New Project: Travelling Rhinos Project – Save Our Rhinos!

Photo taken by K. Stadler – July 2012

In November last year I launched a new Global Classroom Project at school and it went national and global on 7 December.

Inspired by this photo that I took of five rhinos drinking in unison at a waterhole in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, in July, I had five small rhino soft toys made out of genuine African fabric (one side shweshwe and the other an African print). Each rhino was given a truly African name (through a competition amongst our students). These rhinos are on their way to classrooms far and wide – one to South African Schools and then into Africa, one to Australia and New Zealand, one to Canada and America, one to America and South America and one to Europe and Asia. Through global connections I have made in the Global Classroom Project and via Twitter, I have sourced schools to send the rhinos to and currently have 35 classes signed up for the project which will run until December this year, or longer. (It is similar to a Flat Stanley project, but this time with Travelling Rhinos).

Each class will host the rhinos for a week or two and in that time the teacher is asked to educate the students about the rhino situation (in the world, but especially SA), they are asked to dispel the myth that rhino horn is medicine and then they are asked to get their children to contribute to a class page in a wiki that I have created (I have put together information they can use and provided websites for more information). They can write letters of appeal/make videos/do art work – anything which gives the children a voice in the fight against rhino poaching. They are then asked to send the rhino on to another class in their country. Of course they must also document the visit with photos and we will track each rhino’s journey on a Google map. The rhinos will travel for the whole year (or more).

The motivation behind my project is to educate and to use the children’s voices to highlight the gravity of the problem to other countries. After all, it is their children and grandchildren etc. that we want to save the rhinos for, and we rely heavily on tourism in South Africa, so I believe we can make a difference in this way.

Ultimately, once we have many classes participating and contributing, I would like to bring the project to the attention of the powers that be in government. I’m not sure how or who yet, but I have time to work that out!

Currently we have three rhinos in classrooms around the world: Siyanda is in Surrey, Canada; Zindzi is in Ballycurrin, Ireland and Lilitha is in Fish Hoek, Cape Town. Makulu is on his way to New York, but he is running very late and we are concerned about his safe arrival and lastly, Lesedi is on her way to Australia and should arrive within the next week.

Take a look at this lovely video put together by Mrs Thiessen from Green Timbers Elementary in Surrey, BC, Canada (Click on the image):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To find out more about this project visit the wiki: 
http://saveourrhinos.wikispaces.com

Visit our Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/TheTravellingRhinosProject

Follow us on Twitter: @travellingrhino

This is a cross-post from

http://karenstadler.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/travelling-rhinos-project-save-our-rhinos/

New Project Announcement: The Travelling Rhinos Project

The students at Elkanah House in Cape Town, South Africa are very concerned about the scourge of rhino poaching that is taking place in South Africa at the moment. South Africa’s rhinos are under attack and they would like your help in raising world-wide awareness of the problem!

To do so, Karen Stadler (@ICT_Integrator) has launched the Travelling Rhinos Project – a project whereby five uniquely African stuffed rhinos will travel from classroom classroom in schools  in different parts of the world to bring awareness to the problem. It will run much like a Flat Stanley project, just with rhinos.

The project is suitable for all ages from K – 12 and will run from December 2012 to December 2013.

The project also has its own Facebook page (please go and ‘Like’ us) and a Twitter profile. Follow our project: @travellingrhino

To find our more about the project visit the Global Classroom 2012-13 wiki or go directly to the project wiki: saveourrhinos.wikispaces.com

The Global Classroom Memento Scrapbook

 

Elkanah House had a special visitor this week – the Global Classroom Memento Scrapbook. This scrapbook book is on a journey around the world, visiting classes and schools. Each school that it visits on its journey is asked to contribute to the scrapbook in some way and both Mrs Oosthuizen and Mrs Stadler created pages showing global connections made over the past year. The scrapbook, which is the brainchild of Michael Graffin, a teacher (and co-founder of the Global Classroom Project) from Perth in Australia, has visited Bucharest in Romania, Blackpool in England, Elkanah House in Cape Town. It is now on its way back to Perth where it will be showcased at the Australian Computers in Education Conference (ACEC2012) in October. After that it will continue on its journey around the world!

See the original blog post here: 
http://t.co/wC3qsc7

Skype Has Endless Possibilities

Skype is just amazing! Now for those of you who have travelled extensively or lived abroad, Skype might be nothing new. I am, however referring to it in an educational context. It is truly amazing. If you are keen on flattening your classroom walls and making your students true global citizens, then Skype is for you. Let me elaborate…

Today one of our Grade 6 classes had a Skype session with a Grade 6 class from Vonsild Skole in Kolding, Denmark. As an extension of their Grade 3 Stories project, they got to read their stories aloud to their Danish peers who listened attentively and applauded each story after it was read. Albeit that we had poor video quality, the sound was good enough to get the message across and the whole experience was great fun. There was a short question/answer session at the end and this is where the learning happened, where the interest became apparent and where the realisation that they were talking to children elsewhere on the globe sank in. This is really powerful and can lead to great collaboration across the miles. We look forward to meeting up with this class again later in the year, after their long summer holiday, when they have promised to share a project with us.

Read the Vonsild Skole blog post here: 
http://vonsildskole.blogspot.com/2012/06/6b-listening-to-elkanah-stories.html

In  the past two weeks I have also spoken via Skype to a dear Twitter friend Vijay Krishnan aka @bucharesttutor, all the way in Romania, (In fact, my own children got to “meet” him too), as well as a surprise Skype call from a contact from the Global Classroom project, Govinda Prasad Panthy who is in Nepal of all places!  This man has a story to tell – he started a school in his village and his only form of internet contact is via his mobile SIM card, and he says that bandwidth is extremely expensive in Nepal. I have much respect for him as he dreams of starting an IT Centre in his village.  Powerful stuff.

Karen Stadler (@ICT_Integrator)

Cross-posted from
http://karenstadler.wordpress.com

New Project Announcement: Crazy Crazes (Grades 4 – 7) June 2012 – June 2013

Karen Stadler from Cape Town, South Africa is keen to get her Grade 4s connected with the global community.  Each year the Grade 4s at her school do a Crazy Crazes project where they look at the current crazes in their school, and amongst their peers in South Africa. They also interview their parents and grandparents to find out what was fashionable and the craze of the day when they were children. This project only happens later in their school year (September), but they would like to open it up to the world right now!

They’d like to invite children from classes (Grades 4 – 7; ages 9 – 12) around the world to give them an idea of what is popular and fashionable in their part of the world. They are asking the following questions:

• What games are you playing with your friends at school/home?
• Are you collecting cards/stickers/toys?
• Is there a particular pastime that is popular at the moment?
• What about favourite TV programmes or characters?
• Are there any popular books that you are reading?
• Is there any particular style of clothing or brand that is very popular?
• Any other exciting crazes where you are?

They would love you to share your experiences with them!

Although the American and European schools are coming to the end of their school year, the project will run until June 2013, so there will be time for them to take part in the new school year.

In the meantime, if there are any Southern Hemisphere schools (Australia, New Zealand, South America etc.) out there who would like to participate, feel free to join in!

Please email Mrs Stadler or tweet her @ICT_Integrator if you might be interested in participating in this global learning project, or if you have anything you’d like to share. Alternatively, go to the Global Classroom Wiki for more details about the project.

New Project Announcement: Learning About the Holocaust through Children’s Literature (Grade 5) 2 – 6 January 2012

Miss Cherry, a teacher from Virginia, USA, will be teaching her fifth-grade (ages 10-11) class about the Holocaust using children’s literature, including the book, Number the Stars, in the first week of January 2012. She would love her students to connect with another class or group of classes in another state or country (or countries) and hopes to have exchanges via Edmodo, Voice Thread, Skype, or maybe Twitter during the week (Jan. 2-6) , using Number the Stars and the events of the Holocaust (elementary-friendly) as discussion starters.  Ultimately, Miss Cherry’s purpose is to build a context for her students of the roots of the Holocaust in prejudice, to begin paving the way for true global understanding and respect; so that as members of the future generation, they can prevent such prejudice from ever taking hold again!

Please email Miss Cherry at Katherine.cherry@acps.k12.va.us or tweet her @MsKCherry if you might be interested in participating in this global learning project, or if you have similar ideas or tips to share.

Project Announcement: Seasons Around the World (K-3 Project)

Yet another new project! Seasons Around the World VoiceThread Project

Mrs Rosenquist and her 2^nd graders are creating a VoiceThread called Seasons Around the World and they are inviting other K – 3 classes to join them. Students will work collaboratively in ONE Voicethread where they will share seasonal observations and ask questions that will enable them to grasp goals of the project. Observations and data will be collected at 3 times during the year (November, February, and April). These times are flexible. Work them into your schedule as you see fit. They have been set up for the Northern Hemisphere Fall, Winter, and Spring. It is hoped that Southern Hemisphere classes will participate so the students can see how the seasons are opposite!

Project Coordinator: Debra Rosenquist, USA

Duration: September 2011 – June 2012

Grade Level / Age Group: Pre-K to Grade 3 (5-9 years old).

See the project wiki for more details!

Contact: DM @DebraRosenquist on Twitter, mail globalclassroomorganisers@gmail.com or leave a comment below this post!

Project Announcement: Kids Speak (K-3 Project)

Another new Global Classroom Project – this time “Authentic Voices of Children World Wide- Kids Speak ~2011-2012”!

Mrs Frazier and her class are once again launching their Kids Speak VoiceThread project. Students will work collaboratively in ONE shared VoiceThread to ask questions and share life experiences that enable the student to grasp the project goals. Students and teachers are encouraged to post questions, videos, documents, and/or photos to the shared VoiceThread. All work will be authentic and child created.

Project Coordinator: Deb Frazier, USA

Duration: September 2011 – June 2012

Grade Level / Age Group: Pre-K to Grade 3 (5-9 years old).

Contact: DM @frazierde on Twitter, email globalclassroomorganisers@gmail.com or leave a comment below this post!

Click on the image below to see last year’s project:

Project Announcement: VoiceThread Hero Project (Grades 2 – 12 Project)

Today we are announcing the commencement of a new Global Classroom Project – The VoiceThread Hero Project!

The 6th graders from Joliet, Illinois, USA, have researched qualities of a hero and chose a hero that fits their descriptions. They are making use of Voicethread and are looking for classes who would like to participate in their project. Grades 2 – 12 welcome (ages 7 to 18).

Project Coordinator: Theresa Allen, USA

Duration: November 2011 – June 2012

Contact: Tweet @tdallen5, email  tallen@csrn.org  or leave a comment below this post!

Click on this image to access the Voicethread:

The Global Hello Project (K-12)

Mrs Smith (@hthehippo) and her 3rd Grade class from Greenville Wisconsin, USA, also enjoy participating in global collaboration projects. Here is Mrs Smith’s blog post about their latest project:

The Global Hello Project actually began in an unconventional way in the Spring of 2011. During snack in our classroom we often watch creative or educational videos. We discovered the band OK GO and their giant Rube Goldberg machine which ran to their song This Too Shall Pass. We were hooked on OK GO!

After checking out their other videos we decided we MUST come up with our own video that would be creative, but academic as well. We worked with another 4th grade classroom to create our own video. Mr. Harris and I had our students research how to say “hello” in different languages. Then, we asked them to write screenplays about specific parts of their day to act out in a video.

The video is here on School Tube (for some reason I cannot embed School Tube vids on WordPress!): Hello From Greenville Elementary!

Once the video was created, we thought it’d be awesome to share it.

The Global Hello Project was born. We began promoting it on Skype Education (http://education.skype.com/projects/8) and have had great successes with connecting with students in other places in a simple way. Some schools have simply posted their web addresses and blog sites. Other schools have put up Glogs of their classroom, videos and photos.

In my classroom we’ll be tracking the schools on our giant Global Connections map with a specific color pin. We’ve kept it simple so that classrooms do not have to deal with connecting with different time zones, but that doesn’t mean you can’t contact each other to connect further!

You can join this project in a couple of different ways:

Email me: jen.hollis.smith@gmail.com

Join the wiki: The Global Hello Project

When you Email or join the wiki please include the name and location of your school in your message. For example, we are Greenville Elementary School, Greenville, WI USA. I will make a page for you and your school. Then add your details (photos, sites, glogs, prezi’s etc.) when you are ready. Students at any grade level/age are welcome.

We would love to welcome you to this project!

Fun Times with Flat Stanleys from New Zealand

Tina Schmidt (@MrsSchmidtB4) and her 3rd graders in Pennsylvania, United States LOVE making Global Connections. Here is an excerpt from Mrs Schmidt’s blog:

Last Spring my students and I participated in the Flat Classroom “A Week in the Life” Project.  It was an amazing experience for us to work with students and teachers from 4 different countries.  After that, I made it my goal to continue flattening my classroom walls and providing my students the opportunity to reach out and connect with students around the world.  

This year I began doing that with our Flat Stanley project.   We joined the Global Read Aloud to share our predictions, book chats, stories we wrote, etc.  We then wanted to make our own paper Stanley’s to mail out.  Instead of just sending Stanley’s within the USA, I went on a mission to find classrooms outside of our country to do exchanges with us.  

With the help of the Global Classroom Project, I was able to locate classrooms in Canada, New Zealand, and Romania to get us started.  What was so incredible was how quickly a few of those teachers jumped on board to create wikis for us to share photos, videos, maps, and information about our countries.  In Edmodo, we are able to have discussions with some of them too.  

Far away places like Calgary, Auckland, and Bucharest became real for us as we saw their photos, heard their voices and chatted with them.  What was eye opening to the children was not only our differences but our many similarities too.  We love watching the videos to see their classrooms and hear the differences in their voices!  We had to make 2 sets of  paper Flat Stanley’s because we were so excited to get started and didn’t want to wait.

We are not just exchanging paper dolls, we are exchanging culture and customs. Technology has allowed us to become friends with people on the other side of the world.  I get just as excited as my students do when we find some new information on one of the wikis.  I had to wait until I was in my 40′s to make these connections.  I wonder if my students realize how lucky they are to be having these experiences now.

Hopefully, by exposing the children to different cultures this early in their lives, it will lead to a life of acceptance and respect for other people and their countries.  After all, it is our differences that make us unique and special.  If the world were full of the same person, it would be a very dull place.

Please check out the links below to visit our wikis and see the learning and sharing that is taking place.

New Zealand Wiki

Romania Wiki

Click on the image below to view our video:

Click on the image below to see our PhotoPeach album: