2006 - 2007 GSDLC Grant Winners
$500 VIDEO CONFERENCING AWARDS
Atlantic County
Egg Harbor Township School District
Dr. J.D. Miller School
By Kelly Hunt
Fourth grade students from Dr. J.D. Miller School participated in varied distance learning activities in order to produce an environmental newspaper to help strengthen their writing skills for the NJ Ask 4 test. Videoconference programs included interactions with the Intrepid, National Aviary, the Ward Melville Heritage Organizations and the Cape May County Zoo. After producing the environmental newspaper, students presented their knowledge to students in grades 3-11 at the annual Catawba Project Jamboree.
Linwood Public Schools
Belhaven Middle School
By Christine Brown
Cool Careers allowed students at Belhaven Middle School to interactively explore interesting careers through a series of videoconferences with professionals in various fields. Eighth grade students were allowed to sign up for career videoconferences scheduled during the school day to learn more in-depth information about student-selected careers (selected via student surveys). Videoconference programs included connections with Clowes Memorial Hall (Art Careers), ID Solutions (Forensic Science), Vanderbilt Virtual School (Athletics and Web Design), and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (Zoo Careers).
Camden County
Audubon Public Schools
Audubon Jr. Sr. High School
By Eric Miller
Videoconference programs enhanced the Forensic Science course at Audubon Jr. Sr. High School. Through this technology, students were able to interact with forensic scientists, law enforcement officials and other forensic science-related professionals. In addition to these interactions, students were also able to take part in simulated crimes with students form other schools learning about forensic science.
Chesilhurst School District
Foster Elementary School
By Marianna D. Green
Students from Foster Elementary School intensified their knowledge of American History through participation in interactive programs with Historic Cold Springs Village in Cape May . Fourth and fifth grade students discussed our flag, the Civil War and the American way of life for people living in New Jersey during the 1800's. Included in the project was a live visit to Historic Cold Springs Village which was a unique opportunity for the majority of students in this program. After the virtual and real trips, students produced multimedia presentations.
Mt. Ephraim School District
Raymond W. Kershaw Elementary School
By Marion Hodum, Susan Leon, Judy O'Donnell and Carol Sweeny
GSDLC grant funding allowed Mt. Ephraim to host their second “Parent Night Videoconference” program. This year's theme was Alaska . After extensive cross-curricular classroom activities about Alaska , the Iditarod and sled dogs, sixth and seventh grade students invited their parents to an evening videoconference with Kigluait Adventures to interact with an Iditarod musher. Parents and students interacted with student displays created through the various classroom activities prior to the connection, participated in lively discussions and a trivia questionnaire.
Pennsauken School District
Carson Elementary School
By Nancy Bowmaster
Connecting with Valerie Marsh, author, storyteller and writing teacher, students in grades 2 through 4 focused on improving the writing and telling of their own stories. Several engaging and creative writing methods were demonstrated and shared with the students as they interacted and were given a chance to write their own stories. Classroom teachers were able to continue the writing methods with their students after participation in the videoconference sessions.
Pine Hill School District
John H. Glenn Elementary School
By Rose Metzger, Amy Carmichael, Madeline Lofgren and Kathy Leland
Second grade students extended their knowledge of arctic animals with videoconference programs conducted with the Toledo Zoo and Alaska 's SeaLife Center . Students were involved in a “hands-on, real life” experience that allowed them to participate and be responsible for saving some of the Arctic animals which are endangered. By working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), our school adopted a variety of Arctic animals which personalized the experience for our students. The WWF uses the money to build up the natural resources of the arctic area as well as to support research to monitor animal populations in the area.
Cape May County
New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Cape May Campus
By NJ DCF Office of Education
The Cape May Regional School is an alternative 12-month high school that serves students in need of specialized education and community services. Using distance learning, students focused on the plight of people in different settings and how art is used to imitate and document life. Programs included connections with the Albany Institute of History and Art, The Museum of TV and Radio and Global Education Motivators. After participation in the programs, student produced video and other multimedia presentations to connect the knowledge on the presented topics to the people and places in Cape May County .
Woodbine Elementary
By Anthony DeVico and Abbe Harris
Without lab science facilities, videoconference technology allows students at Woodbine Elementary to experience an interactive hands-on experience with life science. Eighth grade students enhanced their study of owls through participation in distance learning programs with Lee Richardson Zoo and the Discovery Center . Through the Exploring Owls program with the Discovery Center , students dissected an owl pellet with the guidance of their program presenter. Learning journals and student presentations concluded this unit of study.
Woodbine Elementary
By Rose Farnan
Videoconference programs with Historic Cold Spring Village allowed seventh grade students at Woodbine Elementary School to experience living history lessons, instead of text based assignments. Combined with reading the historical fiction novel, the “Fish Hawk's Nest” by Stephen Meader, students were able to better understand the changes that have occurred in Cape May County from the early 1800's to present times. Filmed cooperative projects showcased student designs that emphasized an aspect of living at the turn of the 19 th Century.
Cumberland County
Cumberland Regional High School
By Carole Laster
The Alternative School Program at Cumberland Regional High School provides a full array of curricular content. In order to vary instruction, motivate our learners, encourage discussion and engage students, videoconference programs were added to a variety of curricular classes. Connections with Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts added unique experiences to the math and language arts classes. While other programs with NJ Academy for Aquatic Sciences, Battleship New Jersey, the Museum of Television and Radio and Global Education Motivators enhanced science, history, and sociology classes.
Gloucester County
Washington Township School District
Bells Elementary School
By Nicholas Bozza
Each year, our fifth grade students read “Number the Stars” as part of their studies on the Holocaust. This year, students' experiences were enhanced through videoconference programs with the Holocaust Memorial and Education Center . Using the theme, “Holocaust Education: Survival and Resistance”, students focused on three aspects of the Holocaust: Heroes of the Holocaust, Children of the Holocaust, and Resistance and the Holocaust.
Washington Township School District
Wedgwood Elementary School
By Sherri Panichelli
In order to enhance the third grade program of world cultures, each marking period at Wedgwood Elementary School , students choose a country to study. This year, we were able to enhance their studies with videoconferences to learn more about countries of the world, as well as to other their grade classes to share our discoveries about the countries we studied. Programs included connections with the Cincinnati Art Museum , the Early Works Museum and the Center for the Puppetry Arts.
Washington Township School District
Whitman Elementary School
By Lori McEntee
Whitman Elementary School presents a yearly Family Literacy program for the first and second grade families to demonstrate the correlation between literacy and technology. Videoconference programs are the foundation of the event with accompanying literature, crafts and websites selected along a theme. This year's theme was “Ride the Tide of Reading ” with programs about marine mammals and wetlands. Families participated in connections with the Alaska Sea Life Center and the New Jersey Wetland's Institute.
Washington Township School District
Whitman Elementary School
By Virigina Sandberg and Lori McEntee
As part of the fifth grade unit on the Underground Railroad and the Civil War, students participated in three videoconference programs – one about American Life during the Civil War, one about the Underground Railroad and one about life for freed slaves – with The Ward Melville Heritage Organization, the Ohio Historical Society and Conner Prairie. Through the programs and other activities, students recreated the Underground Railroad throughout the school. During the evening Underground Railroad, students learned songs and participated in activities which recreated some of the physical challenges of the Underground Railroad, along with hearing stories and poems by authors of the historic period. Each student completed a quilt square of their experience which was sewn together by community volunteers to demonstrate the purpose of slave quilts.
Ocean County
Stafford Township Public Schools
Ocean Acres Elementary School
By Michael Kossove and Jeanne Marie Burke
The Ocean Acres Elementary School Garden Club visited the Camden Children's Garden both through videoconference programs and through a live field trip to continue their gardening experiences through the winter months. Students learned about gardens all over the world while feeding birds and wildlife through the winter with their schoolyard habitat. Students plant bulbs throughout the community during fall months and then trees and shrubs in the spring.
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