Avon East and Manor Primary get the “Point” of meeting through IVC with an interactive story.

Mrs. Mason’s second grade students started the day and Mrs. Parker’s students ended the day with Lisa Wheeler’s story Porcupining read over the videoconferencing system. The classes connected at 9:30am Avon time and 2:30pm Manor time which was a surprise to both classes. After the classes had a chance to greet each other the students learned more about each others communities and locations with Google Earth. Using satellite images of each others schools the students were able to see a bird’s eye view of each others towns. The Avon students loved to see Manor’s swimming pool and the their beautiful campus.

Once the students had a better understanding of each others locations the classes were read the story Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story by Lisa Wheeler. Using a document camera the classes were able to see pictures from the story book while the story was read over the videoconferencing systems. This program served as a kickoff to a writing and comprehension project that will take place over the video systems and email.

The Avon Schools are thrilled to working with Manor Primary School and look forward to our next videoconference!

Avon and Firelands students enhance written expression through Mystery Box project

Miss Neushafer’s fifth grade students shared their imaginations writing skills through a collaborative project with Mrs. Barr’s class at South Amherst Middle School. The students sent a box of clues of a crime scene to each others schools. The students had to predict what happened based on the evidence, write a description of what occurred and identify the person guilty of the crime.

The classed connected in a videoconference with their partner school and took turns reading their accounts. The stories were well written, full of exciting events. The students really enjoyed reading their stories over the systems. This activity provided the students with a fun way to work on their written expression as well as problem solving.

Could this be the next spin off of CSI??

Avon Students kick off Black History Month with the Vanderbilt Virtual School

Students from Avon Heritage South and North had the opportunity to learn more about the fight for freedom for African American Slaves. Dr. Frank Dobson from the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center discussed the struggle for the Northern and Southern states to abolish slavery. The students were treated to a video about Franklyn Douglas and a brief history of the slave trade.

Dr. Dobson did a great job stressing that the battle to end slavery was not just an issue with the Southern states. Examples of events that occurred in both regions of the United States and how difficult it was for slaves to escape bondage were described to the students.

This session was a great introduction to our teachers units on the Underground Railroad. The students had the opportunity to ask questions to Dr. Dobson and to get a better perspective of events. We want to thank Vanderbilt College for this great opportunity.

If you would like to learn more about their programming you can visit them on the web at www.vanderbilt.edu/virtualschool/