Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Skyping with Mrs Yollis and the Grade 3s

We had a great Skype session with Mrs Yollis and her class, in Los Angeles, California.
We got to share facts about our towns, 
and to find out some similarities (S) and differences (D).


What did we learn?

School: 
They have 23 children in their class and we have 22. (S)
There are 611 children in their school and we have just over 200. (D)
They don't often have composite classes, but we often have a mix of year groups because we have fewer children at each year level. (D)
They call it elementary school and we say primary school. After elementary school they go to middle school and then high school. We can stay at  our school until we are 18, because we are an Area school. (D)
They change to a new grade level at the start of their school year each September. 
We change to a new year level when the new school year starts in February. (D)

Community: 
They have a community of 24,000 people and we have less than 1000. (D)
The elevation of their community is 850 ft (259m). Reefton is 198m above sea level (649ft). (S)
They have a 30 minute drive to get to a beach. We drive for an hour. (D)
Disneyland is a 1 and 1/2 hour drive away and most of their class have been there. 
In our class Liam and Mrs McK have been to the Los Angeles Disneyland. (D)

Climate: 
They live on the West Coast of America and their annual rainfall is about 14 inches (about 355mm). 
We live on the West Coast of New Zealand and our average annual rainfall is 2200mm (about 86 inches)! (D)
Their summer temperatures range from 60-90˚F (16-32˚C).
Our average summer temperature is 25˚C (77˚F). (S)
Their winter temperatures range from  40-60˚F (4-16˚C).
Our average winter temperature is 15˚C (59˚F). (D)
They almost never get snow. Mrs Yollis can remember getting snow once. We might get snow in town once a year, although it snows on the hills around us. (D)

Mrs Yollis' class had skyped with 2KM in Australia and had learnt that they have magpies that swoop on people. They asked us if we have magpies that swoop and the answer is YES!

Iliana noticed about our school uniform. Mrs Yollis thought a uniform would save time in the morning. (D)
She asked about dairy farms, so Adam, Liam, Jonathon and Emily told her that the cows are milked twice a day, and whoever is milking has to get up very early in the morning (3-5 am). (D)

We asked about their pets. Nick has a bulldog, Grace had guinea pigs and Kristen has a cat. (S)

We met Ryan, who had left a great comment on our blog page back in September.

Where there any questions that you didn't get to ask?

We ♥ our skype session and think it was great to talk to everyone. (S)
Thank you so much.
☆ ★ ★ ★ ☆



1 comment:

  1. ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

    Dear Mrs. McKenzie and B4,

    What a pleasure it was to meet everyone! We have connected so much through blogging, it was fun to put faces on everyone!

    We wish you all a great summer ☼ and will connect with you again in February!

    Your friends,
    Mrs. Y♥llis and class

    ReplyDelete