Mrs. Monaghan had commented about the castle outside their classroom (A Room with a View) and mentioned their blog site and the picture of their castle. Below are pictures taken from that site. See the original post about Castles Around the World to see her answers to our inquiry questions about castles.
They are located 2 hours from Scotland and 3 hours from London.
Picture used from A Room with a View (blog site) of Middleham Castle.
Each class contributed information to add throughout the week during their Global Studies class. We research for several weeks and finally this week we created our first project together on Google docs.
There are 7 second grade classrooms at Rocky River with about 140 students. We found many schools to be smaller overall to our 820 students. But we also discovered they had some of the same books, math/maths manipulatives, interactive boards and computers and playgrounds. Some classes did the same subjects and some added other things. We liked all the outside playtime everyone got. We are required only 30 minutes per day. Barriers to our education might come more as alarm clocks not going off, parents sick or working, no transportation if car rider, clothes not clean and bad weather (snow, hurricanes, storms, tornadoes) but we didn’t face barriers like some places that had war and had to pay for school to even go. We think that Australia is similar to us in the barriers they might face. Is your school similar to Rocky River or the Australian schools? Of course, we didn’t get to do all Australian schools in our research. We were most amazed by the ones in the Outback that we read about called Radio Schools. We’d like to hear from someone that has done one of these and learn more about it. We want to thank Ms. Cartwright and her students at Newrybar Primary school for their help. That school is in New South Wales. They are part of our penpal project Exploring Our Places and our post card project. Take a moment and make a comment to this new class of bloggers. Her new blog site is http://cartwheels.edublogs.org/2013/10/23/exploring-our-place/ Ms Crowther’s in Victoria was also helpful in our project and answered several questions. http://upps56jc.global2.vic.edu.au/ View Larger Map
Other schools and blog sites that helped us compare schools in other places included many continents. Even though our focus was on Australia we have explored schools in England, Canada, Africa, Brazil and Scotland during our investigations. We also appreciate the opportunity to look into Mrs. Lynch’s second grade classroom on her blog site from Canada We loved seeing the video and comparing our classrooms to theirs. They read many of the same books. We saw The Littles, Pete the Cat, lots of Dr. Seuss books and many other familiar titles. They had pattern blocks. They did math. We wonder more about games they play and what they bring in their lunches. http://teacher102.edublogs.org/2013/09/22/a-peek-into-our-grade-2-classroom/ Mrs. Monaghan and a Room with a View has been our learning partners for several years as we learn more about their class and school. Their blog site is http://aroomwithaview.edublogs.org/ Mrs. Monaghan continues to share and answer our questions often. We were amazed at the zipline in Scotland. We got involved with Burravoe Primary through a post card project and learned a lot about their small school. Many things were different yet similar here. Did you know they are on an island that you have to ride a ferry to get your car to the mainland? They often have to stay on the island because of so much wind. We noticed they had a lot of technology for such a small school. Visit their site to learn more about this small interesting Shetland Island school. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/sh/BurravoePrimarySchool/ We enjoyed viewing the wiki between Burravoe and Longhaugh.
Our dollar bill also referred to as a buck has George Washington the first president. Not all of our bills have Presidents but several do. Our coins are penny (1cent) nickel (5cents), dime (10 cents), quarter (25 cents), half dollar or fifty cent piece (50 cents. Four quarters make a dollar. 10 dimes make a dollar.
This week we’ve had the opportunity to learn about currency from some of our blogging friends from around the world in their project Our World, Our Numbers. http://ourworldournumbers.edublogs.org/2013/02/25/australian-currency/
We had already been solving word problems with money the previous week so this fit into our extended global learning about other countries and their money.
We loved the Canadian video about their coins, Mrs. Yollis’s video about the President’s and coins in America. We discovered that our bills are not as colorful as they are in other parts of the world. They are called bucks or bills here and notes in some places. We liked seeing our friends in Middleham shopping in an actual store. We can’t just take a walk and go to the store at our school. We have to plan months in advance for a couple of field trips per year then we send home a permission slip for parents to give permission to go and then we travel by bus to our destination. We thought New Zealand and Australia both had colorful money.
This is a local ad for groceries in our area. Prices vary each week and by different stores.
We played some games and learned more about money at this site from the US Mint.
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/games/
We decided to look at the British Museum video about the history of money.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/channel/kids/young_explorers_videos/video_a_history_of_money.aspx
What’s your day like? Our weather is clear and sunny in Matthews, North Carolina , USA and it’s snowy and cold in Middleham in North England on January 20, 2013. It looks like a postcard scene with the beautiful snow in England but traffic and getting around is a problem. (see comment on previous post) Do you love a snowy day? Do you prefer a sunny day?
We’ve been learning about air and weather. We’ve tracked the temperature and weather over time. We looked at weather tools. We read books about weather. We got to teach out classmates about what we learned as we were reading.
During the past few weeks we’ve hear that it was very hot in Australia and cold in England with snow. We’ve had some combinations of both places. For January it got very warm last weekend (January 10) then during the week it got cold enough we got a little snow during the night on the grass and steps. There was ice/snow on the windshield to be scraped off. It rained a lot on Thursday during the day before it snowed at night. Water was standing everywhere but now we don’t have a deficit in our water table according to the meteorologist. It was cold and frosty yesterday (Saturday) and today. The forecast is for it to be in the teens by Tuesday morning (that’s F) and perhaps only 30’s during the day. It’s sunny and clear, blue skies this morning and about 42 degrees F. It’s suppose to be a nice day before the Arctic blast comes down from Canada.
We made a connection to Australia this week when we heard about the wildfires there. This past summer here we heard a lot on the news about wildfires in some states in the western United States.
We wondered how many were caused when lightening struck during a storm?
How many had high winds?
Was the humidity just right to keep them burning so long?
What effect does it have on people and animals that live in these areas in the United States and Australia?
What is the weather doing where you are?
Can you explain the water cycle?
You hear a lot about global warming. Which of these are true we wonder? We need to read more to find out which source is correct.
Do you know of evidence that proves this is happening?
We read it in some books and on some websites but……
We also read that it’s just something that environmental groups and some people are saying. This is were we have to read and think very carefully and compare and contrast evidence.
Last week a package arrived in our mailbox. We examined it and figure it came by airmail. We also noticed the postage stamp. Some guessed England, some Australia and some New Zealand where our quad blogging classes are from.
We made guesses as to what was inside…. a game, a letter, a card, notes from students. Then we took turns pulling loose the tape. Once inside we found these amazing cards about European countries. On the back side were questions to answer about what was on the front of each.
We were so excited but didn’t have time to play the game. Thank you to the students at Middleham for making us this game to learn more about European countries. This will add to our global studies. We are so excited to have the game too play.
Do you know what flags look like from other countries?
Do you know what the map looks like?
Do you know the language spoken?
Do you know special things about that country?
We are starting an exciting adventure with friends from around the globe to learn about our favorite things. These classes are excited about blogging and looking forward to quad blogging so please take time to read their post and make a comment. They would love to hear from America about favorite things. To read their post just click on the link on the side under Quad Blogging buddies.
Quad blogging is where four classes spend time learning about different countries and cultures from around the world through their blogs, by writing posts, reading posts and leaving comments. Classes take it in turns to have their classroom in the spotlight for a week. During that time, the other three classrooms visit and leave comments.
We’ve enjoyed a Flat Stanley project last year with a Room with a View and hosted Snail and Whale from New Zealand so we know these classes. Although we are a new group of students we’ve heard about these projects and look forward to more.
Week 1 starts November 4th 2012 3/4C & 3/4K @Upper Plenty- Ms. Crowther Victoria, Australia
Week 2: A Room with a View- Mrs. Monaghan – Middleham, England
Week 3: Mr Baker and the Ins & Outs in Palmerston North, New Zealand
Week 4: Going Global- our week- Roadrunners & Mrs. Todd in Monroe, North Carolina
You’ve been around the globe lately and once again you are put in a box to fly off to England. Mrs. Todd took you home to enjoy a nap before your journey began on Saturday. The weather was a perfect spring day so you loved the sunshine. You were put in a box that say Flat rate.
Mrs. Todd had to tell the man at Parcel Plus what was in the box with you. She put in a surprise or two but we can’t tell you what it is! She had to write the address down then he typed it and put it on the box so it would go back to North Yorkshire, England. She filled the box full so hopefully you aren’t to smashed.
You are on your way home after weeks in America. You’ve had many adventures around Monroe while here. Baseball games, soccer games, theme parks, the beach, malls (large shopping areas), out to eat and games at home. There were rainy days that remind you of home and sunny warm days too. There were thunder storms too.
Some things we’ve done with you at school is our final assessments in math, reading and writing , doing final projects, reading one last book and signing autograph /year books. We went to lunch and you got to meet our new friends from New Zealand the Snail and the Whale.
The last few days you helped draw flags for 73 countries. We had field day and recess and you cheered us on as we had fun. We learned how children in different parts of the world all play a form of hopscotch. You got to meet our Flat Friends as they returned home to Rocky River. You got to taste Tin Tams and Vegemite from Australia. You got to help clean and pack up the room.
We had an indoor picnic lunch the last day of school. You got to see us climb on the big yellow buses to head home for the summer. Some of us went by car or van. You got to have blue crushed ice and ice cream sundaes and watch a movie about the coral reef. You also got to see Sleeping Beauty and Snow White to celebrate our Fairy Tale unit. You got to help us with Reader’s Theater. You got to see us get our awards for World Education games and reading and math awards. We had three students come to school all 180 days- James, Elliott and Nicolas was here every day. Elliott has been in school every day for three years. Congratulations to these boys. You got to learn about the Queen’s diamond jubilee and we looked at the Olympics in ancient and modern times. You should arrive home in time for the real Olympics.
The Flat Friends have been busy traveling around from place to place. First it was off to Australia for our Flat Friends and we got some Flat Friends in return from Australia. They spent several weeks with us and then off everyone went for a second trip on their journey around the world.
The second round found our Flat Friends heading for Arizona even if it’s in the USA like us it’s across the country in a totally unique environment. And we got a new set of Flat Friends from North Yorkshire, England- Middleham Primary School. No jet lag allowed for these young Flat Friends. They instantly took off for more adventures!
Our Flat selves have arrived in Arizona. We wondered what they were getting into with students at Peralta Trail Elementary in Gold Canyon, Arizona. Last week we got to skype with these eager third graders. We got to meet new friends that had received our Flat Friends. We got to hear about a legend from their area. Watch for a second post about the skype and the legend.
We are hoping they don’t encounter that mountain lion.
We have been busy with our Flat Friends from England and writing journal entries to send back with them. It was Mother’s Day so our Flat Friends helped make Mother’s Day cards on Friday to give to our moms. We want to say HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS AROUND THE WORLD! Our friends in England celebrated Mother’s Day in March.
What are we finding to do with this new set of friends? You’ll have to wait a few days to find out.
A few weeks back we joined with 4 other classes on a Flat Friend journey. Some of us got to travel to the desert area in Arizona, some to see a castle and history in England, some to Australia to visit the beach, and sites in Sydney and Victoria . We received some Flat Friends from Sydney Australia at Curl, Curl, They’ve gotten a chance to go to some of our special area classes and go home with us. We’ve had them two whole weeks staying busy as beavers. Ours got sidetracked on their journey to Sydney in the postal system so we had to go to a back-up plan and send them through email. We are hoping the originals arrive soon in Sydney and will be waiting for them when they return to school from their holidays. Ours came with these wonderful journals and we’ve enjoyed writing in them over their time at Rocky River.
We wonder what everyone has been getting into with their Flat Friends. You can check out the adventures around the world at this site: http://flat-stanley-adventures.posterous.com/
As we follow along and read the adventures about Tom on his bike we also follow what’s happening with the author Alastair Humphreys as he rows across the Atlantic Ocean in his newest adventure. We are now in Ethiopia as we continue to read about his bike trip to the end of Africa. As we read we discuss different culture values and beliefs from different areas and we are following his trip with our Atlases. His diary pages give us information about different places.
Why would a boy on a bike with his supplies be considered rich in one country and poor in another?
Why do two people who work near each other but are from different countries not talk until Tom comes through the border?
When will Alastair Humphreys and his crew arrive on land again? See where he is and read about the author’s other adventures.
http://www.transatlantik.si/eng/
http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/
As you can see reading takes place even in the Atlantic Ocean. Fishing we’d expect in the water. We think some things would be important to have on this trip. What else would they really need? We are getting ready for our economics unit in a few weeks and we will disucss needs and wants. They may want other things but are they really needed? What do you think the top 10 things they should have with them in the Atlantic Ocean? Will the weather be stormy or fair? Wll it be hot or cold? How will this change what they will need with them?
We think you would be hungry, sunburnt, wet and tired.
It’s amazing to us that students in England. Australia, North Carolina are all following his trip. They received phone calls from him so check out their sites to learn more
A Room with a View (England) http://middlehampri2.posterous.com/an-adventurer-calls
4KM and 4 KJ ( Victoria, Australia) http://4kmand4kj.global2.vic.edu.au/
