YES! We have started our third year of collaboration.

Last year did not go as expected because Kristin was out of school for almost the entire year. Yet still we got to do something, with the help of some other teachers at Damsgård school. The highlight was probably when the students received handwritten letters from each others. Our Skype meeting was a close second. The students asked each other a lot of questions and the Norwegian students got to practice their English skills in real life.


Sept. 21st  Video for Global Collaboration Day










Skype meeting

We also used each others traditions to do some math:
By exchanging Christmas cookie recipes, the students have to convert the measurement units then bake the recipes. The only way to know if the conversion was correct, was the taste test. They converted correctly because the cookies was delicious.

Using facts from Hawaii when working with  fractions:

We are in our third year and  new opportunities await.
Aug 2. we had a long Facetime meeting and set up a plan. It`s so great to discuss and brainstorm ideas this way.

We use Google Disk to keep our notes. And after the last meeting, we decided to  use a Padlet (padlet.com) to post our
ideas and to keep track of what to do. This will be live updated here in our blog.

Our project in a magazine - "Skolemagasinet"

"Skolemagasinet" has written about our project.
Technology in schools.

Reportage

Learning the fun way!

This first half school year has gone by so quickly.
And who would have thought that we would get many new friends and learn SO much about a place which is on the other side of the globe?

The project with Iolani School has given our students an opportunity to learn in a natural way. The best part is that students who have been a little reserved and have struggled a bit at school, have flourished and really got to show their abilities. And as Amy mentioned earlier, they do not think that they are in a learning process. They have been practiced in communicating in English, marvel and ask questions, answer questions about and be aware of their own culture, convert units (miles, feet, cup, oz etc.) and learned history.

On our first Skype meeting we received first-hand information about the US election. Iolani was also surprised that there was so much in Norwegian media about their election!

December 8th, we had our second Skype meeting. 30 students at Damsgård returned to school in the evening to meet our friends in Hawaii. In advance we had talked a little about what happened in Pearl Harbor Dec 7th 75 years ago. Some of the students at Iolani told us about how some of their grandparents experienced this day. Amy also send me some pictures from the ceremony held. I think that when our students are going to learn about WW2 in junior High School, they actually know where Pearl Harbor is and has a completely different condition for learning.

There was great excitement when the second package from Iolani School arrived. 

Brochures about Hawaii andinformation about Iolani School has been used to make billboards. They even asked if they had to write in 

Norwegian or if they could make them in English! 

We also received several calendars with beautiful pictures and information about Hawaii. They will be used in the new year, both for English practice and in math lessons. And the candy made great siccess, of course. And Håkon had been at the hospital taken X -ray - he was healthy!

Iolani School has got its own SMART amp stickers and with one for each of my students, they were inspired to create their own. They used ARt&Craft lessons to do this. And today they were sent to SMART. They are so excited about who gets their drawing on a sticker.

For Christmas we have created a ws in amp so that we can share pictures about how Christmas is celebrated in Hawaii and Norway.

The world`s best Cookies

What a great way to learn how to convert foreign units of measurement, to work with multiplication with decimals and learn about foreign traditions!

Last week we got some recipes from Iolani School for Christmas Cookies. 

We had a discussen about what would happen if we didn`t convert the units right. 

Then we had to search for HOW to convert. The students worked in pairs to translate and convert the recipes. 

We have made posters to hang in classroom to remind us; Cup = 2,4dl  og 1 oz.=28g   

They decided to make "The world`s best cookies" at first.

Wednesday the first group of students made the cookies in "Food& Health" - SUCCESS!!

They tasted really good! 

Now we are excited about what Iolani think about our recipes.

This is what learning looks like

On the eve of our live collaboration, I am excited for my students and what is in store for them tomorrow.

Two weeks ago my class chose their group to work on their Halfway project. Each group chose a halfway place to meet the Norwegian students. After a brief presentation, the class chose one destination to share with the students at Damsgard skole on November 9.

Kristin and I have video connected via Messenger and Skype twice in the last five days to check our audio and video connections and to confirm our agenda for the meeting. I am grateful to be working with such a resourceful, creative, and passionate educator.  Mahalo Kristin Skage!

Tim Toyoshima, Kris Astle, and Edmar Manarang from SMART are visiting Hawaii this week. As we were talking about this project, I shared some of my observations:

• Not once has any student asked me if anything they have done would be graded.
• Norway went on daylight savings time on October 3, a week before the U.S. I asked why that might happen.  Without hesitation a student replied, "because it gets darker sooner."
• When looking at the daylight and temperature workspace, the same student wondered how it could be possible that the temperatures could change so quickly in such a short time.  A discussion ensued which included converting 5 and 12 degrees C to F. This was a great question but more impressive was the observation and interest in the data.                          

I believe that in 10 years, our students will not remember the problems they struggled through or the grades they received but they will remember this experience of learning about others so different, yet so similar.

This project has already far exceeded our expectations as teachers and we still have more to come. Stay tuned.

Package arrived from Hawaii

Meet Malia, our mascot from Hawaii!!

She arrived in Norway on Saturday October 6. - Two weeks after she was send from Hawaii.
Unfortunately our students were out of school because of fall break the next week, so I had to wait until Monday Oct 10. to let the students open it. They were SO excited when they saw me coming into the room with the box.













 I let Random word chooser in Notebook decide which two students that should open the box.



When they had opened the package, to great acclaim from the rest of the class, they did not hesitated  reading the letter out loud in class. It is impressive, considering that it was an unknown text, in English.












It was exciting content in the box and they loved the sweets:) The students are going to write more about what they learned about the things Malia is wearing - I will post it here later on.

The Iolani corner is getting to be filled with a lot of knowledge.

 
 
 




























We have worked with the same type of SMART amp workspaces as Iolani. They first wrote what they knew about Hawaii, without using Google:) In another workspace they asked questions about Hawaii. And they have got answers!! They know that if they suddenly think of something they want answered, they can open the workspace and write the question. They also love to answer the questions Iolani have for us.

Some questions they had:

 
• What is your favourite Hawaii food?
• Have any of you ever went skiing?
• Do you have trains in Hawaii?
• How many volcanos have you?
• How many different animals are there in Hawaii?
• Have you ever seen snow?
• How many years do you have to be to start driving?
• Why is Hawaii part of USA?
• What do you do in physical education?            

This week we have been working with convert Fahrenheit  to Celsius degrees, and vice versa.  It's amazing how much more motivated they are to learn when it's something that really engages them. 


Half of the students have also started on the issue - "What is halfway to Hawaii ?" .

This would be something we are going to talk about when we "meet" Nov 9.

We are really looking forward to see and hear our friends in Hawaii.

Exchanging SMART amp workspaces

Kristin and I decided to use SMART amp as a collaboration tool for students to tell about themselves, their school and their home.

Initially we had students tell about themselves in an "I Am" workspace.

The second workspace had two parts: 1) asked what they knew about Norway; 2) what they learned about Norway after a quick internet search on their ipad. A few facts learned:

• There are reindeer in Norway
• Norway earned 4 bronze medals in the summer Olympics in rowing (2), women's handball and men's Greco-Roman wrestling.
• 62 Norwegian athletes competed in the summer games in Rio.
• Norway has won the largest number of gold, silver and bronze medals in the Winter Olympics.
• Norway, Denmark and Sweden make up Scandinavia.
• Norway has a king and a queen.
• The lion is Norway's national symbol.
• 98-99% of electricity from hydroelectric power - more than any other country.
• It is illegal to spay or neuter your dog except under specific circumstances regarding health, quality of life or utility.
• Capital is Oslo.
• Norway means "path to the north."
• Norway has the deepest underwater tunnel in the world.
• Gas prices are among the highest in the world.
• If you own a tv, you have to pay an annual fee of $300.
• Food stores aren't open on Sundays.
• world's largest salmon exporter
• Spoken language is Norwegian. Two official written forms - Bokmal Norwegian and Nynorsk Norwegian.
• 6th largest country in Europe.
• Norway has the Svalbard seed vault which holds all the world's seed in case of a disaster that would wipe out all agricultural crops.
• Norway introduced salmon sushi to Japan.

The third was titled, "Questions [we have] about Norway."

• How cold does Norway get?
• How hot does it get?
• What kind of animals live in Norway?
• What kind of lunches do you have? How long is lunch period?
• How many provinces are in Norway?
• What do you like to eat in Norway?
• Do you learn any other languages besides English?
• What do you do when there is no school?
• Are there beaches in Norway?
• What kind of languages are spoken in Norway?
• How many holidays do you have?
• How many days of school do you have per year?
• What time do you start school?
• What age do you have to be to drink alcohol?
• Does everyone buy things from Ikea?
• Do you know what American football is?
• What is the most popular sport in Norway?
• Do you celebrate Christmas?
• Do Norwegians listen to American music?
• What sports are popular at your school?
• How many days 9average) do you see snow in a year?
• How many people live in your town?
• Do you play video games?
• The Disney movie Frozen is based in Norway.

Our friends are on an autumn holiday break this week (October 10-14). I believe they got some snow!

Today we responded to questions about Hawaii.

• How long is your school day?
• Do you have monkeys in your land? (Yes, in the zoo.)
• Is it cold in Hawaii?
• Have you seen snow?
• Which language can you choose?
• How often do you have swimming?
• Do you want to come to Norway?
• Have you seen a train?
• How hot is it at day time?
• Have you seen lava?
• Do you like Lilo and Stitch?
• How many volcanos do you have in Hawaii?
• What is your favorite time of the year?
• Have you ever gone skiing?
• How often do you have tornadoes in Hawaii?
• How many mountains have you been on?
• What do you do in PE?

Next my class will get to see what Damsgard Skole students know about Hawaii!