Elaine Ireland - e-Pal from Jasper, Ontario, Canada
We take a lot of pleasuring listening to, and showcasing, those who have benefitted by being an e-Pal subscriber. Elaine Ireland, from Jasper, Ontario is one such person.
TIME & TEMPERATURE NEAR ELAINE’S HOME, SMITH’S FALLS, ONTARIO, CANADA
The common thread of the e-Pal network is “sharing”. A good example is the one of the projects that Elaine undertook to “share” weather reports with other kids –far and wide. (This was particularly interesting to us because of my own fascination with Weather Underground and all those thingys that show you time and temperature in the speaker’s locale.)
Another project — near and dear to us because it caused mention in an ordinary radio broadcast - was Elaine’s project to “share “Bruce” - a moose. In this project, Bruce Moose ended up with some Australian kids who mention it in their radio show. Click here to learn more.
Elaine holds a BA in Psychology and Music from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario a B Ed degree in Primary, Junior, Intermediate levels from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Most notably she is being awarded Teach of the Year by the Elementary Teacher’s Federation Ontario, on October 5. Congratulations Elaine!
Here’s some additional information she sent us:
Elaine writes:
Currently I teach all grade 2 subject areas except for French. I do a lot of teaching through music. The grade 2 social studies program deals with the multicultural aspect of Canada and learning about the world. I have found the epals program to be fantastic for this. Our class has a mascot, Bruce Moose, who has been to England, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, U.S.A. and Colombia. He is scheduled for Iceland, U.S.A. and Czechoslovakia this year. We have hosted a kiwi, a platypus, an emu, a crayfish, an eagle, two bears, a lion and a parrot from different parts of the world. My classes have done partner writing with a grade 2 class in Florida, U.S.A. for three different years, exchanged math problems with a class in Barranquilla, Colombia and art work with a class in Poland.
Our primary division is involved in an Ontario Turnaround project to improve the language and math scores of our students.
I have presented workshops on music and epals to teachers throughout our Upper Canada District School Board.
And some links she provides
1. About her second grade class
2. A colorful Spring
3. Fall is here
4. A dance with the butterflies
5. Literature Services
6. Mouse Tales
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October 1st, 2006 at 10:12 am
I’ve been working with Elaine for the last three years. We have communicated via email and worked on several different projects that have positively impacted my students’ language arts skills.
One project we have done twice is writing circle stories. We each read stories like If you Give a Mouse a Cookie. First we each wrote a story beginning and then emailed to each. We each added parts and then emailed it back. The students were highly motivated not only to read the parts that they had written but also to see what direction the other class had taken the story. It was particularly interesting to see that although Canada is our nearest neighbor and we consider their culture fairly similar since we share a language, that there are some big cultural differences, particularly since our class is our far south in the US.
We also encouraged our students to write powerpoint presentations to share with one another. They wrote about how to play recess games, which also gave an interesting cultural perspective as well as about math and touring our school. It’s also fun just to send email questions-living in South Florida, my students don’t really understand what it was like to live somewhere cold. They were floored when Elaine emailed us a powerpoint showing us what it was like during the winter. My students were eaten up with jealously over the fact that they have snow until I showed them the picture of the coatroom. They couldn’t believe that people have to put on that many clothes just to go outside! We also sent them a powerpoint about what it’s like to live through a hurricane, which is something we have had a lot of experience with, but her students had not.
Another project we collaborated on was a visit from a stuffed animal-Elaine sends Bruce the Moose to us and we send Emily the Eagle to visit them. The students take home a journal to write and draw about the different things that they do with Bruce, like going to Cub Scouts or Hebrew School or out to dinner or playing with their gameboys. Bruce and Emily also travel with books, coins, and stamps about their home country. Because there is a Hershey factory in Elaine’s hometown, there are usually goodies that come with Bruce-which the students really enjoy! Even without the goodies, we have to carefully select who is going to take Bruce home, because everyone wants an opportunity to introduce him to their family as well as have the opportunity to tell their story about Bruce. The students wait anxiously for their turn and often want to keep him for several days so that they can do a really good job on their writing entry. When Emily returns to us, we find it very interesting to read about where she has been. The students will often pick up her journal to read what the kids in Canada have written and comment about how different their lives are as well as how similar.
Finally, from a professional standpoint, it’s really great to get some new ideas from someone as well as feel a connection, even if it’s only via email. Sharing things with Elaine has been a great opportunity to enrich my students’ language skills as well as improve their understanding of different communities and cultures. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with her and I hope we’ll get to do a lot more projects together in the future.
October 12th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Here is my talk.
Four years ago I decided to learn how to use the computer more in my teaching as a goal for my annual learning plan. That simple goal has blossomed into something wondrous for my grade 2 students and myself.
Smiths Falls, Ontario has very little ethnic diversity but that hasn’t stopped my students from learning about and working with friends from many different cultures. Through epals:
• we currently are sharing and comparing our weather data with 11 other countries (http://www.mrsireland.irelands.ca/projectoutline.htm),
• we have co-written, illustrated and published circle stories with friends in Florid (http://www2.ucdsb.on.ca/djschoular/Ireland/projects.htm
under We create Presentations there are 7 “If You Give A….” stories
under International Internet Projects there is one “If You Give A…” story.
• we have created, exchanged and worked on math problems with friends in Colombia,
• we have created and exchanged pieces of art with friends in Poland,
• worked on a Cinderella reading/writing project with friends in Argentina,
• created a PowerPoint about our school and class activities for friends in Japan, Australia and the United States
http://www2.ucdsb.on.ca/djschoular/Ireland/projects.htm
Sorting and Patterning, Our classroom, Our Year End Trip
• and in powerpoints and artwork we have explained our winter experiences
http://www.irelands.ca/emilyvisitsdjs.ppt
http://www.irelands.ca/happyhalloween.ppt
http://www.irelands.ca/remembranceday.ppt
http://www.irelands.ca/septaroundtheworld.ppt
http://www.irelands.ca/tourofsmithsfall.ppt
• and in exchange have learned through first hand accounts what it is like to live through a hurricane.
These purposeful and focused activities cover the curriculum in an enjoyable and useful way.
Bruce, Nikki, Barnaby, Emily and Trace, just to name a few, are class members that are loved and will be long remembered by my students. They have helped us with our Character education; learning to share, care and be responsible. I am referring to travel buddies. Our Bruce Moose has visited schools on five continents so far and in exchange my classes have been visited by a parrot, a platypus, an Emu, a Kiwi, two bears, a lion, a crawfish, an eagle, and a cartoon character. The travel buddies participate in all classroom and school activities. These visitors present endless opportunities for writing activities. Journal entries accompanied by labeled illustrations and photographs, written reports on class activities, writing step by step instructions on favourite games, writing description for pictures of our school and town for power points, and creating, recording and writing interviews. These language activities capture the interest of my students, lend themselves to differentiated learning and universal learning design and lead into authentic assessment practices. How heartening it is when my seven year old students are anxious to get into class every morning to see what the next few sentences in a co-written story will be or to find out the answers to some questions they sent to friends across the world.
Our new 2006 Ontario language document states that “Leaning to communicate with clarity and precision, orally, in writing, and through a variety of media, will help students to thrive in the world beyond school. Epals certainly is helping my students get a good start on reaching that goal.
As for myself, I have met many wonderful colleagues the world over. We regularly share curriculum and classroom activity ideas, work sheets, and suggest ‘must read’ books on teaching. I have gained a world wide support system of like minded teachers.
I have presented the benefits of the epals program to many teachers in our school board. http://www.irelands.ca/bethepeacePPtpresentation.ppt
Elaine