Monday, March 10, 2008

Online pen pals from New Jersey

HI Room5ians, a teacher in New Jersey [do you know where that is?] has discovered our blog on the net and asked us if we would like to contact his class. He has created a blog for his class and ours and has asked three questions. He has invited you all to leave comments on their blog. See his message below:

"Hi,
I created a blog. It contains three questions. One is for your students to write about what they know about the USA. One is for my students to write about what they know about New Zealand. The third is for both to write about something interesting about their country. It's a start! I set the blog parameters to allow anyone to post, so your students should not have a problem. The blog is on my website. You can go through the school website as I stated in a previous e-mail or you can go directly to my site at: http://mysite.verizon.net/tteehan/index.htm

Let me know if you experience any problems. I will look again at your blog and see if my students can post anything there.

Tim Teehan"

So, Mr Teehan has been really proactive in using ICTs to help globalise his students. Will you respond intelligently? Please do - remember your good Kiwi manners, keep to the topic, use correct grammar, spelling, etc and see what you can learn and what you can share. If this is successful we will try to set up a skype session with his class too.
Enjoy!


Oh and here is our updated clustermap image:

The above map depicts: 9,382 visits from 12 Mar 2007 to 22 Feb 2008

And find New Jersey using Googlemaps:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.271144,-74.882812&spn=3.721646,6.569824&z=7




20 comments:

IM A ROOM5IAN said...

Wow!! great!! ill check it out in the morning, ive got to go to bed now though... :)

Mr. Teehan said...

This is Mr. Teehan, the teacher from New Jersey. My class is very excited to begin this exchange. Looking forward to hearing from you. Does anyone have an idea of how we can Skype even though we have a 17 hour time difference? Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Snowy said...

I am from room5!
mmmmm, that will be hard because of the time zone.
?????

;)

Snowy said...

I found this good web site about the USA go have a look!!!

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/nation/usa.html

;0)

Mushroom Shortie said...

maybe we could sort out a time that suits both of us?? that is mind boggling!!

fun! that sounds like so much fun.

it would be to bad if you did your first exchange when i was still away :-(

Mushroom Shortie said...

hey mr woodcock can you please keep me posted on all our lessons because i dont like feeling behind. Thanks!

Roo said...

This is going to be awsome. I'm shaking with excitement.

Nei-Nei Neina-Marie said...

It's so cool we will be taking to people in the southern hempisphere! New Jersey sounds cool as.

Roo said...

Mr.Woody,

How do you get cluster maps on your site.

MrWoody said...

Marzbarz - the beauty of the blog is that you can be kept up-to-date when you are at home sick. Well done for commenting on all our posts. We will keep you in touch with the digital story telling workshop being held on Wednesday - check out last time's post to see if more info arrives after lunch on Wednesday.

Snowgirl - well done for being the early bird on the American school's blog and for being "student of the morning" today for your excellent contributions and generosity.

Roo - keep up the good work, but check out the poster post because I think you have misinterpreted my intentions. Then again, you have actually come up with a new idea too!! Well done.

Neina marie - WE are in the Southern Hemisphere...

rosiegal said...

I have been to Mr.Ts blog and answered some of the questions. I am very excited about being able to chat to people all over the world!!! :c)

Miss Piggy said...

What are the some of native animals to america?

MrWoody said...

Did you know that in our new curriculum it encourages us to be involved in learning within a global community? It also suggests we be future focused and to incorporate the use of ICTs so children can learn using 21st century tools and prepare them/you for a life filled with information, rapidly changing technology, and unknown possibilities.
It sounds exciting to me. What do you think?
...And why is it exciting to be blogging and possibly skyping students in other countries?

Unknown said...

Good morning! I am Mrs. Cauterucci and I teach with Mr. Teehan.

I think learning in a global community is a wonderful experience for students and teachers.

We currently use and absolutely love using our Smart Boards. Do you have and use interactive white boards?

Snowy said...

one class might have a interactive white board? But the rest of the school dont!!
;0)

Mr. Teehan said...

In my school, we integrate many forms of technology. For example, we use blogs, podcasts (video and audio), digital storytelling (Adobe Premiere Elements), animated picture books (GIF Construction Set), digital cameras, and video recorders. I have found that in order to keep the attention of students in this digital age, teachers need to use the tools that are familiar and engaging to the students. I have not used cell phones, but have been reading about ways to integrate them, as well.

gnome said...

i think it would be really fun learning about each other's lifes and countries

seth56 said...

Hi, i'm a student in m=Mr. Teehan's social studies class. maybe at the end of the day for us we could skype each other. I think we we are about to leave school you are getting to school.

Mushroom Shortie said...

that is soo cool!!! hehe. I like the idea of going on the blog and talking to people formt he other side of the world!!!

CAPTAIN JACK said...

Your right MARZ BARZ!
Maybe Ican get my Friends from SWITZERLAND and we can learn of HELVETIA!