Global Postcard Exchange #4: Some of our postcards in Google Draw

I have joined this year’s Global Postcard Exchange organised by Melissa Schur where we have 50 schools participating from a variety of countries (https://goo.gl/oDfHXC). The Grade 2s, 3s and 4s have made their postcards using Microsoft Publisher. The Grade 5s have made their postcards using Google Draw.

Here are some examples from Google Draw







These are still unfinished in that they require WordArt on the image plus attributions nd a change of stamp. The classes have really enjoyed the idea of participating in a Global Postcard exchange.

Global Postcard Exchange #3: Use Google Draw to make a postcard

I have joined this year’s Global Postcard Exchange organised by Melissa Schur where we have 50 schools participating from a variety of countries (https://goo.gl/oDfHXC) The schools in Australia and South Africa begin their school year in January and end in December which means that they will be finishing up with their students ahead of those in the U.S. WE have asked if we can send our postcards digitally instead of by ‘snail mail’, and we started creating them in  ICT lessons this week. The Grades 2-3 used Microsoft Publisher, and Grades 4-7s used Google Draw. I have already written about how I conducted the lesson with the Grade 2s and 3s so will concentrate on the classes that used Google Draw in this lesson. I have been wanting my classes to explore using Google Draw so this was the perfect opportunity.  Here is the presentation that I used.

 

Make a postcard using Google Draw (by Fiona Beal) from Fiona Beal

The lesson went really well, with the students as excited as I am. We have already had a few folk from other countries write to ask if we can exchange postcards.

What to put on the postcards
An email from Melissa suggested that it would be nice to have some facts about where we live (weather, history, famous people, government, sports, etc...), information about the geography, a link to our school webpage or blog, things the students enjoy doing at school and in their free time, etc...  In the past, it seems, participants have opted to put their postcard in an envelope when they mail it to prevent it from getting ripped along the way. This is definitely going to be a fun part of pur student's learning process.

I love Google #23

Every week I like to keep a record of what folk, especially educators, re saying about Google in the blogosphere. Here are 20 from this week.

Great Google posts this week #23

View more lists from Fiona Beal

Global Postcard Exchange #2: Make a postcard template using Microsoft Publisher – Grade 2&3

We have started with the global project called the 'Global Postcard Exchange' organised by Melissa Schur (https://sites.google.com/a/sjvknights.org/4postcardex/) . I signed up (right at the last minute, mind you!) and have told my students about it. They are very excited that we are participating. We are planning to send digital postcards.

With the Grade 2-5s I thought we should use Microsoft Publisher and then save each postcard as a PDF. (We could just as easily used Microsoft Word!)  With the Grade 2s and 3s I created the template for them. Hopefully we could complete the lesson in one 45 minute period.  The idea is to have the back and the front of the postcard on the same A4 page:

Here are the steps:
1. We had a discussion on the mat about postcards, global projects, communicating with others etc. The Grade 2 participated with another Grade 2 class in the USA on a Wordl Read Aloud project, which they loved participating in. Consequently they felt excited about this one as well. We looked at postcards. We discussed the kind of things other children in other countries would want to know about us and where we live. We talked about which images we could choose for our postcards.

2. We made a start on the template which consists of two equal blocks, one for the writing.  The class selected their images first using Google images. (I guess I need to teach them about citing references before we send off our postcards. Perhaps we should use http://www.photosforclass.com/ for this as it builds in the attribution).

3. After finding their images we got on with the writing block following the ideas of the template but changing whatever we wanted to change.

4. We’ll see what the students come up with...

Global Postcard Exchange #1: A great global project to get involved in

 

I saw this message to me on Twitter about the Global Postcard Exchange facilitated by Melissa Schur earlier in July. This seemed like a great way to connect students so I investigated further on her Google Site: https://sites.google.com/a/sjvknights.org/4postcardex/. I will enquire if we can do digital postcards – the South African postal service is definitely not reliable! Also I see we should not start sending before November 15th but I think I would like to start before that. I think I would like to involve Grades 2-7 in this project.

A look around the Global Postcard Exchange site answered some of my questions:

Who is welcome?
Any classroom in the world that would like to communicate with other schools and learn more about the world in the process. This is open to any grade level. It would be nice to get schools in a variety of states and locations too.

How can you join?
Visit the Postcard Exchange form below and add your information.

What do you have to do?
Create a postcard for each school in the spreadsheet (see below) that gives facts about your location. You might share information about your school or city. You might tell about the geography of the land where you live. List some of the famous landmarks near you. Tell us your school or class website or blog page.

Is there a deadline?
Let's not start sending postcards until after November 15th so we can see how many people want to participate. Postcards should be in the mail by no later than February 28th, so all postcards will be received well before the end of the school year. 

What can we do before we send the postcards?

• Have students draw the images that you use on the postcards. They could do this by hand or on the computer.
• Have students brainstorm information to include on the postcard. They may need to do some research to find information.
• Practice writing friendly letters, and write a friendly letter on the back of the postcard using the information you brainstormed.
• Practice writing addresses, and write the addresses of the schools on the back of the postcards.

What can we do with the postcards we receive?

• You could create a Google map, give students a world map of their own, or use a bulletin board to pin the locations of the postcards you receive.
• You could take a virtual field trip to the school/class websites.
• You could visit the school/class/student blogs, read their posts, and leave them some comments.
• You could compare information on the postcards in a Venn diagram.
• You could create a graph with information from the postcards.

I love Google #22

Every week I like to keep a record of what folk, especially educators, re saying about Google in the blogosphere. Here is my List.ly list from this week.

Great Google posts this week #22

View more lists from Fiona Beal

GVC#19: We receive our certificates and our plaque as part of the winning team of three schools in the Global Virtual Classroom Web Design Contest

Well, the contest has now come to an end. It was an amazing experience, especially collaborating with the two excellent schools from Taiwan and the USA, and we were thrilled by the final Google site that our classes produced. This can be seen at:
https://sites.google.com/a/gsbi.org/gvc1402/ We have received our certificates and awards via the post and also via email. I was thrilled to have a website badge to put on this blog:



We are very proud of this final GOLD award:


The class loved getting their certificates. The school received a lovely plaque to display and we received a small monetary award which will go into purchasing a roaming data projector.

Thank you to the Global Virtual Classroom Contest. Our biggest thanks go to the rest of our incredible team - from Taiwan and the USA.

We are considering getting involved in the contest again this year.