Australian animals and landforms

Students learned about the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru (Ayers Rock) during the study of physical features of Australia and drew some pictures  to share.

They also worked on animals posters.   Then they taught children at New Town in Monroe, NC all about these during a Skype session.

 

Teaching Peers About Other Places

G’Day,

Kia Ora, 

Hello

What do  second graders from Rocky River and New Town two schools in Union County, NC learn when they get  together for a Skype session ?   They teach each other about places miles and continents  away that they are learning about this year.    The students at Rocky River have  been learning about Australia  so they answered questions about animals, food, schools, sports and landmarks.  They shared pictures and a song  about a Kookaburra under a gum tree  with New Town students.  They shared  about the Great Barrier Reef,  Uluru/Ayers Rock and the Outback.  The students  had drawn  pictures of Kangaroos, dingoes, wombats and koalas  to share.   Ms. Lologa asked about the special package that had arrived from Australia.  We were  surprised they knew about our Flat Selves arriving from Sydney.   She mentioned they had looked at our Going Global blog site right before the skype.  We were excited they had been one of our visitors.    The second grade classes from New Town had several questions and shared a song and dance with us.  Their teacher, Ms. Lologa,   from New Zealand is a VIF teacher in Union County.     There were two classes  participating from New Town.  Although our connection was not the best we still enjoyed sharing with them. 

 

Ms. Lologa  answered questions about New Zealand.  Students counted in Maori for us.   We hope to Skype again and have some more time to ask questions about New Zealand.  Students asked about schools and volcanoes.    They heard about landforms and sports like cricket and rugby.

When the  Skype session ended one of the students mentioned he even saw a friend.  Connections new and old being made all in a short time.

 

South Africa

This time Irene’s mom came to talk with us about South Africa.  Second grade students at Rocky River were lucky to hear all about Cape Town and South Africa.

These are things we learned…

  • There are the Big Five-  they are the rhino, elephant, buffalo, leopard and lion.
  • Where the oceans meet at the end they are different colors because warm water and cold water don’t mix.
  • There are white sharks.
  • They have gold and diamonds.
  • They have the rand as currency = 100 cents
  • They like to barbeque.
  • They make many items- clothing, spears, shields, cravings, crafts.
  • They have two flags.
  • Their clothing is different from ours.

We think Tom should have encountered more of the big five to have more adventures in the book The Boy Who Biked the World.  His journal pages told us things about each place but we think it would have been good for the book to have more sensory details woven into the actual story line after we heard about South Africa.