Virtual Valentines
My students have been having so much fun taking part in the “Virtual Valentines: Melting the Miles Between Classrooms” program. It is the 3rd year of this annual project. Through this podcast team, we were teamed up with a 5th grade class in Olathe, KS. We had several tasks that needed to be completed before February 14: 1. Create virtual valentines using an app, 2. Research our partner classroom and where they live, 3. Take photos of my students working on their project and research, and 4. Calculate the distance in kilometers between our classrooms.
For the Virtual Valentines, they could use Doodle Buddy, Pic Collage, Wordsalad, Word Dream, ABCYA, and Square Fit to choose from. Some students combined two apps to create their Valentine. On the “card”, they had to include 3 interesting facts about school, San Antonio, or themselves. They really enjoyed doing that activity. We put those “cards” into a virtual book which we sent to their class. You can take a look at their book with this link.
I assigned various topics regarding Olathe, KS, and their school, to small groups of students in order for them to become knowledgeable about Olathe. After they researched, I had the groups write 2 questions they’d like to ask the class.
This morning at 9:00, we Skyped with their class so that we could meet them and ask questions. We asked them several questions: “Do you all have any parades that celebrate your town’s history? What clubs do you all have at your school that 5th graders can join? Have you all been to the Mahaffie Stagecoach? What is an attraction you like to go to when you are in Kansas City, MO?” The students really enjoyed this activity and learning about another city in the United States. Several of us read about some fun places that tourists can visit in Olathe, KS.
During our research and talking with Mrs. Schoebnerg’s class, we learned that you all are called the Roadrunners. It would take us 11 ½ hours to drive the 1,273 km to your neighborhood. We also found out that some of the sports that you all play are fencing, tennis, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, soccer, Tae Kwon Do, volleyball, and flag football. The two sports that we don’t see at the elementary level in San Antonio are fencing and lacrosse. We thought that Black Bob Park looked like a fun place to go for all types of sports and fun outside. We all want to jump on a bus and travel up there! The Advanced Laser Tag in Olathe, KS, sounds fun with the 6,000sq ft 2 story building. We learned that the founder of Olathe, KS, was Dr. John Barten. We had fun finding out Pizza Hut got started in Kansas. We also learned that the first helicopter and the rotary telephone were invented in Kansas. You all are so close to Kansas City, MO, it is just 22 miles away. Several of us thought that the “Escape Room” looked like a fun place to go in Kansas City. The challenge of being locked in a room until a puzzle is solved sounds like fun. We had fun researching and learning about another community in another state.