Ah, Friday! Australia Treats

I’ll never forget about six weeks ago when three girls came running up to me, telling me about their next genius hour adventure. “We are going to send chocolates to people around the world, so they can taste our chocolate. Then we are going to ask them to send us some chocolate from their country. We can compare the tastes and packages.” So, they were off!

Thanks to some of the students’ friends and relatives, plus members of my awesome PLN, the students have received packages from South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, France, and, the latest, from Australia.

I met Lyn Howlin last year when we completed the teacher’s blogging challenge together. Later my seventh graders hosted her third graders’ Flat Stanleys. Now we’ve been Flickr photo friends and email penpals. She’s now retired, but she’s still a teacher. Look at the beautiful letter she wrote, engaging my students in learning about the world.

Thank you, Lyn!

(Students are still working on their comparison and taste test.)

This post is also published on The Global Classroom Project blog, “A Letter From Oz.”

7 thoughts on “Ah, Friday! Australia Treats

    1. Yes, Gallit, the power of global connections has our teaching and learning turned upside down this year! So fun! I was not nearly as enthusiastic as they were when they started. I was pleasantly surprised at the outpouring of chocolate and love from around the world!

      Thanks for the tweet and the comment!
      Denise

  1. Hi Denise,

    I love this student example of how Genius Hour has your students moving beyond the four walls of the classroom and connecting with others around the globe. It’s a great example of 21st century learning!

    It would be fun to see how your students decided to rate the chocolates. Did they create a rubric with qualities they were looking for such as texture, aftertaste, etc.?

    Regards,
    Tracy

    1. Tracy,
      I do love how the students are benefiting from my having joined a conversation through blogging and Twitter. I never knew what I was missing before last year. It’s been so fun to develop professional friendships with others around the globe, and now the benefit to my students is apparent.

      I will ask them how they are determining which chocolate they like best! Good question. A rubric would be a good way to organize all the many tastes. I can’t wait to see how they report about it.

      Thanks for commenting, Tracy.
      Sincerely,
      Denise

  2. Denise,
    I love the way your students are becoming part of the global society and coming up with their own questions about what interests them. That global awareness and engaging with those outside our own community are such important life skills.
    The Genius Hour is such a wonderful idea.
    JoAnn

    1. Thanks, JoAnn. I like it that my students like to learn. They do always know what they plan to do next for genius hour. This chocolate group will be busy for the rest of the year, I think! They will practice many skills along the way too. Evaluating, creating, summarizing, reporting, and more, I’m sure.

      Thanks for visiting!
      Denise

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