1. Steenberg Primary in Cape Town wants to start blogging
http://gr7steenberg.edublogs.org
Mrs Glenda Samuels and I met to discuss this. She asked me to help her class make blogs. I also went to her school to teach her class about blogs (see slideshow above). This was so.o.o.o exciting. They are also conducting our Senior Citizens Project and are busy interviewing members of their community using the same interview questions that we used. They have been writing comments in our blogs. Best of all – they have invited our 4/5B class to a special tea at their school at the end of the term as part of the project. Thank you Mrs Samuels!
And here is a slideshow about their senior citizen tea to which they invited us.
2. Sue Wyatt from Australia invited us to participate in her 'Bringing us Together' blog:http://studentfriends.edublogs.org
“G’day Mrs Beal and her computer classes,
………………… The teachers are administrators of the blog and they can add students in as authors or editors if they want to write a post. Each fortnight (two weeks) a new class takes control of the blog. We have classes from Canada, USA, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina who regularly write in the blog. Do you and your classes want to be in charge starting Sunday 17th May? You could write a post about your grandparents and ask the students to write comments and posts. The URL for the blog is http://studentfriends.edublogs.org
We took up this challenge – thank you Sue!
3. Mr Mundorf’s Grade 5's at Tommie Barfield Elementary School in Marco Island, Florida USA: http://jmundorf.edublogs.org
Mr Mundorf’s Grade 5 class have interviewed senior citizens and have written very informative comments in our blogs, with each of his students being linked to one of ours. This has been great! Mr Mundorf has since emailed to suggest that we collaborate on another project in the new year in August. Thank you very much Mr Mundorf! We would love that.
4. Mr Tockstein’s Grade 5 class in the USA.http://tville5.edublogs.org/
Mr Tockstein first sent me an email saying, “ Hi Fiona, We have been out of school for two days because of a bad storm, but we started working on the grandparent project today. The class will start posting them next Monday. I only have sixteen students, but I could have some of them post twice so all of your kids would have something to read. Thank you for the chance to connect with your class. My students are really excited about interviewing their grandparents tonight”.
This class has conducted their interviews asking the same questions as we did and have written very interesting comments in our blogs. We have appreciated this so much, Mr Tockstein. Thank you!
Mr Tockstein sent another email to say, “My kids had a good time interviewing their grandparents and we really enjoyed reading and discussing the interviews that your kids did. Thanks for inviting us to share. Our school year ends next week, but if you would like to do a cooperative project with my next year's class I would love to. I believe our summer break is over on August 13. Anyway, thanks again. Scott Tockstein”
We definitely would like to take up this opportunity Mr Tockstein. Thank you!
5. Mr Millward's classes in Canada
http://millwardb.edublogs.org
We received a lovely comment from Mr Millward in our blog.
“Dear grade 4/5, I am an ex-pat who is now living in London, Ontario, Canada. In fact, I was born in Cape Town. I was so happy to find your blog through Edublogs and I will definitely add your class blog to my class’s blog roll. I just started blogging with my grade 7/8 class and they absolutely love it. I am hopeful that we may be able to connect more frequently. Keep up the good work! My class blog can be found at http://millwardb.edublogs.org
Mr Millward has written in many of the learners blogs himself and some of his students have written too.
Mr Millward has written again and suggested some joint learning opportunities.
“Hi Mrs. B. Thanks for writing back. You are really doing a wonderful job with your students. Boy! it is a far cry from my days at school. Nevertheless, we are charged with expanding their horizons and to make them realize that their classroom has essentially become a global classrooom. I have added your class blog as a link on my class blog as I would like to maintain contact with your class. If possible, I would like to explore joint learning opportunities between our two classes. What do you think?”
I notice that Mr Millward enjoys creative writing and so do I…..so this is very exciting for us. Thank you Mr Millward – we will definitely maintain contact.
6. Miss Ale's Grade 6 in Argentina
http://yearsixale.blogspot.com/
Miss Ale has left comments on our blog. She introduced us to Etherpad and we have been writing some collaborative stories in class using Etherpad. Very exciting! She says:
“Hello Fiona, This is Miss Ale from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Thank you for visiting our class blog and leaving us some comments. …… Concerning the collaborative project using Etherpad, it would be fantastic! I have already been thinking about some ideas which I would like to share with you. Do you have any email address where I can contact you? Thank you! We’ll keep in touch. Miss Ale.
This is very exciting indeed and we look forward to working with you on some projects, Miss Ale. Thank you!
7. Mrs Shulman's Gr 2 blog in the USA
http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=226543
Mrs Shulman first wrote in our blog as follows.
“Hello Mrs. Beagley and students! I am a second grade teacher in Illinois, USA, and my students have their own blogs, too. Many of them are visiting your blog today to read about what you are doing at your school, and to share comments with your students. One of our second graders studied the country of South Africa earlier in the year, and we were very excited to find your blog! We would love if your students could visit our blog and leave some comments. We’ll read your blog again soon!”
They have been writing comments in our blogs. Thank you for this Mrs Shulman.
8. Dutch Nek School in USAThis Grade 3 class doesn’t (yet) have a blog but they have been writing in our comment boxes which has been very exciting for us. Thank you!
9. We've had another wonderful comment on our blog from Beiruit. Perhaps this could lead to another collaboration:
Hello Mrs. Fiona,
Thank you for leaving your kind comment on my ACS Beirut blog. You have been doing a wonderful job with your students, connecting with other people in the world. I am especially impressed by your project for senior citizens. I am vice-president for an NGO “Kibarouna”, which means “Senior Citizens” in Arabic. Your work is inspiring, and I appreciate if you can share with me some of the activities that your students enjoyed with seniors so I can start implementing a similar project at the American Community School at Beirut (Elementary and Early Years).
I appreciate your contribution,
Evienoula K El Assad
Arabic Coordinator
N-G5
American Community School at Beirut
Wow....well, all I can say is – blogging really enables one to reach out and touch the world!
