ThomasJG ‘Two Global Schoolhouse Activities’

1.  Landmark Brochure Exchange

We would like to exchange brochures of landmarks near your school for brochures of landmarks near our school. We will use these brochures to learn more about where you live. After locating you on the map, we will study your brochures then compare and contrast differences in different localities.

http://www.globalschoolhouse.org/pr/_cfm/GetDetail.cfm?pID=1461

2. Van Buren Sunrise & Sunset Times

We would like to collect sunrise and sunset times from different countries of the world and track them from Oct - May. We want to further our understanding of Earth Science and geography.

http://www.globalschoolhouse.org/pr/_cfm/GetDetail.cfm?pID=1728

These interactive projects invite teachers to trade local information regarding landmarks, a Social Studies topic, and sunrise and sunset times, a Science topic.  Both activities are suitable for groups from Kindergarten through fourth grade.

Landmark brochures, the kind published at sites of interest in America, generally provide reading material that is of an easy reading level, and are colorful and graphic.  They make a great starting point for class discussions about history and geography.  Activities using them could include further reading and certainly writing about the subjects described in them.  The brochures could be displayed in a mural-sized map showing where they came from.

The data collected in the Sunrise and Sunset Times project lends itself, not only to Earth Science and Geography, but equally to Mathematics and computer applications studies.  I would have my students use Excel to keep track of the information as it arrives.  They would use the Internet to explore the source regions.  After some reflection, they would use HyperStudio to report on their conclusions about disparities in the data, including in their presentations some original drawings depicting the celestial underpinnings of the phenomena.