chocolate, wrote poems, drew pictures, did chocolate math lessons, saw the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and ate lots and lots of chocolate! Some of my ideas came from Chocolate, A Thematic Unit by Teacher Created Materials, Inc.

George Washington Online Treasure Hunt

A nice way to learn web navigational skills, reading, and social studies is to participate in online treasure hunts. I created this hunt for my students during our George Washington unit. This activity is also good for ESL students.

The Great American Egg Hunt

This online scavenger is a real winner! Students search schools that host hidden eggs, and then visit educational sites to find answers. Our class is proud to host a colorful egg. This hunt runs from March 2 until April 15, 1998. Last year my students also participated in this wonderful activity that is led by Hazel Jobe. The photo below shows some of my students and former students reading clues and searching for eggs.

The Quick Picker Upper?

My students enjoyed participating in this wonderful project. We did a science experiment to determine which paper towel is the quickest picker upper and the most absorbent. The students measured, observed, recorded, and e-mailed their results to Barbara Evans, project coordinator. I'm not going to tell you our results. You can find the directions at the site and try it out yourself!