Around the World With Travel Buddies
One exciting way to use the Internet with your students is to join a Travel Buddies project. Travel Buddies are small stuffed animals representing a school or area of the world which travel between classrooms as a way to share school life, culture, language, and more. The exchange can be used as a springboard for an integrated unit which can include reading, writing, geography, art, research, and technology lessons. It is also a great way to learn about the daily life of students in other cultures.
My class has been part of a Travel Buddies project this year called "Around the World in Eighty Days," in which a platypus puppet called Dinky Di (Australian for "Genuine") has been on a journey around the world. He has visited schools in many countries. Dinky began his journey in fall 1998 as he left his home school in Queensland, Australia. He has journeyed to many classes in exciting places like Ireland, Iceland, Singapore, California, Hawaii, and, of course, Wisconsin!
You may first want to familiarize yourself with Dinky's journey by visiting the project Web site.
http://www.geocities.com
/ResearchTriangle/Thinktank
/2693/80days.html
During the project, my students used map skills while plotting Dinky's trip. They read e-mail sent from host classes describing Dinky's visit to their schools. And, they wrote a book about Dinky's visit to our school and took turns caring for Dinky as he visited us. Students kept a written diary of Dinky's activities here — such as working on math, science, handwriting, and reading; "eating" lunch in the cafeteria; going outside for recess; and staying overnight with students and their families.
All of the diary entries were written in a large journal, which traveled with Dinky. Each class adds photos, maps, local and school information, and other items to Dinky's travel package. This meant that my students were able to learn about other children participating in the project as well as deciding what we could tell others about our school and our part of the world.
Travel Buddy projects can be as easy as two classes exchanging mascots for a few weeks or as one as detailed as the one my class joined. The Internet also offers other rich opportunities to collaborate with classrooms around the world. Here's one example:
SchoolWorld Projects
http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/projects.html
This site features a range of projects developed for use by schools worldwide. These include the International Cookbook Project and the Culture Centre Project.
