Around the World in 80 Minutes

Hey Kids,

Do you ever wonder what kids do in other classes?

Do they read the same books we do?  Do they dress up in character?

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Polyphemus and his Cyclops friends

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Jason, the Argonauts, Kings Pelias and Aeetes, Medea, Phineas, and the Harpies

Do they have an 80 minute language arts class?

Do they race to diagram a sentence?

Do they use iPads in the classroom?

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Day one of 1:1 iPads

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Interviewing each other with our new iPads

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Exploring our new technology

 

When you live in one classroom, it is easy to think that there is only one way to do things.  One of the reasons we love blogging is that we get to step into the classrooms of other kids.  We see new ways of doing things.  Our brains engage in the “what if” scenario.  What if we…

 

Visit some of our blogging buddies.  Visit their blogging buddies!  Read about their classrooms.  Write them a quality comment.  Ask questions about what they are learning.  Share what you are learning.  Love.  Learn.  Soar.  Pass it on.

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7 thoughts on “Around the World in 80 Minutes

  1. Thanks so much for the mention. We’re always looking for collaboration and love getting visits and comments from classes, teachers and students from all around the world.

    We are just starting to move into Summer and about to go on our end of term break, we finish our School year in December, and start again in February so we’d love to communicate and look at doing something between now and then. Please vote for us! 🙂
    Mr Webb and Room One, Auroa Primary School, Taranaki, New Zealand.
    mrwebbauroa.blogspot.com

    • G’day Mr. Webb and Room One!
      We would love to collaborate with you before your summer vacation. We are putting on our thinking caps. Thank you for visiting us as well.
      My kids send me postcards during their summer vacations. Since we have been blogging, I really like the name “post”card! Perhaps we could start an old-fashioned post card exchange in addition to a high tech “blog post” exchange! We will pop a Florida post card in the mail to you this week!
      ~Mrs. Donofrio

      • We don’t say g’day in New Zealand – thats the welcome of our mortal enemies, the Australians, (kind of like you and Canadians from what I understand!)

        • Oh my heavens. What a faux pas! Thank you for educating me! As far as I know about relations between the U.S. and the Canadians, though, I think we are on good terms! Having lived the first 37 years of my life in Boston, Massachusetts (about 5 hours from the Canadian line), I always felt a bit of a kinship with our neighbors to the North. I crossed the border for vacation when possible, and the U.S. still accepts Canadian coins (not their bills, though). Also, when I was growing up, we didn’t need passports to visits Canada, just a birth certificate. Our hockey teams may be rivals, but that’s as far as it goes, I think.
          Please accept my apologies, however, for any unintentional slight in my greeting. It was due to ignorance on my part. Now I know better! I learned something new today.
          ~Mrs. Donofrio

  2. Hi Mrs. Donofrio,
    That was a very interesting article! It was really interesting to see what other schools and classes do because were use to what we do at our school, so it is once again very interesting. I left a comment on the blog Huzzah. I commented on the first post that was about how we all learn everything and were not born perfectly smart. What do you think is interesting about seeing other blogs?

  3. (Hey, you see that traffic feed with a visitor from Washington, NJ? That’s me… Audg Paudg!) Now you may be wondering about what kids in middle school do outside Epiphany, but how about I tell you about what we do in HS? Warren Hills HS to be exact (for y’all who didn’t believe I would move back to NJ, well, 🙂 I DID)

    I’m in honors English, all thanks to the wonderful Mrs. Donofrio, and boy is it boring! I think every class is boring compared to Mrs. Donofrios, actually lol. I’m ahead in my English class for multiple reasons, my teacher is going to have us read a short version of Romeo and Juliet, BEEN THERE DONE THAT. We DON’T dress up, maybe it has to do with the fact we are young adults but I STILL WANT TO DRESS UP LIKE A PRINCESS. We have 40 min classes, and boy do we have a lot of class options, such as Mythology 101, Modern Day Mythology (Marvel, DC Comics, ETC), and Shakespeare 101!! We get out of school at 2:18, which is amazing btw. No, we don’t race to diagram sentences, we are doing poems right now, and I mean the boring ones that don’t rhyme. We don’t have iPads because we just constructed a huge football stadium, 5 tennis courts, soccer fields, ETC. Yeah, we spent a lot of money on an entire new half of the school, so I’m fine without having iPad.

    Go ahead and pick apart this post and fix it up all you want, I wasn’t assigned to comment so I was a bit lazy AND I can use emojis all I want :). I wish a great year to everyone I know and all the new faces! I MISS Y’ALL!!! Remember these things by the way
    1 ALWAYS do your homework completely and do it your best
    2 STUDY like you have a final everyday
    3 LISTEN to your teacher (except when they say the Red Sox are the best, say hi to Mr. M for me!)
    4 EAT breakfast and DON’T skip lunch (you’ll be thinking about how hungry you are all history class (Please say hi to Mrs. G for me, too! I’m in honors History)
    Trust me, it’ll all catch up to you in HS.

    P.S tell Mrs. Cray I’m probably being put in advanced art and I’m going to start working on some stuff for a college portfolio for 4 years (that is if the school allows me, no freshman in advanced art classes, but my art teacher thinks I should do it!)

    Miss you guys SOO much,
    Audrey

    • AUDREY! A big, happy hello from Venice, Florida! It is so great to hear from you, and especially that you are doing so well. Of course, I am not surprised at all. While I don’t want you to be bored in class, I am glad to hear that you are well prepared for high school, even more so when the high school is back in New Jersey! Are you back in your old town or are you in a different part of New Jersey?
      You will be happy to hear that we just finished reading three plays, and we dressed up for every one of them: The Odyssey, Jason and the Golden Fleece, and Antigone. Do you remember reading any of these stories? We have discussed the Greek hero, the tragic hero, epic poems, tragedies, quests, and all sorts of figures of speech from personification to epithets. We have yet to have a diagram race, but have diagrammed on our desks with dry erase markers and on our iPads using Educreations. I still use the stylus you gave me, so I think of you often. Yesterday and today are oral report days, which I love. Because we read about Odysseus’ journey, the kids are reporting on journeys they would like to make. So far we have learned about Bora Bora, Malta, Mallorca, the Amazon Rain Forest, Ireland, Paris, Mexico, Thailand, Russia, Prague. Now I want to visit all of these places, so the kids have done a great job in presenting.
      Thank you for your excellent tips in preparing for high school. It sure helps to have someone who has been there, done that give her perspective on what is important in middle school. Every single piece of advice you offer is right on the money. I hope my current middle schoolers are listening!
      If I see any members of your old class, I will make sure to let them know you are in New Jersey now. (I already told Mitch.) I see some of the kids who still have siblings at Epiphany. So far, everyone seems to be adjusting pretty well to high school.
      Are you enjoying some fall weather in New Jersey? Autumn is one time I really miss New England. I love the crisp air, the apples and pumpkins, the mums and scarecrows, and of course all the foliage. I’m making myself miss some homemade apple pie and a cup of hot chocolate!
      Thanks for thinking of us and writing us a note, Audrey. You made my day! Keep in touch.
      God bless you,
      Mrs. Donofrio

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