Skype adventures 2012 #3

Wow! All around the world? What about 3 continents in one hour?

The library prefects had such a fantastic, fun and engaging afternoon @ our library!  Mystery skyping with Form 5s in Honduras, and playing Geography Detectives with Grade 3s in Illinois.

And then we  topped that off by connecting one of our prefects (a future empress of the world, because according to our motto, 'the geeks shall inherit the earth') with her new hero, Steve Hallowes , a Mathematics and Education specialist in South Africa. Our heads are just giddy from all the excitement!

Our ISLM Bookmark Exchange!

   PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO HEAR THE MUSIC!
Last year, we had so much fun creating our bookmarks and artifacts for our two Global Classroom buddies during International School Libraries Month, that this year, we decided to go even bigger. So we're exchanging bookmarks with schools in FIVE countries - Croatia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Pakistan and the United States of America!

Since this year is also the 50th anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago's independence, we have chosen to let all our bookmarks reflect the theme of our Proud to read T&T project. We explored NALIS' website thoroughly  especially the subject guide and digital library collection. Each handcrafted bookmark shares something very special about our country, something unique and very Trinbagonian!

What do people eat in Sierra Leone?

This week , our quadblogging group is posting about local foods. Who knows what they eat in Australia and Greece? Well, we don't either, but we are going to find out!

And we have made a new GLOBAL CONNECTION! Our Global Classroom friends from Ms. Kanu's class live in Sierra Leone, which is a country in West Africa. They sent us a presentation about what people eat in their country. Strangely enough, some dishes sound a lot like foods we eat in Trinidad and Tobago...
Click on the picture to view the slideshow and don't forget to leave a comment on the Edmodo Grade 5 Collaboration wall if you want to find out more about food in Congo Town, Sierra Leone!

Skype adventures 2012 #1

Country:- Portugal

On Friday, the Form 6s had an amazing Skype session with the students of the Agrupamento de Escolas de Figueiró dos Vinhos. We had prepared for the session by checking out the resources on the NALIS website and with that and their general knowledge, they were ready!
First they all introduced themselves and then each group shared about their country and culture, youth issues and education. The girls even showed them our Divali display in the library and then mentioned our school's upcoming Divali celebration complete with tassa drumming, sitar instrumentals,dancing and singing etc.
Our learners noticed that the Portuguese students seemed were somewhat surprised about our activities as we are a Roman Catholic school. There was a very lively exchange about what it means to live in a truly multicultural society!

This is us!

This year as part of our Global Classroom activities the Form1s will be quad-blogging!
We all know what blogging is, and many of us are on Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr..., but quad-blogging is really special. They'll be sharing their blogs with at least 3 other classes - from South Carolina, U.S.A., from Hawkesdale, Australia and from Athens, Greece for the whole school year.
Each week they'll be posting on various topics and commenting on each others blogs. Please feel free to click on our classes on the left and join in!

Light the candles all around the world

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The Grade 4 at the Jackson School invited us to be a part of this project. At the Library, some prefects and Form 2s lit a candle to show we share their holiday spirit!

Skype adventures 2

When our librarian, Ms. Heywood explained that as part of our International School Libraries Month (and Global Classroom) activities we were going to Skype with other students in classrooms and libraries in other countries, we were so excited.We could hardly wait because we were so eager to start!
We really wanted to see their school and to find out if what we saw in American television shows was actually the way they seemed. Our class got to meet lots of  students from the Holbrook High School in Arizona, U.S.A. and their librarian.
We had so much fun. We didn't know very much about their state and they didn't know much about Trinidad and Tobago, so we got a chance to share what we had learned about our country and culture in our 'T&T is me!' research projects.
There are lots of Native American students at this school and they belong to many different clans and they told us about some of their customs. They even tried to get us to say something in their language, but it was very difficult.Some of them spoke Spanish and we (well, mostly Melanie) were able to show them what we had learned in class!
We thought that it was very interesting and informative and a genius way to meet people in other countries. We really felt connected to the world. It was a great day and we can't wait to do it again!

Jade L.. Shanice L., Serena S. and Sarah-Marie C. (1K)

International School Libraries Month

We have Bookmark Buddies!
International School Library Month is celebrated in schools all over the world in October each year. The ISLM theme for 2011 is 'School Libraries Empower Learners for Life'. To celebrate this month, we had several different activities @ our library.

The Form 1s were delighted to find out that we had been chosen by 3 schools in Croatia; the 4th Elementary School, Bjelovar, the Grigor Vitez Elementary School, St. John Žabno, Josipa Jurja Strossmayera Elementary School, and 1 school from the town of Novouralsk, in the Sverdlovsk region, Russia in the Bookmark Exchange. 

We wondered why they had chosen us and all concluded that it had to be because Trinidad and Tobago is so special! So we decided to find out more about our wonderful country so we could show everyone just what makes us so different! We'll be sharing what we've learnt in Skype sessions with our new friends and right here on our blog, so keep posted!

Ms. Heywood

The Global Classroom project

Today the globalisation of business, advances in technology and increasing migration means that to be successful, everyone will need to be able to work on a international scale. We'll need to be more knowledgeable about other countries and global issues, and able to communicate across cultures and languages. Students gain such global competencies when they develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to understand and act creatively and innovatively on issues that are global in scope, or important local issues that are faced by others in other parts of the world.

This year, several classes at St. Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago will have chances to participate with over 100 teachers and 2000 learners all over the world in the Global Classroom project. The Form 1s will exchange bookmarks and glogs and have several Skype visits during International School Libraries Month in October. They'll have epals (like pen pals, only online) and will be leading the Global Eco-warriors Project, researching meaningful issues in 4 main areas-

• Environmental sustainability
• Economic development
• Health and human development
• Cultural identity and diversity.

Through their activities in these projects, they will begin to learn how to study the world beyond their immediate environment, to recognise and respect the perspectives of others, to communicate their ideas effectively with diverse audiences and to collaborate effectively and to translate their ideas into appropriate actions to improve conditions. Join our blog to follow them their journey!


Ms. Heywood