Where We Live

Lesson Summary:
Living in western Nebraska, our children have little opportunity to travel, and know very little about the world outside our small community. A recent Alliance High graduate is a member of the Peace Corps serving in Jamaica. During the last school year my second grade class began a year long dialog with him and two school children he works with in a small Jamaican community. Every student e-mailed pertinent questions to the Jamaican trio and communicated about their school life, sent pictures over the internet, and we spoke to them over the phone thanks to the International Office of the Peace Corps.

We would like to continue this project and take it to a new level by learning more about each others countries and day to day life.

-Each student will take pictures of a different place in our community such as a local farm, our hospital, downtown shopping district, a local grocery store, bank, church, football field, neighborhoods, movie theater, etc.
-We will ask our Jamaican counterparts to do the same in their community and surrounding areas.
-We will make a picture book using Tool Factory Workshop and send it to our friends in Jamaica.
-As an added benefit, and as a part of map skills curriculum, we will also distribute these books to new students in our school so they will feel comfortable when they arrive in our community.
-Our project will begin with the "digital camera basics" workbooks.
-Once children have completed the workbooks they will take turns checking out the camera and, accompanied by their parents or a responsible adult, will take photos of the community location they have chosen to write about.
-They will use interviewing skills to gather information and return to the classroom to write their page for the booklet. Tool Factory Workshop will be the perfect software choice for this undertaking.
-Each child will have an individual lesson from the building technology teacher on how to attach the pictures to an e-mail and copy and paste their write-up to the document.
-They will then send their finished product to Jamaica via the Internet.
-Our Peace Corps volunteer will take pictures of a corresponding location in Jamaica, have his students write about it, and send it on to us.
-Once all the students have completed their "page", they will be compiled and bound.
-At the end of the project we should have a booklet about our community and a contrasting booklet from Albert Town, Jamaica.

Not only will students acquire an appreciation for the practical uses of technology in today's world, but they will have an unforgettable experience of life in a world far removed from their sandhills home in Nebraska.