|
Patti: Friends,
It's hard to believe how the months have flown by and it is nearly the
middle of May. In 7 weeks I will be on the ground in Hawaii! Can it
really be? These last weeks of school will be busy as ever for all of us
so I don't expect to see very much action here. I am continuing to work
on the agenda for our time together in the ACES workshops and you can
follow me here:
http://www.globalclassroom.org/aces98.html As soon as school closes for us I will be teaching a week of all day classes for our county Board of Ed and then a full day session in Baltimore on June 23. June 30th I fly to Hawaii. ;-) Isamu and I are bringing our "Playground" project to KIDLINK as one part of a much larger project that he and I have been doing for at least three or four years informally. You will be the first to know when that new project is announced. As I work on the last day of our agenda I think about ways we are "celebrating diversity." I know that "bridging" language barriers so that we can fully appreciate that diversity is ever a challenge. I am watching some real magic happen these past few days. When there is a strong desire and real determination to make those bridges... the kids can make it happen. Last night students in Brasil sent to KIDPROJ reports of their interviews with adults for the "Math in Careers" topic in the "Math Around Us" project. Today my kids and I sat in the lab with Portuguese text and the AltaVista translation site. Yes, it is not the best but we took giant steps across that "bridge" today. We even sent them a few words in Portuguese! The teacher in Brasil wrote back to me this afternoon and said her kids are so happy to see what we wrote for them. Adri: YES!!! I saw it!!! And I will try to "talk" with their teacher to know more about the school. It's in another state, but we can be partners... I saw that you were trying Englishese... But I am sure they understood what you mean. If any help is still needed, just ask. Patti: Always... always... Our goal is to have the kids dialogue with each other. Posting information to our projects is not enough. Perhaps you can help us, Adri, in our new project when we send each other pictures and ask our friends around the world to write a story about the picture. Look here: http://www.globalclassroom.org/fruit.html and http://www.globalclassroom.org/rain.html Isamu's students made the pictures and my students wrote little stories. We did this 2 years ago. ;-) You will love these, Adri. When I was in Iceland last October I bought a child's book in Icelandic. It is about a farm. My 6 year olds and I "read" the pictures and then wrote our own stories about the book and sent them to Gisli Tryggvi in Iceland. It is here: http://www.globalclassroom.org/farm.html In our hall hangs a poster with this little poem. I pass it each day when I go to the first grade wing to get my 6 year olds for their computer time. I would like to share it with you. Our discussions have focused on cultivating learners... on planting...
Adri: So cute!!! Very beautiful! I loved it!!! Small words... Big feelings!!! Maybe I will show it to the children, showing the translation, but also making them speak it... It's not difficult!!!
Beijos, Patti: Adri, will you share the translation with us and we can make our own "posters" with flowers and Portuguese and English translations. See! I need your help! ;-)
|
| home | greetings | new | kids | teachers | visitors | search |
Patricia A. Weeg
May 16, 1998