Teacher rubric

Teacher-Rubric for ePals Project

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Students participate in Skype, (planning, speaking, discussing)	Only one area, (planning, speaking, discussing)	Two areas, (planning, speaking, discussing)	Three areas, (planning, speaking, discussing)
Students learn facts about Wisconsin	Student names only one fact about Wisconsin	Student names two facts about Wisconsin	Student names three facts about Wisconsin
Students reflect on the project	Student does not share their opinion of the project and or does not have a favorite part which was a true activity.	Student shares their opinion of the project and a favorite part which may not have been a true activity.	Student shares their opinion of the project and an accurate favorite part.

Student Assessment Rubric

Name ____________________ 

Student Assessment Rubric

We had ePals in our class.

I thought this project was _____________. 

My favorite thing was when we __________

__________________________________. 

This is what it looked like:

My project: Our ePals in Wisconsin

I think that our project was successful.  My students really enjoyed getting to know and communicating with kindergartners in Wisconsin.  Not only did we get to know them through two Skype sessions (so far), sharing our school-tour videos, and packages that we exchanged through the mail, but we got to learn a lot about where they are from.  Little examples of this include, learning that they did not have a school vacation when we did in February, that we swim in the ocean and them in lakes, (when they are not polluted with Ecoli), that they grow apples and pumpkins like us, but that cranberries are a big crop too and that Windex and Carmex are both produced there.  We also thought it was cool that they root for the Packers and they were very impressed with all of our New York sports teams.  It was also great to discuss and share our weather.  We learned that the kids in Wisconsin are accustomed to cold and snowy winters, (hence their sending us chili powder to represent all the chili that they eat), but that this winter was extremely mild and unseasonal for them as well.  On our second Skype we gave weather reports from our town and even had a student summarize the Skype.  We had sent our ePals a book that we made on New York State, including pictures of our state flower, animal, capital, landmarks, foods, etc.  My students (and I assume theirs as well), learned a lot by preparing this.  In addition, we obviously learned a lot about technology and communicating with people far away.  We also showed the students a Google Earth Tour of where we live to Wisconsin, right to the school where our ePals attend.  This really pointed out the distance, direction and waterways, (oceans versus lakes).  I really enjoyed this informative and engaging project and I know that all of the students involved did as well.    

Our second Skype

We had our second Skype session this week.  This time we felt that we were even more successful due to the fact that we had prepared our questions and answers prior.  We asked and answered about our geography, (lakes, beaches), and local resources, (pumpkins, apples, cranberries), etc.  We also had students share the weather report at each of our locations and our class even had a representative "wrap up" the skype session with a summary of what we discussed.  These were neat aspects that we added.  We look forward to speaking again in a few weeks.

This week's epal update...

This week we received a package from our epals in Wisconsin (and them ours).  The students in both classrooms were inevitably excited to receive the goodies from their new friends.  We sent our kindergarten friends a book we made which showed all of the NY state symbols, (blue bird, apple, muffin, beaver, etc.).  We also sent them printouts of all of our NY professional sports teams, shells and beach glass from the beach, a couple copies of the Waldo Tribune and some WHB Hurricane mini footballs, in addition to an interactive writing the students made.  We received sausages because "they like to eat sausages there", a toy cow for them being the dairy state, a local paper, pictures and writing, craisins because they grow cranberries there, Carmex and Windex wipes because they are both produced there and chili powder because they eat a lot of chili there.  The project was cute!

My project Update

I am sending out a "care package" to our epals tomorrow.  This package will contain an interactive writing from the students, local shells and beach glass,mini- footballs representing our school, and coloring pages representing the symbols of the state, including all of our professional sports teams.  We plan to Skype again next week and are brainstorming a relevant theme for focus.  As the book describes, I believe we need to show and model responsible uses of the Internet and its resources and applications.  I am confident that the project we are doing is allowing my students to capture this effectively.

Our first Skype was a success!

I am happy to report that we skyped with our kindergarten friends in Wisconsin!  We learned that these students do not have off like we do next week!  We also learned that they swim in lakes to cool off in the summer (when they are e coli-free)!  These students do have ipads and smartboards, as we do.  They have a lot of the same specials as us but the teacher teaches them in the classroom!  We also found out that they had a mild winter without much snow also!  We look forward to our next chat!