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Ms. Challis's 5th Grade Class

Challis Ireland teaches fifth-grade language arts, science, and math in the Madison School District in suburban Phoenix, Ariz. For the Feb. 18, 2000, issue of the Net Family Newsletter we interviewed her about how she uses the Internet in her classroom. The more she told us of the Global Connections program in which her and one other class at Madison Meadows School are involved, the more we wanted to hear from the students, too, about the program. Challis said they'd enjoy the opportunity, so we asked them to pick which question they wanted to answer:


Technology Question:

Courtney Perry
I learned that when you get on the Internet you should never give your name out or e-mail address. The computer technology is so important to me 'cause you can get places faster like typing instead of handwriting it. Once you learn to type fast you go faster. The Internet helps me get information faster and specific. If you don't have the Internet you can use computer software. It gives you the same amount of information as the Internet does. Since my mom has lupus I look things up for her on the Internet and your computer and stuff that tells us what we can do to help. I think that the Internet improves our life. I think cause of the Internet mom is so much stronger today when she had it since she was my age.

Parker Jones
I learned that the Internet very interesting. You can see new things or hear new things you have never heard. The Internet is so big that you can learn twice as much as you do with an encyclopedia. I also think the Internet is the most basic way to introduce technology. Using the Internet you can learn new cultures, languages, personalities, and most of all... about the world.

Scott Ward
The most important thing I learned that you can play the Stock Market game. That is important because we are playing that in math. It's also important because you can learn a lot of math.

Joshua Olive
The most important thing I have learned is how to send things. I can send e-mails to my friends. Another thing is when I need to look something up I can go to the Internet now. I learned how to use the Internet properly.

Reilly Reid The most important thing we learned on the computer is we learned how to use search engines. Our main search engine is Metacrawler. Then after we leaned our search engines, we searched for Web sites and when we all had our Web sites we rolled it into one big Web page. Our Web page is constantly updated with important news and important dates. Another cool thing is Global Connections, where we can talk to Taiwan and Ireland. That's why I love the Internet.

Gerrit Gardner
The most important thing that I have learned in working with the Internet and computer technology is learning how to communicate with other countries. It is important because if we didn't communicate with other counties, the countries wouldn't be able to import goods to our country. We need to import goods because most of the countries are poor. Importing goods is one way to make money.

Sarah Lemke
The most important thing I learned is typing on the computer, or I would have to write it by hand. The Internet helps me find what I'm looking for, fast. Most of all, it's important because we wouldn't have most of the stuff we have now! (Cars, electronics, machines, etc.)

Ryan Gardiner
I have learned using the computer can be fun and I have learned a lot and it really has helped me with my reports like on my state report. It is important to me because the whole world is run on computers and I think it should be a very good in the world of computers. I think that my whole class will be doing much better then all of the other kids that have not done all of these cool and fun things on the computers.

Josh Orlando
The Internet is important because we can get info and many things. Ccomputers are important too, because computers can teach us many new things. Internet and computers are important to keep us up to date.

Global Connection Question:

Prashanthi Kaveti
"The most interesting thing I've learned in Global Connections is when we read our newspapers and cut clippings and send it to the people in Ireland and in Taiwan, and they send their things. It is neat to look at their stories and customs. It is fun to hear the stories that Mrs. Sutton's class [the other Global Connections class at Madison Meadows, a 6th-grade class] tells about Arizona. It also gives us a chance to learn about different countries, even though we have Social Studies! Global Connections lets Ireland and Taiwan use their technology. I like Global Connections because it is fun to learn about Ireland's and Taiwan different lifestyles.

K.J. Murphy
I Think the most interesting thing I learned was the facts and hobbies of other people in different countries. I learned that they liked to do some of the things I like to do. I learned some of them are also the same age as me. Mary McGillicuddy
I think it is so interesting to see what other students are learning in other parts of the world. I learned from the kids in Ireland that even though they're the same age as us they are learning from a third to fifth grade level because of the age difference. There are students from 9-11 all in the same grade. I also think it is funny yet interesting to realize that the students have different meanings or don't understand some of the words we use. I also love to hear their description and stories they tell us as well as us telling them the same things. I think it is so neat to know someone living in the other part of the world, and I hope someday that we can actually see the people in Ireland.

HollyAnne Kareiva
The most interesting thing I have learned about Ennis, Ireland, like their names, their pets, and their family. I also think it's neat to hear how they celebrate the holidays different from us. They also have different religions from us, and we can communicate with them.

Chelsey McMurray
I learned that every household in Ennis, Ireland, has at least one computer. I learned about my newsletter group and their families. I learned about their favorite hobbies, and their ages. Talking to people in different countries is a fun way to learn about their history.

Amanda Lugo
I think that finding out about other people from different parts of the world would be interesting because you get to find out what they look like, what they eat, what sports they play, and my favorite is listening to tales and stories that have been told in their country. I also like describing myself and what my hobbies are. I hope they would get as much description and information as they could because if they liked it a lot maybe someday they could come visit. Also, it is neat to see what other countries look like and what they do.

Katie West
I think the most interesting thing I have learned in Global Connections is how other countries use their technology to communicate with other countries. The reason I think this is because there are a million different ways to do this. Our classroom uses the newspaper to cut out what we think is important to our country and then show other countries how we interact with certain news. I think that hearing what they have to say about us, their perspective of a typical American family, what we do, and how we do it is also interesting to hear.

Jason Bruner
I think it is interesting to find out what other countries do, that we do differently. Also it is interesting because you get to talk to other people that you don't even know. It is interesting because you get to see what questions they have to say, and they get to listen to our questions. I also think it is interesting to see what they play because they have some different sports to play and I might want to hear some of them.

Torrie Davis
The most interesting thing that I have learned is that some countries don't celebrate the same holidays we do. It is neat seeing how they spell words differently. We can communicate with them by e-mail and handwriting mail. Ennis, Ireland, has year-round school. This is a great for kids of all ages to communicate with other countries.

Carter Brown
I think the most important thing that I have learned on Global Connections is all the languages, names, and things that the people we were talking with have. Taipei, Taiwan, speaks several different languages and the classes teacher has very powerful feelings. They also have very interesting names.

Emily Chelgren
The most interesting thing that I learned was that some countries don't celebrate the same things that we do. I think that that's interesting because I would think that a lot of countries would celebrate the same things we do. I like to hear what Ennis and Taipei celebrate instead.

Lindsey Robinson
The most interesting thing I have learned in Global Connections is what is going on in other countries and states. Also that we can learn their languages and what they like, their cultures, and that we can email them stuff that we like too. Other countries also might celebrate different holidays, or they might not even celebrate anything. I think that because now we can talk to other people in different countries and learn different things from them.

Megan Rhue
The most interesting thing I have learned in Global Connections are the things I get to see in the newspaper about our nation. When we get letters back we learn things about their country. One thing is the different things they are learning in their schools. What I learned about my school is that Meadows looks way different from years ago and now. Taiwan's schools talk in many, many different languages. When they talk in English it sounds as if they didn't finish the word or complete the sentence. I think it's interesting we can send messages so far away and also get a response as well.

Carly Brey
The most interesting thing I have learned is communicating with Ennis is fun. We got to hear their perspective of America. They have also told us that in their classrooms each student has their own computer. Another thing I think was interesting was that they had names that we couldn't even pronounce. I think it is interesting how we can send e-mails to them and they can send a respond back to us in only one day.

Rachel Ober
The most interesting thing I've learned in Global Connections work is about who we're exchanging information with. This is interesting to me because we're giving information to kids that are all different ages in the same class who have so much technology. I've never done anything like this before. I've been enjoying Global Connections and hope to do it again someday. I enjoy getting e-mails from Ennis and enjoy telling them about our nation.

Mathew Cowlin
The most interesting thing that I have learned in Global Connections is the customs of the people and the use of the Internet via e-mail. We hear the customs and prophesies of others. We hear their customs and see how different they are. Through this program the children in Phoenix learn about the Internet and to communicate via e-mail.

Morgan Coppernoll
The most interesting is that when we make them some thing they respond and say they like it. When we had just started. We wrote on a paper and told them how old we were and we have animals and about our family and more, and then we would go on the computer and write what was on the paper and then, after everyone was done, then we would print it and then send it to them. They have very weird names, like some you can't even pronouns them.

Kendal Lennick
The most interesting thing I learned was how to send e-mails to people and get responses back. I learned what different classes do. I learned some places don't get the e-mails you send them. I also learned to cut out important stuff and send it by e-mail.

Travis Robb
I think the most interesting thing I learned about Global Connections was that what they do for fun, and what is their lifestyle like. Another thing I found interesting was that their town was run by computers, and they didn't know how to use them very well. The last thing I found interesting was how they celebrate holidays.

Laurence Welch
I think that's it's fun to be able to talk to other people far away and learn their cultures. We can easily send them what's going on here and they can send us what their interests are. Also we can learn what they eat and do and then we can compare it to our own interests. I think it's great that we can use the computer to communicate and learn.

Roby Owsley
I think that the most interesting thing in Global Connections was that we were able to write to kids in Ennis, Ireland, and send it there and actually get a response. I think this is because nowadays we have very smart people that help us send our messages on the computer other than flying all the way to Ireland to give it to them. I also think this is interesting because we get to talk to kids that we have never seen before or never met until now. I also think this is cool because we get to talk to kids that are all the way in Ireland, and that is very far away from were we live, the U.S.A.

Ben Wynns
How amazing it is to work with other countries by computer technology because how technology has helped our lives in the past and how it will in the future, because in 5-10 years a lot more stuff will be computerized and maybe in 100 years the world could be run by computer, but some of this could be bad because of computer breakdowns, but people could prevent that.


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