The Exchange students

So many questions! :)

Here are the four high school exchange students' names

The four exchange students from Denmark came to share their experiences in Denmark compared to their two short weeks in North Carolina.  The fourth grade students had numerous questions for the exchange students.  The fourth graders were so engaged throughout this session!
A few common themes were:

• Everything is bigger in N.C. (cars, stores, houses, etc.)
• N.C. doesn't have as many bicycles or trains as Denmark
• Wal-Mart is enormous-Martin almost fell over when he went inside the store :)
• Most students in Denmark take a year off after high school to travel.  If students further their education at a university, the student gets paid instead of paying tuition!   Wow!
• Most of the students knew several languages-Danish, English, Swedish and German to name a few.
• Denmark has made a lot of attempts with sustainable energy (a lot of wind farms, etc.)
• School lunches in N.C. filled them up but left the exchange students feeling tired
• Denmark has numerous imports and exports due to the expansive shipping industry
• Denmark has a lot of pigs, and pork is a common meal
• The Denmark students loved the mountains in N.C.  Where they're from, the land is very flat.
• The students were sad to leave their host families and really enjoyed their stay here :)

*A special thank you to Catherine Jackson for picking up the exchange students from the high school for our interesting and informative session!

Research time!

Researching away!

"Flying" to Denmark on Google Earth

All fourth grade students took at pre-assessment on North Carolina and Denmark and the average (mean) score was 53.54 out of 100.  I asked students to help me know more about Denmark by helping me research before my trip, and they were so enthusiastic to help!  So...small groups of students were given an index card with a topic to research.  One example of a topic was, "What is the population of Denmark?"  Students had either a lap top or books (on Denmark or North Carolina) to find more information.  When students answered their topic, they wanted to do more research on Denmark and North Carolina.:)  After this research, we came together as a whole group and helped each other discuss any misunderstandings, watched a video clip (we loved the Danish national anthem!), went through a PowerPoint, "flew" to Denmark on Google Earth and completed a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast North Carolina to Denmark.  After completing our discussion, the group completed a post-assessment where the new average (mean) was 92.40 out of 100 .  I was so pleased with the growth (38.86 points) in learning about Denmark and North Carolina.  We have built our background knowledge on North Carolina and Denmark, and we are now ready for the exchange students!

Our results!  Students completed the "both" section on their own paper.

Denmark Bound...

http://i.infoplease.com/images/mdenmark.gif

I recently received the Beattie Award that allows me to travel to Denmark this June.  I will travel to schools, businesses and more!  In May, I will travel to Chapel Hill, NC to meet other teachers taking this journey and to learn more about our upcoming experiences planned in Denmark.  Before I leave, I plan to learn along with my students and compare and contrast North Carolina and Denmark.

Tomorrow, March 27th, I'm very excited to explore Denmark and North Carolina further with all the fourth grade students and teachers at our terrific school.  This is the PowerPoint presentation that we will use to guide us through our investigation.  On Wednesday, March 28th, four exchange students from Denmark will visit our fourth graders to discuss Denmark and North Carolina from their point-of-view.  Isn't that cool that we have exchange students at the high school from Denmark?  I am very excited about this eventful week, and I haven't even traveled to Denmark yet! :)