Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Around the World Connections-Ideas



Global Connect with Panwapa
Lesson Objectives:  Students will learn how people around the world are similiar and different and build an appreciation and respect for their lifestyle, traditions, and the cultures of others. Students will also build an awareness of new regions and the world in which they live.
If you'd like to view the program, please go to www.Panwapa.com



I plan to implement my Panwapa Project during the month of March!
I can't wait!  I think the children will learn a lot!


March 1-I started my project today with a group of Kindergarteners. They were so excited. They created their character to represent themselves and they created their home. Next time, they will create their flag and print their profile. Then we will begin to explore Panwapa Island and the World.  They just love the name-Panwapa!


March 2-The next day, my kindergarten group created their flag, printed out their profile, and viewed the interests of their classmates. They discovered that all the boys in the group chose the electric guitar for their instrument of choice. They noticed similarities and differences among their peers about their selections represented on their flag.

March 8-Today, the students explored Panwapa Island. They played hide and seek in Spanish in penguin's house to view and learn about the island.  They explored the "Word of the Day" in two different languages and they watched a video introducing the Panwapa Island characters. Next time, we will conclude learning about Panwapa Island in preparation to travel the world.

March 13-The students traded their panwapa cards that identify their character and flag with their other classmates. They began learning how to search for children around the world that had specific interests. Next time, they will continue their search.

March 15-Today, the children continued their search of other children and their profiles, around the world. The children learned how to search for other children by specific interest, how to find and meet their visitors, and how to find Mrs. Belson's profile (character, house, and child) and their classmates profile. As an exit card to today's lesson, the children had to identify the name of another region of the world beside their own, USA, of a child they visited.

March 20-We reviewed how to locate visitors, and the children learned how to play the treasure hunt game to receive new Panwapa cards and locate and learn about children around the world with interests similiar to theirs. The children also learned how to send messages to other Panwapa kids. 

March 22-Today, the children learned how to visit informational booths around the world to learn facts about new countries and different regions of the world. The children continued to explore Panwapa World by checking for visitors, sending messages to Panwapa kids and locating new Panwapa kids around the world, learning words in new languages, playing the Treasure Hunt Game to learn more about interests of children around the world, learning new region/country names and their location in relation to the USA.

March 27-Today, I introduced the group to the movie library. Each movie highlights a child from another part of the world as they share about their daily life. The children learned about a little boy named Oleg from Russia and how his large family build their home and provide for themselves.  We discussed similarities and differences between them and Oleg. I invited them to explore other movies during their travel to Panawa World today.


April 3-Final travel destinations            

April 5-What I learned from Panwapa World?

2 comments:

Dawn M. Belson said...

I plan to introduce our kindergarteners to a simple and safe virtual world where they will learn about the world around them and the people and their cultures that live in our world. The students will be able to identify similiarities and differences between children their own age living in other parts of the world.

Kathy Haack said...

EXCELLENT!