Mrs. Stillwell's Home Page

    We will be participating in some interesting Internet projects throughout the year. These activities are a fun and exciting way to learn along with other children across the nation and the world. Come back from time to time and look here to see what we have learned!

    Taiwan Literacy Project

     Beginning the 2001-2002 school year, our 3rd grade class Mrs. Briedwell's 4th grade class has participated in an exchange program with a classroom clear around the world in Taipei, Taiwan.  As a part of the Globalization Initiative of the University of Missouri, our 3rd and 4th graders have shared and collaborated with 3rd-6th graders in Hsing-Ya Elementary School in Taipei.  We shared information by telephone, email, web pages, and videoconferences.  Some of our projects included "A Day in the Life of a Hallsville Student", "Seasonal Changes in Hallsville", and sharing about holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  The Taiwan class shared about their school day, Taiwan weather with typhoons and earthquakes, and special holidays such as Dragon Festival and their New Year celebrations.
    During June 2002, Mrs. Stillwell and her daughter Ellie traveled to Taipei and had the opportunity to visit schools, families, and tour northern Taiwan.  In August, Jay and Bob, two cooperating teachers from Hsing Ya Elementary in Taipei, Taiwan, will honor us with a visit to Hallsville/Columbia.  We are planning to build on the past two year's experiences and continue this valuable cross-cultural connection this school year.
    To see more on our activities on this project, go to our Hsing-Ya information page. We are trying to set up some classroom connections with Jay's class again this school year (September 2004). Right now we are waiting to see if Hsing-Ya Elementary can get their Internet and videoconferencing going again this fall. We will keep you posted.

Journey North

   This fall we will participate in the Journey South online project.  We will observe and post information on the monarch butterfly migration and followed their progress into Mexico.   As an added dimension to this year's experience, we observed the life cycle of Painted Lady butterflies by ordering live caterpillars and raising them until we release them as adult butterflies.
    In the spring we will be participating in the Mystery Class project.  We divide into teams and use the data sent from the Journey North project to figure out where 10 classrooms were located around the world.  The information given included sunrise and sunset times, latitude and longitude hints, and social studies hints like water and land forms close by or typical kinds of food eaten.
    The Journey North Online projects connect science, math, and geography skills through real-to-life activities.

Helpful Links:

• MapQuest Atlas
• U.S. Naval Observatory Sunrise/Sunset Data

Suzanne Stillwell Hallsville District Educational Technology Specialist 411 E. Hwy 124 Hallsville, MO 65255 sstillwe@hallsville.org School Phone: 573-696-5512, ext. 329          Last updated July 25, 2006