Grade 2K Richards Elementary School 5812 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin USA

Internet Projects

Newsletter Exchange
We exchange monthly e-mail newsletters with classes of children from different states and countries. Each newsletter covers a specific topic, such as a typical day at school, our favorite sports and games, books and authors we like, and our summer plans. This project helps us practice map skills, work on letter writing, discover how children are alike and different, use the computer and e-mail to communicate, and make new friends throughout the world. We will exchange news from October to May.

Our partner school for this school year are from:
Alafia Elementary School in Valrico, Florida
Blanchard Elementary School in Cape Giradeau, Missouri
Captain Isaac Paine School in Foster, Rhode Island
Eagle Lake Elementary School in Eagle Lake, Minnesota
Helen Ball School in El Paso, Texas
The International School of Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany
Minisink Valley Elementary School in Slate Hill, New York
Presentation Primary School in Terenure, Dublin, Ireland
Sisters Elementary School in Sisters, Oregon
St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, California
Karsta School in Karsta, Sweden


Traveling Buddy
We had a Traveling Buddy from the San Diego Zoo visit our classroom and accompany us on our field trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. A Traveling Buddy is a stuffed animal which travels from classroom to classroom around the US and helping children learn about science and social studies. Our Buddy is a panda from the San Diego Zoo which is being sponsored by Mrs. Switzer's class at Del Mar Heights Elementary School in Del Mar, California. Her name is Pauline Panda and she has a baby named Bai Ling. We will be following her travels through the web page created by students from Del Mar and by checking the Panda Cam at the San Diego Zoo web site.


Final Answer 
Our newsletter partners in Mrs. Resh's second grade class at St. Margaret's Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, CA invited us to solve their weekly Internet quiz which they call "Final Answer". Each week they post 3 questions which are to be solved used the Internet web site they point us to from their web page. We had lots of fun solving their questions about the Iditarod in March and can't wait to find out what questions they have to challenge us each week!


GeoMystery 
We joined an Internet project , created by Mrs. Mark and the Hawaii Geographic Alliance, called GeoMystery in March. In this project we use our geography and research skills skills to discover the locations of fifteen partner schools by following the clues they have posted online. To solve each GeoMystery, we are looking at a school's clues on the web page then reading maps, looking for landforms, and searching for man-made structures like highways, buildings, and so on. Check out the GeoMystery for Whitefish Bay which was developed by 2K second graders two years ago. Do you know where in the world you are?


World Weather Watch 
Since we study weather in science class, participated in an Internet project called World Weather Watch in February and March. Each Wednesday we recorded the sunrise, sunset, high temperature, low temperature, noon temperature, sky conditions, and precipitation and send it to the project web site where it was recorded. Two days later, we made a printout of the more than 100 schools participating and used it to compare and contrast the weather here in Whitefish Bay, WI, and weather in other states and countries. As part of the project, we also exchanged our Wednesday weather information with a class of second and third graders at Almond Avenue Elementary School in Livermore, CA. It was fun to exchange weather information with our CA partners!


Scholastic Online 
We use Scholastic Online for different academic online activities. Each day we try to solve rhyming word puzzles as a spelling activity from "Annie's Rhyme Time". We will also use sites to practice reading and math skills. We will visit with famous children's authors online as the year goes on.