Hello, Duveneck Elementary!
Ms. Field's class had the opportunity again this year to meet via webcam with Mr. Young's class in Palo Alto, California. I met Mr. Young while I was living in Palo Alto (my family moved back to Hawaii about two years ago). Palo Alto is known for its excellent public schools and the families there (many parents work at Stanford University) are very supportive of education. When I was there, the people of the city voted to increase its taxes in order to direct more money to the schools. Typical of public schools here, the PTAs raised money every year to pay the librarians, and art, music, and P.E. teachers. Mr. Young was on the technology committee for Palo Alto Unified, and now he is one of a few teachers in the district who has a SmartBoard in his classroom.
One of the students in Ms. Field's class asked why they are the only class meeting with the children from Palo Alto. I explained that because of the time difference and the schedules of the two classes, that their class is the only one that can meet.
The children are perplexed about the time difference. I agree that It's a concept that is hard to fully grasp and visualize. Mr. Young's class said that they had just come in from lunch recess, and Ms. Field's class was just going to morning recess. I am contemplating how to explain Daylight Savings to them. I didn't even hear about Daylight Savings until I went away to college-- I thought my college friends were joking when they talked about moving the clock!
It's amazing how easy it is to meet across an entire ocean or continent -- just click iChat on our computer that's equipped with a camera, and ta-dah! We are face to face! With the addition of a SmartBoard and a plug-in camera, our whole class can easily see their whole class, and vice versa. We've already met twice so far this school year.
Before we met the children from California today, I showed Ms. Field's class on Google maps a map of the world, of North America, California, the Bay Area, Palo Alto, and then zoomed into Duveneck Elementary using the satellite version of the map. We saw their playground, and could even see the white lines drawn on the blacktop. We wondered what the circles that were quartered were used for. We wondered if they played four-square with them?
Other questions we wondered included:
* Are they the only 2nd grade class?
* Do they get free choice dress?
* What grade does their school stop at?
* What are they studying?
* How many people go to their school?
* What are they doing in math?
* Why are they in a different time?
* Have they ever been to the Lazy Boy furniture store where my aunty (in CA) works?
We also looked at the Duveneck Elementary website, saw that their mascot was a dragon, and viewed their school lunch calendar. We were envious that they have pizza days several times a month!
After the last time we met, one student said that her sister didn't believe her when she said that she talked to kids in California!
On a side note, this past week, students from China performed piano for our students. During lunch recess, our children took them around our elementary school campus-- it was amazing how much English these Chinese children knew. (We Americans REALLY need to learn more languages!) While the children were visiting the Peace Room here in the CE House like several children do at lunch recess, a girl from China gave another student here her email address. For a brief moment, I wondered about doing a webcam conference with her school in China... who knows what our school in the future will hold!
