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!

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.”

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.

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/

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!”

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…….

Today….
Some time at Priory again.
Tour of Oakgrove Integrated College in L’Derry
Drive up to the Giants Causeway
Tour of Bushmill

“The Troubles (Irish: Na Trioblóidí) was a period of conflict involving Republican and Loyalist paramilitary organisations, political activist and civil rights groups, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), the British Army and others in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s until the Belfast Agreement of 10 April 1998.”

Dinner with the Mayor:  http://voicethread.com/share/103407/

Out and about Priory:  http://voicethread.com/share/102271/

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

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

Much more to come, too little time to get it done!

Mr. McKenzie, Ms. Gilman, Dr. Smith and myself were able to teach Mr. Callender’s 8th year class.  We introduced his students to our communication project, “What color is your iPod?”  The students logged onto the Wiki and posted a reply to our initial discussion – “What color is your iPod”, or in other words what kind of music do you like.  Music is a universal connection we all share and is a great way to start talking and sharing with people we just met. 

Mr. Callendar’s students got just as excited about our Wiki as Mr. McKenzie’s students.  We ran out of time and wish we had more.  Hopefully, later this week we will get the chance to work with the students some more.

After lunch we toured the Ulster Folk Museum in Holywood, Northern Ireland.  We were able to get an idea of Northern Ireland’s history from present back to the 18th century.  We were even in a building whose roof was older than our country. 

Tuesday night we dined with the Mayor of Bangor, his wife and officials from the City Council at Bangor Castle.  The castle was built in 1852 and is now the Town Hall.  And yes, they say it even has ghosts!  It was very exciting to be meet with these officials.   We were treated like royalty.