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!

Where is halfway?

Last week the excitement could be felt for days after my students received and opened a care package containing Hakon (pronounced Hwa-kuhn), our Norwegian troll mascot.

Though we were warned not to take Hakon in the sun or he would turn to stone, my students took him to the beach the day after he arrived. It was class day - a time to relax and enjoy each other's company. Hakon loves the Hawaii sun and he is still as soft and cuddly as when he arrived. The warm Hawaiian sun is kind to our troll.

Seeing faces of their new friends and reading about their interests, pets, family, favorite subject in school made the connection real. With pictures and guide books about Bergen included in our box, I overheard this conversation:

"I want to go to their school."

"I want to go to Norway!"

"Me too!" chimed in several other students. The map on the wall in our classroom shows just how far apart our schools are. My students noted how close Hawaii is to the equator and how close Norway is to the North Pole - and how far apart our schools are. Then someone came up with a great idea.
"Let's meet halfway."

I asked where that would be.  One student noted it might be in the middle of the ocean. Another suggested we meet in eastern Canada. "What about New York?" asked another.

This week, before class started, I heard a conversation (again) about meeting halfway. Another student commented, "You guys sound serious. Are we really doing this?"

I jokingly told them that if we're serious, we better start selling some spam musubis. (Yes, spam is popular in Hawaii and spam musubis can make good money.)  I wonder how our friends will like spam?

Where is halfway?

Last week the excitement could be felt for days after my students received and opened a care package containing Hakon, our Norwegian troll mascot.

Though we were warned not to take Hakon in the sun or he would turn to stone, my students took him to the beach the day after he arrived. It was class day - a time to relax and enjoy each other's company. Hakon loves the Hawaii sun and he is still as soft and cuddly as when he arrived. It must be the warm Hawaiian sun that is kind to our troll.

Seeing faces of their new friends and reading about their interests, pets, family, favorite subject in school made the connection real. With pictures and guide books about Bergen included in our box, I overheard this conversation:

"I want to go to their school."

"I want to go to Norway!"

"Me too!" chimed in several other students. The map on the wall in our classroom shows just how far apart our schools are. My students noted how close Hawaii is to the equator and how close Norway is to the North Pole - and how far apart our schools are. Then someone came up with a great idea.
"Let's meet halfway."

I asked where that would be.  One student noted it might be in the middle of the ocean. Another suggested we meet in eastern Canada. "What about New York?" asked another.

This week, before class started, I heard a conversation (again) about meeting halfway. Another student commented, "You guys sound serious. Are we really doing this?"

I jokingly told them that if we're serious, we better start selling some spam musubis. (Yes, spam is popular in Hawaii and spam musubis can make good money.)  I wonder how our friends will like spam?

Håkon has arrived in Hawaii!

The students at Damsgård are SO excited about this project. We have done the same as Amy`s class according to "Shout it out" about our school, what "Far away" means to them and what they know about Hawaii.




And the day we shared the SMART amp workspace about "I am..." they really felt that our new friends on the other side of the world came closer.



Amy and I decided that we would choose a mascot from our country and send across the world. 

The mascot from Norway is a troll and 
we called him Håkon.






On sept 17th, he began his travel to Hawaii. My students were excited about how long it would take and what it did cost. Then they learned about paying for deliveries:) 

And we got suprised - it took just about 8 days!! And how cool wasn`t it when Amy took a video while her class opened the package and we could see their reactions!

In the box, together with Håkon, some students had written about TROLLS and why we called him Håkon. 

Now we are anxiously await to hear about and see pictures of, what experiences he has in Hawaii.





We have created a wall to collect what we learn in this project.

The students begin the project

The excitement of the first few weeks of school continues to fill my class. A small setback - I am teaching one section instead of two Algebra 1 classes this semester.  I have 16 students and Kristin has almost 60 but we don't see this as a problem.

Kristin and I agreed that we would lead the students into the project with quick activities that will let them see what a big world they live in. Last week we used Shout It Out (an activity from SMART Notebook 16). I asked my students about the farthest place they have travelled to from Hawaii.

The students were able to sort the responses and group them from closest to farthest from Hawaii. Within minutes on their ipads they found the distances from Hawaii. I was actually surprised that so many had travelled so far from Hawaii.

Then on a SMART amp workspace they shared what they knew about Norway - very little. Not very surprising. In fact, not all students could contribute.

Given 5 minutes to do research on their ipads, they shared something unique that they had discovered about Norway on the same workspace. It was fun hearing what students had learned as they shared their findings with the class. We learned so much in a short period of time.

Is this what learning is about? Looking for more information about something you don't know then sharing it with others? Not once did any student ask why I was asking these questions. At the end of the period, which came too quickly, I told them that we will have an opportunity to collaborate with students in Norway this semester. There were cheers and the questions started coming . . . but the bell ended the period.

Two days later my students shared what they love about their school and what they love about their "home" which could be their island, state or country.

Several love their teachers =) and many noted the opportunities available to them at school. Of note, which I will share with our cafeterial staff is the numerous votes given to the food! More than half love the beaches and the weather of Hawaii. Several love (and appreciate) their freedom.

It will be fun to exchange these workspaces and LAB activities to see what Kristin's class will think of our responses and to see what her class' responses are to the same questions.

With global collaboration day coming up on September 15, we will exchange a brief video introducting ourselves.

The students begin the project

The excitement of the first few weeks of school continues to fill my class. A small setback - I am teaching one section instead of two Algebra 1 classes this semester.  I have 16 students and Kristin has almost 60 but we don't see this as a problem.

Kristin and I agreed that we would lead the students into the project with quick activities that will let them see what a big world they live in. Last week we used Shout It Out (an activity from SMART Notebook 16). I asked my students about the farthest place they have travelled to from Hawaii.

The students were able to sort the responses and group them from closest to farthest from Hawaii. Within minutes on their ipads they found the distances from Hawaii. I was actually surprised that so many had travelled so far from Hawaii.

Then on a SMART amp workspace they shared what they knew about Norway - very little. Not very surprising. In fact, not all students could contribute.

Given 5 minutes to do research on their ipads, they shared something unique that they had discovered about Norway on the same workspace. It was fun hearing what students had learned as they shared their findings with the class. We learned so much in a short period of time.

Is this what learning is about? Looking for more information about something you don't know then sharing it with others? Not once did any student ask why I was asking these questions. At the end of the period, which came too quickly, I told them that we will have an opportunity to collaborate with a classroom in Norway this semester. There were cheers and the questions started coming . . . but the bell ended the period.

Two days later my students shared what they love about their school and what they love about their "home" which could be their island, state or country.

Several love their teachers =) and many noted the opportunities available to them at school. Of note, which I will share with our cafeterial staff is the numerous votes given to the food! More than half love the beaches and the weather of Hawaii. Several love (and appreciate) their freedom.

It will be fun to exchange these workspaces and LAB activities to see what Kristin's class will think of our responses and to see what her class' responses are to the same questions.

With global collaboration day coming up on September 15, we will exchange a brief video introducting ourselves.

Where will we begin?

School begins for students on Monday, August 22.

There is a lot to do to welcome and get to know my students but I like to do this early.

• Students will use the amp ws "I am" to introduce themselves to me and to each other on the first day.  I will give them two days to finish their introduction.
• In the first two weeks of school we will use Shout It Out (a LAB activity), to help us learn more about their experiences.  Here are some prompts Kristin and I will use with our students before introducing the GC project.  LAB activities take less than 5 minutes for students to complete so we will be able to do several without disrupting our curriculum.
• asking them to share "About 'Iolani" - what they like, what they are proud of, what they wish, etc
• 'Name (and location) of a friend/relative who lives "far away"' - as a way to introduce our GC project.  This will give us all a sense of how long "our bridges" span across the globe.
• Where is the farthest you have travelled from home?
• HOW have you travelled?
• "What do you know about Norway/Hawaii?" followed by "What would you like to know about Norway/Hawaii?"
• In September 
• we will mail each other a mascot and include letters from our students describing the significance of the mascot - dress, etc.
• create a video
• share a map of the campus on NB - have students identify significant areas.

We agreed that we should keep the excitement going in the first month to create interest. After September we will see where we are and let our students' questions guide the project.

As teachers we are coming up with our own questions about each other's countries and culture.

• Last night my husband asked me if they eat a lot of fish in Norway.
• Kristin searched for a picture of 'Iolani School and asked if we have solar panels on our roofs.

We know we will learn a lot about each other's schools, cultures, and countries. 

I look forward to seeing pictures of the first snowfall in Norway or the pictures of the leaves changing colors.  What will my students be able to share?

Google Hangout

We scheduled a call for 9:30/21:30.  We were planning to use Messenger to video call but tried a Google Hangout so we could share desktops.

To schedule a Hangout (thanks, Rebecca Simon!):

• Calendar
• choose the day and time slot
• edit event (next to create)
  

• add video call
  

• add guests
• save
• send invitations

With 2 computers on, there was feedback and echoing.