What Color is your iPod®?

The sister-city project is taking on a new dimension! Kempsville Middle School is partnering up with Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College in Bangor, Northern Ireland.  This time around we are heading in a different direction.  Our teachers and staff will be the ones participating in the project.

We are trying to create an easy, laid back, virtual meeting space for the teachers and staff of Kempsville Middle School and Bangor Academy to come together to share ideas, post discussions, upload files and get to know each other.  No pressure, no students, no grades; just teachers collaborating and networking.

Please visit the Wiki at https://bangorkempsville.wikispaces.com/, sign up for a Wikispaces account, then request membership in the https://bangorkempsville.wikispaces.com/ or just follow along to see our progress!

This past week our school had the privilege of meeting the current Mayor and Mayoress of Bangor, Northern Ireland.  Mayor John Montgomery and his wife, Mayoress Kathleen Montgomery visited Kempsville along with several school board members, our City Clerk Mrs. Ruth Frasier and her husband, and members of the VBCPS school administration, Dr. Maynard Massey and Dr. Sheila Magula.

During the visit, the Mayor and Mayoress were able to meet and talk with many of the KMS students and teachers.  Student ambassadors from AVID, the SCA and NJHS explained to the visitors how their particular group had influenced their life.   And, naturally Frog had to get her picture taken with the Mayor and Mayoress!

An overview of the Pen Pal project,” What color is your iPod?” and the upcoming student Leadership Workshop were presented.

Kempsville is very hopeful that our Pen Pal project will be rejuvenated with another school from the Bangor area.  Our first goal would be for the teachers to get to know each other; develop plans and goals for future student exchanges online.

The KMS AVID students and Frog had the pleasure of meeting and talking with the new Mayor of Virginia Beach, Mayor William D. Sessoms, Jr. on Friday, January 9.  Many of the AVID students had prepared questions ahead of time to ask the Mayor.  The Mayor and the students discussed such topics as his goals for Virginia Beach, the Light Rail System, the economy, where he went to school, his grades and surfing!  It was an awesome experience for everyone!

Of course Frog had to have her picture taken with the new mayor!

Communications project with Northern Ireland, October 16, 2008
If you never really understood what our “What color is your iPod?” communication project with Northern Ireland is all about, here is a great explanation of what it is based on: The Flat Classroom Project.

I have just discovered that Atomic learning has produced videos by Vicki Davis, one of the teachers involved in the creation of the Flat Classroom Project. We have free access to the videos only through Oct. 30. PLEASE TAKE 15-20 MINUTES TO VIEW THESE VIDEOS! It will well be worth it for the future of our project!
Videos – http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/7sfc_wb2/
To download a .pdf of the entire project please click: http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/download/Flat_Classroom_links.pdf

Our Wiki – https://kempsville-avid.wikispaces.com/
Our Blog – http://kmsavid.edublogs.org/

Frog’s journey continues.  Along his way he has met the Assistant Superintendent of Middle Schools for VBCPS, Dr. Maynard Massey, when Dr. Massey visited our school and AVID class.

 On July 8^th, 2008, Frog got to meet the Mayor or Virginia Beach, Mayor Meyera Oberndorf when she presented Dr. Smith, Mr. McKenzie and Mrs. Caviness to the City Council.  The delegation presented our communications project and trip to Northern Ireland to the City Council.

Try to guess who this famous person might be!

If you would like to see and hear some awesome Irish Folk Music, check out The Day 5 tab, then scroll down.  I found a link to an audio of Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson’s music and a video from YouTube you can enjoy to get a feel for their music.

We were lucky enough to see these two young men, Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson in concert one evening while on our trip.  They play many different version of Bag Pipes.  To learn a little something about Bag Pipes read this article from Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagpipe.  We really enjoyed listening to them in concert.  We even bought their latest CD, “Partners in Crime.”

The Giant’s Causeway was one of the most spectacular places I have ever visited in my life.  It was breathtaking to see what Mother Nature had created billions of years ago.  To learn more about the amazing place, check out their official website at: http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm

This is a quick video I filmed of the Giant’s Causeway.  I tried to do a 360 kind of film effect.  Towards the end my footing got a little wobbly.

Here are all the links to the Voicemail Slideshow photographs we took.  We have tried to separate them into cateories  We still will be adding more as time goes on, so please keep checking back.  Included also are direct link to websites about each place we visited.

Ulster Folk Museum – http://voicethread.com/share/106823/ -
http://www.uftm.org.uk/

Dinner with the Mayor:  http://voicethread.com/share/103407/
Bangor Castle – http://www.northdown.gov.uk/template1.asp?pid=636&area=5

Out and about Priory:  http://voicethread.com/share/102271/
http://www.priorycollege.holywood.ni.sch.uk/

Teaching at Priory:  http://voicethread.com/share/101982/

Spending the day at airports then finally arriving in Northern Ireland:  http://voicethread.com/share/100333/

Murals of Belfast – http://voicethread.com/share/105582/
http://www.belfastmurals.co.uk/

Mourn Mountains – http://voicethread.com/share/104563/
http://www.mournemountains.com/

The Giants Causeway – http://voicethread.com/share/105760/
http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm

Eisenhower Pier and Marina – http://voicethread.com/share/105579/

Around Belfast – http://voicethread.com/share/107102/

Clifton House – http://voicethread.com/share/107108/
http://www.cliftonbelfast.org.uk/home.htm

Where Titanic was built – http://voicethread.com/share/107109/

Frog’s Great Adventure – http://voicethread.com/share/107114/

Well, we are all back at our homes safe and sound.  We are all exhausted and worn out but, we also agreed we will never experience anything like that again in our lives.  It is one we will truly never forget.

Over the next few weeks I will continue to post images and blogs about some of the different places we visited and the many activities we enjoyed.  Between the four of us we have thousands of images and memories we want to sort through and organize.  Please check back.  Our trip may be over, but the blog will go on

Hopefully now the Communications Project between the AVID 6th grade students at KMS and the Year 8 students at Priory will develop, grow and expand.  The possibilities are endless!  We have so much to share and learn from each other.  The students are already communicating with each other.  It is awesome!  Long range plans hope to have an exchange of students between the two schools.  A target date of 2010 has been set.  By then, this group of students will have been communicating for at least 2 years and hopefully have developed lasting friendships.

As a side note, Frog (as she affectionately became called) had a ribbeting time.  “Frogs journey to Holywood” may just be turned into a creative writing lesson for our students to do.  Hey, it may even become a published book to help raise money for the student exchange to happen.  You just never know….especially when you are dealing with the “Luck of the Irish!”

Wow, has this week gone fast.  Dr. Smith, Ms. Gilman, Mr. McKenzie and I have had a “brilliant” time.  We have been treated like royalty since the minute we stepped off the airplane.  Northern Ireland is the friendliest country I personally have ever visited!  We have been welcomed everywhere we have gone.  We could never thank our host, Mr. Peter McCreadie, enough for all the time he put into planning, coordinating and chauffeuring that he did for our visit.  But more important, all the wonderful conversations, good times, good laughs and genuine friendship he extended to each and every one of us.

Yesterday….
Lunch and Tour of Oakgrove Integrated College, L’Derry
Visit to Bushmills
Giants Causeway – ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING!
http://voicethread.com/share/105760/
Dinner on the coast

From yesterday

The Eisenhower Pier and marina in Bangor
http://voicethread.com/share/105579/

The Murals of Belfast
http://voicethread.com/share/105582/

Today – airports and airplanes…….