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STUDENTS: Technology's Value to Me (r)

(written by sunnyside@iearn.org, 03/27/1996)

Greetings from Sunnyside Elementary School in Pullman Washington!

** A special hello to Governor Thompson of Wisconsin from Kristi
Rennebohm Franz, grand-niece of former Wisconsin governor Oscar
Rennebohm. Kristi went through the wonderful public schools in
Madison, Wisconsin and now teaches in Washington State. **

** And a special hello to Washington Governor Lowry from our school
in Eastern Washington. **

We bring you messages about the technology community in our
classroom with the hope that you will be inspired to see that
all children in all schools have computer technology for
learning about one another and making the world a better place
for everyone.

As a teacher at Sunnyside, my classes of first and second graders
have been using the I*EARN network for three years to do school
projects with classmates around the world.  Using email, lumaphones,
live internet video conferencing, and websites, we have been
learning about reading, writing, social studies, geography,
science and math in the most exciting context of a global school
with other students and teachers in China, Costa Rica, Japan,
Kenya, Russia, Belarus, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Canada,
Netherlands, Spain and the United States.

Right now, we are doing:

1) a water habitat project that compares environmental changes in
fresh and salt water locations;

2) a Nicaragua Water Rope Pump project to learn the importance of
clean water and raise funds for pumps in Nicaraguan villages;

3) two Global Art Projects where students exchange artwork and
messages on the themes of Families (which are on a website) and
Habitats (which will soon be on a website);

4) a Sahara to Antarctica project with ACES school where we
follow the environmental journeys of Helen and Bill Thayer; and

5) a quilt math/social studies project that we have put on a
website.

We have shared email messages with schools in Washington and
New York about the our ideas and inspirations for peace that were
generated from studying about Martin Luther King Jr.

The first and second graders see email and the internet as a way
to learn at school and are unencumbered in their use of the
computers. Children regularly access an Earth and Sky website for
science learning and upload science data onto the GLOBE (Global
Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) project
website. They have two websites hosted by Washington State
University's College of Education.  One is on the I*EARN
Global Art Project (http://www.vpds.wsu.edu/i*earn/index.html)
and the other is on Quilters and Writers
(http://www.vpds.wsu.edu/WAHistCult/submissions/35.html)

The texts of email messages and websites integrate reading and
content area lessons.  Their turbo charged writing is done with
eagerness to send their writing as email and receive messages in
return. Their ongoing computer conversations with students and
teachers around the world as well as with their families talk about
what they are thinking and learning in school. When I am asked to
give presentations about technology, I now take several students
with me.  They are the best instructors to adults and other
students about what can be done on Internet and I*EARN!

>From Kristi Rennebohm Franz, Sunnyside School
1-2 Multiage Teacher and Technology Coordinator


Here are messages from the children in their own words to tell you
what they are learning with technology.

First, here's a message the whole class wrote together about using
the internet:

It helps us learn how to write and read.
It helps us learn about other places and people around the world.
It's fast! It works perfect!
You can talk to other people.
We can listen to the Earth and Sky program at their website on real
audio.
We can learn because you can read what people put on the computer.
We can learn about something important right away without having to
call on the telephone.
We think learning with computers would be even better if we could
click on the computer and it would read email words to you...
we could make more websites...if more classes could do email
and websites so they could all learn the same things...and
if we had two computers for email and websites in the
classroom so it wouldn't be so crowded at one.

Here are messages about internet and I*EARN from each child in our
First/Second Multiage Class:

Messages About Our Global Art and Quilt Websites.

Our class has two websites.  One is the Global Art Show and the
other is a Quilt website.  The Quilt website has pictures of our
quilts.  My dad sent us a message about the website on quilts.  He
said to keep on going! The Global Art Show has pictures from around
the world.
>From Rebecca Parkay, Age 7, Grade 2

I like the Global Art Show.  There are really really really neat
pictures. There are alot of really neat pictures.  My favorite picture
is from Australia.  I like everybody's pictures in the Global Art
Show.  These are the countries in the show: Australia, Russia,
Argentina, Kenya and USA. My picture went to Kimball school in
Seattle.  It is fun to get email messages from different schools.
Websites are really neat. You go to bookmarks and then you have a
choice of different websites.
>From Ali Farokhmanesh, Age 7, Grade 2

(Ali made a presentation on the I*EARN Global Art Show Project and
Website at the Spokane Washington Internet Fair where he spoke to
teachers and principals.)

We have pictures from Sunnyside and other places around the world.
One of the places is Australia.  The possums, kangaroos, tiger snakes
and eagles live in the You Yang Mountains in Australia.  I learned
about Netherlands and Canada in the Global Art Show.
>From Phillip Osborne, Age 7, Grade 1

We get pictures from schools in Australia and Canada and South
America and USA about habitats.  We send email to other kids from
other schools to tell them we like their art.  We ask them questions
about their habitats.   We get email back.  We learned about the bush
in Australia.
>From Chris Welter, Age 7, Grade 2

Our Global Art pictures are cool.  I like the one that has a map.
It is from Australia.
>From Jon Crislip, Age 6, Grade 1

The quilt website is a website of our class quilt projects and Pat
Margaret (a Washington quilter) showing our class the quilts she
sewed.  We showed her our quilts.  We do math with quilts.  We can
show people all over the world our quilt website!  The quilt website
is http://www.vpds.wsu.edu/WAHistCult/submissions/35.html.  Please
come and see us there!
>From Brian Bauman, Age 8, Grade 2

Our class has a quilt website.
I like the quilts.
Everybody got a turn to tell about quilts.
We all wrote about quilts.
I like the maple leaf quilt.
>From Austin Loiaza, Age 7, Grade 1

I like the quilt website because you can see the quilts we made.
You can also print the quilt out on the computer.
Do you have a computer?
I have a computer.  You can see our website.
>From Megan Gonzales, Age 6, Grade 1

My class and I made a quilt web page.  Pat Margaret came to our
class to talk about quilts and the really important part was when
we talked to Pat. I made my own quilt web page.  It has a really
really long page of writing about the book Sweet Clara and the
Freedom Quilt.  In my quilt page I made a pine tree quilt patch.
I like getting email messages real fast because if you're on line
you can answer right back.
>From Rosa Spaeth, Age 7, Grade 2

(Rosa's web page can be found at
http://www.vpds.wsu.edu/WAHistCult/submissions/29.html
Rosa made a presentation at the Spokane Washington Internet Fair
where she talked to principals and teachers about our email projects.)

Messages About the GLOBE Project

I like websites and email.  I like the GLOBE project. I like sending
in temperatures.  You have to say if your doing Fahrenheit or Celsius.
You have to put in what date and time it is and then you have to
type the minimum and maximum temperatures.  then you press send.
Either it will say that your temperature got through or it will say
your temperature can't get through because the line is busy.  Lots
of schools do this project. I like the Sahara to Antarctica project.
A woman (Helen) and a man (Bill) travel to the Sahara Desert.  They
have traveled to many other places. They travel on boats, airplanes,
and cars and by foot. They have a computer that can fold up.  That
way we can send email messages to them.  We sent questions to them.
It is really cool even to think that a person is traveling that far.
They send email to us.  It is fun to know that the next journey is
that they're going to take.  It is exciting to hear their messages.
It is fun.
>From Ian McLean, Age 7, Grade 2

(Ian made a presentation at the Spokane Washington Internet Fair
where he talked about the GLOBE project and demonstrated uploading
temperature and cloud data to teachers and principals.)

We record temperatures every day.  We like to record them because
we like to check them.  Then we send them into the GLOBE website.
And then we learn about other temperatures from our friends around
the world. We have a quilt website, a Earth and Sky website and
I*EARN email.
>From Brianna Murray, Age 7, Grade 1

Helen and Bill Thayer are in the Sahara Desert.  They send us email about
the Sahara Desert.  We go to the Earth and Sky website.  It was Solar
System Day.  We went to their program and to R.A. That means Real Audio.
Then we click R.A. for them to read about Pluto.  I like listening and
learning from computers.
>From Jillian Mochnick, Age 7, Grade 1

Messages About the Earth & Sky Website

Earth and Sky is a radio program.  There is a website of Earth and
Sky. And on the website there is real audio.  We sometimes go to
their website and we learned about the 24 hour clock, the solar
system, and the dinosaurs.  And two people in our class made a
radio show for Earth and Sky about how long ladybugs have lived
on earth.  The two people were Hailey and Amanda.  email is fun and
I like learning how to send it.
>From Chelsey Borgerson, Age 8, Grade 2
(The Earth and Sky website is http://www.earthsky.com)

I went to Spokane to show lots of people websites and our email.
But it wasn't just me.  Other people were doing it like Rosa, Ian
and Ali. I showed them the Earth and Sky website.  Here's how you get
to Earth and Sky: First you go to Netscape.  Then you will see the
quilt website.  then you go to Bookmark and then to Earth and Sky.
I like getting email because you can learn other languages and about
Australia.
>From Hailey Rupp, Age 6, Grade 1

(Hailey made her presentation on the Earth and Sky website at the
Spokane Washington Internet Fair where she explained it to teachers
and principals.)

Messages About the I*EARN Nicaragua Rope Pump Project

The Nicaragua Rope Pump Project is on I*EARN.  We are collecting
and counting pennies for a new rope pump in Nicaragua.  They want
one there because there is a dirty water hole and it is far away
from the village and the kids have to carry 5 gallons of water back
to the village so they can't go to school.  The rope pump gives them
clean water and kids can go to school because they don't have to
carry the five gallons of water.
>From J.D. Street, Age 7, Grade 1

The Nicaragua Rope Pump Project is about the people in Nicaragua.
They used to have dirty water from their water wells but now some of
them have clean water from the rope pumps.  We have been collecting
pennies and we have over 23 dollars.  We count pennies often. We
make a tally of each penny when we count it and we record it in our
Nicaragua Rope Pump Math Books.  I like email because you might be
trying to call some people on the phone but they might be talking to
some other people.  But with email, you can just send it and it's
there!
>From Kevin Volkening, Age 8, Grade 2

We are getting lots of money to help people in Nicaragua.  We bring
pennies from home and we put them in a mug.  Then we count them and
drop them into a bottle for the Nicaragua Rope Pump Project.
I like our Global Art Website.  I got email today from Trent Quirk in
Australia about his picture for the Global Art Show.
>From Alex Eveleth, Age 7, Grade 2

(Alex made a presentation about the I*EARN Global Art Project to
the Washington State Office of the Superintendent Board of Directors
in Olympia Washington.)

Messages About the I*EARN Water Habitat Project

(The class has used the lumaphone to tell Deputy Secretary of Education,
Gov. Madeline Kunin about this environmental science internet project.
They also present their Sunnyside Pond data to the Pullman City Parks
Director, Alan Davis and discuss their concerns about the pond with him.
Their water habitat messages have been shared on the GREEN Network.)

We go to Sunnyside Pond and we come back to school and write
about how the pond looks.  We send our writing to Kimball School in
Seattle and some other schools.  I like email because you can learn
how to write. >From Andrea Ezechukwu, Age 7, Grade 1

At Sunnyside Pond it's habitat is trees and fresh water and there
are farm ducks, goats, sheep and horses.  When our class is back
from Sunnyside Pond, we write about the pond.  We write about what
we see and about the habitat and then we send the writing to Kimball
School in Seattle and to other people on our network.  Kimball School
goes to a water place too and it is salt water.  And they send us
messages about their ocean. I like email because you can send messages
to your friends.
>From Nicholas Schwarmann, Age 7, Grade 1

We go to visit the pond at different times of the year.  We see how
it changes.  We send email messages about the pond.
My dad sends email to school and I send email to him.  I think
that is really really really fun!!!!! and it's fast, really fast!!!!!
I think it's really neat.  It's cool!!!! That's all.
>From Sonia Villaneuva, Age 7, Grade 1

I like the Sunnyside Pond Water Habitat project because we can send
messages to people around the world.  We take a field trip to
Sunnyside Pond and we send email and schools send email back to Mrs.
Rennebohm Franz and our class.  And we learn lots about water.
>From Becca Ellsworth, Age 7, Grade 1

Messages About Technology

One of the things I like about getting email is checking our email
messages.  Our email stays in the computer until we check it.  And
I also like sending email messages to people like to Seattle.  And
another thing I like is our computer.  It's helped us alot.  And I
thank the people that took all that time to put in all those perfect
computers.  And I'd really really hate it if they had to take all
those wonderful computers away because I don't think I could live
without the computers because they're so cool.
>From Amanda McCafferty, Age 7, Grade 2

I think we could make computers better by putting a system on
the computer that when ever you got a email message it would give a
ring even if it was off.  And it would be nice if computer screens
were bigger.  I think it would make computers better if computers
could store more information.
>From Jeff Emtman, Age 7, Grade 1

Messages About Technology From Washington State University
College of Education Practicum Students who are in Ms. Rennebohm
Franz's Sunnyside Classroom.

As a practicum student, I have had an incredible opportunity to
see how technology is integrated into the classroom.  I have seen
children's interest positively develop in the areas of reading,
writing and communicating.  I can only hope, that as a future
teacher, my students can experience technology in the classroom.
I believe it opens a whole new world of communication and brings
people closer to understanding one another.
>From Angela Nelson, Senior at Washington State University

I think it would be great if all children could have computers
in school beginning in kindergarten.  When I was in first grade,
I had to call people, write letters or go to see people to communicate
with them.  I always had to go to the library to get information.
Now there is so much that first graders can do from just their one
room at school.  They can communicate with people, receive and
discover new information, and explore new ideas through a wide
variety of resources.
>From Sherry Gaines, Senior at Washington State University

Messages About Technology From the Parents of Sunnyside School Children

The "interaction-factor" and immediacy of response offered by
on-line access is great.  It lets our children (and us) know that
there really are a lot of people out there with similar interests -
people who are willing to listen, discuss, and problem solve.
What an asset technology is in terms of increasing understanding and
communication for our children and
generations to come.
Kathy Emtman, Parent

For my son, Ali, I*EARN and Internet has expanded his understanding
of children across the world.  It is a wonderful preparation for him,
for his future because his future is tied in with computers.  It also
generates his interest in learning.  It's given him a jumpstart for
his interest in education.
Cindy Frederick, Parent

As a classroom parent volunteer, I have seen first hand the use
of computer email and websites in the classroom.  As the children
write email messages to children around the world, they are writing
to a specific audience. This has resulted in a great enthusiasm for
writing and has definitely enhanced the children's reading and
writing skills.  They are writing for a reason.  The use of email
messages and computer projects have brought the world into the
classroom in a very real way.  I only wish all schools could have
access to this technology.  In New Iberia, Louisiana, my son's aunt
is a teacher.  She has no computers in her classroom and we wish
she did.
Melanie McLean, Parent

The integration of technology into all aspects of a generative
classroom gives our children opportunities to collaborate in
production of authentic learning projects.  They readily enter into
dialogs with their peers, parents, teachers, and other community
members on a wide range of topics that they have explored through
technology.  Students, teachers and parents are all learn and
teach one another.
Steve Spaeth, Parent Technology Mentor

To: sunnyside@igc.apc.org
From: Justine Nicoll Rupp
Subject: Comments for governor conference

We feel that our daughter, Hailey, has benefitted greatly by
being able to use internet technology through the I*EARN network.
The ability to use email to communicate with people worldwide has
engendered an enthusiasm for learning to read and write.  Perhaps
most importantly, she views this sharing of art and notes with people
around the globe as being the norm. The other children are " just kids
at a another school "--  a part of the global community.
Richard A. and Justine Nicoll Rupp, Parents

Given the direction our society is going with computers
everywhere, it's invaluable for all children in the lower grades to
have access to computers and internet.  Those that don't will be at
a disadvantage in the future.
>From Tammy McCafferty, Parent

I think a lot about technology ...  In one sense it saddens me
that it is not available to everyone because this is the wave of
communication for the future.  On the other hand, I am so grateful
my child has access to it because it will be second nature to her.
It is already as easy for her to flow in and out with computers
like we adults know how to use a pen.
>From Victor Villaneuva, Parent


Kristi Rennebohm Franz
Sunnyside Elementary School
Pullman, Washington 99163
Tel: 509 334 1800
Email:     sunnyside@igc.apc.org