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.

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.

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.

The Colour Poem Global Twitter Project #5 (Week 6) INDIGO poems with Grade 3

We have joined the Colour poem Global project started by Linda Yollis  http://goo.gl/YtbFkg. The Grade 3s did Indigo Poems today. We decided to find three indigo things,  write their names and make a statement about indigo.

I think the learners are getting to know the colours of the rainbow now!

The Colour Poem Global Twitter Project #5 (Week 5): BLUE poems with Grade 2

We have joined the Colour poem Global project started by Linda Yollis http://goo.gl/YtbFkg.   The Grade 2s did BLUE Poems today. The Grade 2s were excited about doing blue poems. They are enjoying this global project.

Skills learned

We used PowerPoint and I we learned the following skills:

• Using commas between words and leave a space after a comma
• Centring the words to make it look like a poem
• Using Google Images to find images
• Formatting the background and selecting a matching colour

Creating the poem
We had a little revision lesson on nouns (naming words), verbs (doing words) and adjectives (describing words) first on the mat. I could see their teacher had been through this with them. First we thought of blue things that we love (nouns). Then we tried to describe them using adjectives. We talked about that those things they had chosen can do (verbs). We ended with a noun.  These came out in a diamond shape.  Here is the format:

Noun

Adjective, Adjective

Verb, Verb, Verb

Noun

Examples

My evaluation of the lesson
The class enjoyed the lesson and I enjoyed the lesson as well.  I was pleased to see how they had caught on about nouns, verbs and adjectives.

The Colour Poem Global Twitter Project #4 (Week 4) GREEN poems with Grade 1

We have joined the Colour poem Global project started by Linda Yollis  http://goo.gl/YtbFkg. The Grade 1s did Green Poems today. The learners are loving this project. They always want to see what other classes have done. I had a student teacher helping me today so I managed to get a fairly complicated lesson done with her help.

Skills learned
We used PowerPoint and I managed to teach them the following skills:

• Adding a colour to the background 
• Finding images in Google Chrome 
• Adding an image by right-clicking and choosing ‘Çopy Image’ 
• Formatting the background to a shade of green

Creating the poem
In order to create the poem we had a discussion about the colour green first on the mat. Each one chose something green to write about. Then when we started on the PowerPoint template our format was as follows:

• Start with a question 
• Write three short sentences about the item they chose 
• Write one final statement about the item

Examples
The lesson went well. Here are a few examples:

My evaluation of the lesson
I loved the different shades of green that emerged. I always tell them that in computer lessons we don’t worry about spelling – we just write and when I walk around I’ll show them how to correct any spelling errors.  I was amazed how well the Grade 1s did in this lesson thanks to my co-helper!

GVC #18: An email from Give Back International to Team GVC4201 - winners of the Primary School division of the Global Virtual Classroom Contest

The Global Virtual Classroom Contest is sponsored by an organisation called Give Back International so I was thrilled to thrilled to receive an email and a PDF letter from Andrew Ezzel of Give Back International congratulating us on our win. The link to the PDF letter can be found here.

He said, “I want to congratulate you and your students for your outstanding and award winning work in the Global Virtual Classroom Website Design Contest! Attached is a letter from me recognizing your achievement. In the next few days, I will be mailing you a package which will include the award plaque. I want to thank you for your leadership and participation in the GVC program. We believe this is an important program to give students an opportunity to learn from other students from different cultures. We hope you continue to participate in future GVC programs”.

He also mentioned that part of our award is a sponsorship of a student that they will be sponsoring, in our name, through our GSBI Foundation. They are now speaking with a Girls High School in Harat, Afghanistan to sponsor some poor students to attend that school.

GVC#17: Our team of three global schools are the Grand Prize Winners in the 2014-2015 Global Virtual project website design competition!

We have just heard that our team has won the Global Virtual Classroom website design competition!!  

What competition , you say? Well, my Grade 5 ICT class and I entered the six-month Global Virtual Classroom International website design competition, primary school division,  in September last year, where entrants were partnered with two other schools in other countries. (We started when the students were still in Grade 4) The newly-created three-school team had to collaborate on a project of their own choosing and upload their findings to a Google site. We were placed with a great team – a Grade 6 class from a primary school in Illinois, USA and two Grade 5 classes from a primary school in Taiwan.

There was much excitement yesterday when the winners were announced and we heard that we had won the primary school category. So exciting! Our winning site - Recycling to Live Green. Here is the competition coordinator's message to tell us of our win.

“Congratulations! After the final round of judging, your website has been selected as the Grand Prize Winner in the primary school category! Each school will be mailed a plaque. By email you will also receive a copy of this Award that can be printed for students.  Also by email you will receive a printable PDF of the Sponsorship/ Scholarship made in your name to continue the education of  a needy student.

This team’s collaboration is an example of how the program should be run.  The energy of the team was apparent.  It was a pleasure to work with all of you and your students are privileged to have you as teachers.  The example and the experience you have provided with them is truly a life lesson.    
Once again, thank you for your desire to immerse your students in a collaborative environment. Your students, schools and communities have all benefitted.

I have included at the end of the message,  comments from the judges so you and your students have the benefit of their feedback.”

Judges comments:

GVC1402-Recycling to Live Green
https://sites.google.com/a/gsbi.org/gvc1402/
USA – South Africa - Taiwan

“Fantastic web design! Pages have lots of content and great images, but are easy to read and enjoyable to explore. Great use of colors reflects theme and feels natural.”

“Great videos. There was consistent citation throughout the site. Lots of good tips in “My Eco Diary”. I had never thought of recycling in terms of saving space, such as the tips for plastic bags, plastic bottles and cartons.”

“Great site with useful information.  The helping focus is directly connected to the topic. Navigation is logical.”

“This was a very thought provoking and informative website.  I loved the opening video – very impactful! Impossible – Possible!!! The videos were great.  I appreciated your wonderful helping focus projects.  Great work!”

“Impressive content, nice use of research to support web content, excellent works cited, nice collaborative efforts.”

“Well organized and documented, with excellent credits. Loved the trashion fashion show!”

What was the competition about?

The GVC Contest, a multi-national team website design contest,  provides an opportunity for primary and secondary school students from different countries to work and learn from students in other countries, as they collaboratively design a website on a topic of their choosing. Plaques and cash awards are presented to the schools of the winning teams and each student receives a certificate of participation. The competition has been running since 2005. Previous winning sites can be see at this link: http://www.virtualclassroom.org/win13.html

As mentioned, we entered and were placed in a group of three schools. What a fantastic team we had – a school in Taiwan, a school in Illinois, USA and ourselves. We learned so much from our partner schools. 

What did we learn in this competition?
1. We saw the value of global collaboration – that the world is indeed a global village and that real world learning that takes place with others in different parts of the world is engaging and fun.

2. We saw that Google Sites is a great project platform - easy to use but very effective as a website. We used many other Google tools in this project – Google Docs, Google Slides, Gmail, Google Forms, YouTube, etc.

3. We learned the value of working with group roles. The students had to do the creation of and uploading to the Google site, and specific students in each of the three countries were tasked with this.

4. We learned about copyright and plagiarism and citing our work and the work of others online.

5. We used Skype for team communication and Edmodo to keep in touch with the project happenings.

6. As a result of this competition we are in touch with an amazing global community of teachers on Skype called HLWSkypers (Hello Little World Skypers) co-ordinated by Janet Barnstable from the UK who is also the GVC project competition co-ordinator.  

Thank you, GVC, for this opportunity!

Why don't YOU think about entering in September this year?

The next round of the competition will start in September 2015. Keep watching the Global Virtual Classroom website for details http://virtualclassroom.org/. The learning benefits will be enormous for both you and your class.

The Colour Poem Global Twitter Project #3 (Week 2): ORANGE poems with Grade 3

We have joined the Colour poem Global project started by Linda Yollis  http://goo.gl/YtbFkg.  The Grade 3s did Orange Poems today as this is the Orange week. What I love about Global projects like these is that the students also enjoy them and participate fully. They love looking at the Twitter hashtag to see what other learners from other countries have written.

Skills learned
We used PowerPoint and we learned the following skills:

• After creating the poem, centring the words to make it look like a poem 
• Using Google Images to find many orange images 
• Formatting the background and selecting a matching colour
• Keeping to a diamond shape and using nouns, adjectives and adverbs

Creating the poem
We decided to do a diamond-shaped 9-lined poem all related to the orange pictures they had selected,  with the format of:
One word
Two words
Three words
Four words
Five words
Four words
Three words
Two words
One word

Examples
Here are some examples:


My evaluation of the lessonEveryone got finished in this lesson. However sme left out the middle line of five words. It was a fun lesson with everyone thinking around orange. The learners loved it.

The Colour Poem Global Twitter Project #2 (Week 1) RED poems with Grade 2

We have joined the Colour poem Global project started by Linda Yollis.  The Grade 2s did Red Poems today. What I love about Global projects like these is that the students also enjoy them and participate fully.

Skills learned
We used PowerPoint and I we learned the following skills:

• Writing a poem in a triangle shape
• Adding a triangle shape to the poem and sending it to the back
• Formatting the shape and selecting red
• Using Google Images to find a red image

Creating the poem
I brought a number of red items to school and we took turns, on the mat, examining them and trying to describe them. We chose six of them to write about and had to keep to the triangle shape to write the poem. Once the poem was written we selected a triangle shape and place it over the poem. We sent it to the back.

Examples
Here are some examples:

Evaluation
Not everybody finished in time, but the class enjoyed the lesson.

The Colour Poem Global Twitter Project #1 (Week 1): RED poems with Grade 1

I met Linda Yollis at the New York Google Teacher Academy – and since I had been a great fan of her blog up till then meeting her in person was a great highlight! When I noticed recently that she had started a Colour poem Global Twitter project I was very keen to join http://goo.gl/YtbFkg.

The goal of the project
The object of this collaborative project is to share original poems, create colourful digital images, and publish through classroom Twitter accounts using the hashtag #clrpoem! Each week a colour of the visible spectrum will be showcased! We’ll be following the colour spectrum ROY G BIV (red-orange-yellow-green-blue-*indigo-violet) 

Step 1: Create a class Twitter account
I set this up, after much thought as @ICTclasstweets:

Step 2: Get busy with Week 1 of the project
Mrs Yollis’ instructions: “This week, we are seeing RED! Shoot a photo of something red, compose a little poetry to complement the photo, and tweet it out! Remember, use the hashtag #clrpoem”. I thought I would involve my Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 students in this project.

Step 3: Take a look at the hashtag #clrpoem
The Grade 1s and 2s loved looking through this hashtag and reading the tweets about red poems.

Step 4: Get started with Red Poems from Grade 1
I thought we would start with Grade 1 doing the colour RED. We did our poems during ICT class using Microsoft Paint. It worked really well as we were able to save these as JPEGs immediately.


I thought I would tweet Mika’s using the #clrpoem hashtag!

Evaluation
This was quite a mission with Grade 1s! We did this in steps:

• We read other people's poems first on the  #clrpoem hashtag and discussed the images.  
• We learned how to open Google Images using Chrome and we searched for red items. They pasted their image into Paint.
• We used the Text option and started writing. I walked around helping them to spell words.
• We saved the work.
• We got finished! (I wondered if we would)