NAMES OF GROUP

MEMBERS:
Bianca & Chachi

PROJECT TITLE:
The Way We Are

PROJECT SOURCE: (site name

+ URL)
ePals.com
http://www.epals.com/projectdetail.php?id=5cb10578-efbc4e49-bcb5-b5e1e172474e

GRADE LEVEL: (note here if grade level will be

modified from original source)
Intended for grades 2-4, but we will be modifying it
for grades 1-2

Does the project?

Yes

No

Explain Reasoning and Offer

Possible Modifications

FOCUS ON SIGNIFICANT
x
CONTENT
At its core, the project is focused
on teaching students important
knowledge and skills, derived
from standards and key concepts
at the heart of academic subjects.

Meets standards of
understanding: How culture and
experience influence people's
perception of places and regions,
The characteristics, distributions,
and complexity of Earth's cultural
mosaics, and The process,
patterns, and functions of human
settlement. The original project
did not explicitly address each
core academic subject. However,
we found that we could
incorporate social studies,
English, math, science and
technology into this lesson.

DEVELOP 21ST CENTURY

SKILLS
Students build skills valuable for
todays world, such as creativity,
critical thinking and problem
solving, collaboration, and
communication, which are
taught/practiced and assessed.

They will need to write an

email/letter to their ePal, which is
a skill that they will be using and
improving upon their entire lives.
Creativity played a role in the
project during the warm up
activity by allowing students to
engage in a get to know you

game called Fact and Fiction.

Critical thinking and
collaboration were used in the
KWL chart. However, problem
solving skills were not included in
this project. We think that we
could incorporate problem solving
skills when we tie in our math unit
and calculate time differences
between countries.
ENGAGE STUDENT IN INx
DEPTH INQUIRY
(For 397 Focus on Global
Competence)
Students are engaged in rigorous,
extended process of asking
questions, using resources, and
developing answers.

The entire process of this activity

is to continually ask their ePal
questions about their lives and
respond to the ones that the ePals
have about themselves. Students
will have to respond accordingly
to each email and be critical of
asking questions that they are
interested in learning the answers
to. We suggest that students
develop follow up questions based
on the responses of their ePal.
Finally, students could have the
opportunity to doing further
research about something
interesting from their ePals life.

ORGANIZE TASKS AROUND

AN ESSENTIAL DRIVING
QUESTION
Project work is focused by an
open-ended question that
students explore or that capture
the task they are completing.

Questions listed are: 1.How is my

life similar to and different from

my ePal's life?
2.How does the natural
environment where my ePal lives
affect his or her life?
3.What effect does the culture in
my ePal's region have on his or
her life?

ESTABLISH A NEED TO
KNOW
Students see the need to gain
knowledge, understand concepts,
and apply skills in order to
answer the Driving Question and
create project products,
beginning with an ENTRY
EVENT that generates interest
and curiosity.

Starts with an activity in which

they create a KWL chart about
the country that their ePal is from.
Will culminate entire activity by
filling out the L section. We
think that that entry event is
strong but a little lengthy. We also
needed to modify the grade level
appropriateness. The entry event
brought in multiple sources (the
book, KWL chart and get to
know you game). We are going to
add an additional opportunity for
students to explore books about
their ePals country.

ENCOURAGE VOICE AND

CHOICE
Students are allowed to make
some choices about the products
to be created, how they work,
and how they use their time,
guided by the teacher and
depending on age level and PBL
experience.

Students will be drafting their

own emails, although they will be
given a certain topic to talk about.
The format of the final
presentation is also up to the
students; it just has to be a mediabased presentation.

INCORPORATE REVISION
AND REFLECTION
The project includes processes
for students to use feedback to
consider additions and changes
that lead to high-quality projects,
and think about what and how
they are learning.

Not specifically stated in the

activity online, but we would
include a lesson in which students
were given time and space to
reflect on what went well and
didnt, including how the
communication went via email.

INCLUDE A PUBLIC
AUDIENCE
Students present their work to
other people, beyond their
classmates and teacher.

The prompt online doesnt

identify a group to present to
besides the classroom itself;
however, an after school event
(similar to the enrichment fair)
could be held in which students

present about their ePals and the

country they are from.

OVERVIEW
Names of group members: Bianca and Chachi
Project title: The Way We Are
grade level: SECOND GRADE
PROJECT LENGTH: APPROXIMATELY 4 WEEKS
LINKS TO ONLINE RESOURCE(S): HTTP://WWW.EPALS.COM/PROJECT-DETAIL.PHP?ID=5CB10578EFBC-4E49-BCB5-B5E1E172474E

Projects Essential Driving Question

HOW IS MY LIFE SIMILAR TO AND DIFFERENT FROM THE LIVES OF OTHER PEOPLE
AROUND THE WORLD?

Project Overview
STUDENTS WILL EXCHANGE EMAILS WITH A STUDENT FROM A DIFFERENT COUNTRY
AND ASK QUESTIONS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR INDIVIDUAL LIVES AS WELL AS
THEIR CULTURE AND THE COUNTRY AS A WHOLE.

THE TEACHER WILL FACILITATE A

GROUP DISCUSSION TO BRAINSTORM INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND CREATE A LIST AS A

WHOLE CLASS.

WE WILL ALSO REVIEW THE FORMAT FOR AN EMAIL/LETTER

(OPENING, BODY, CLOSING) AND CREATING A TEMPLATE FOR STUDENTS TO FOLLOW.
THE WHOLE PROJECT WILL BE CULMINATED WITH A PRESENTATION OF OUR
STUDENTS EPAL AS WELL AS THE COUNTRY THEY ARE FROM WITH AN ABOUT ME
POSTER.

Project Products
BECAUSE WE ARE DOING THIS PROJECT WITH A SLIGHTLY YOUNGER AGE GROUP THAN THE
PROJECT WAS DESIGNED FOR, WE ARE CHANGING THE PRODUCT TO BE AN ABOUT ME POSTER
PRESENTED ON ONE NIGHT DURING A GALLERY WALK OF ALL THEIR PEERS EPALS. THEY WILL
HAVE A PICTURE OF THEIR EPAL, PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR EPAL, AS WELL AS

INFORMATION ABOUT THE COUNTRY THEIR EPAL IS FROM.

RECORDED INTERVIEWS OR PRINT

OUTS FROM THEIR EMAIL EXCHANGE CAN BE USED. ALL EMAILS ARE ALSO PRODUCTS OF THIS
PROJECT BUT THEY WILL NOT BE DISPLAYED BY THEMSELVES.

Global Awareness
AS A RESULT OF THIS PROJECT, STUDENTS WILL HAVE A HANDS ON APPROACH TO GAINING
GLOBAL COMPETENCY. THEY WILL COME TO LEARN ABOUT A COUNTRY THROUGH THE EYES
OF A STUDENT THAT LIVES THERE THAT IS THEIR AGE. THIS WILL RESULT IN THEM LEARNING
THINGS ABOUT THEIR EPALS COUNTRY THAT ARE IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING TO THEM,
AS SECOND GRADE STUDENTS. THIS WILL GIVE THEM OWNERSHIP OF THEIR LEARNING. THIS
PROJECT INVOLVES ENGLISH BY TAKING ACTION IN WRITING EACH EMAIL, SOCIAL STUDIES
IN THEIR INVESTIGATION OF THE WORLD., AND TECHNOLOGY THROUGH THE USE OF THE
INTERNET AND COMMUNICATING IDEAS BY SENDING EMAILS. MATH CAN BE INCORPORATED
THROUGH THE DISCUSSION OF DIFFERENT TIME ZONES AND TIME DIFFERENCES, AND FINALLY
SCIENCE IN THE DISCUSSION OF POSSIBLE WEATHER CLIMATE DIFFERENCES. THROUGHOUT
THIS PROJECT, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO GAIN A NEW PERSPECTIVE FROM THEIR EPALS
LIVES AND EXPERIENCES

Curriculum Alignment Matrix

Projects Essential Driving Question:
How is my life similar to and different from people around the world life?
English Language Arts Standards Alignment
ELA standards: W2 CCR Anchor Standard: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they
name a topic, supply some facts about the topic and provide some sense of closure.
ELA standards: L1 CCR Anchor Standard: Demonstrate command of conventions of Standard
English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
ELA standards: L2 CCR Anchor Standard: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard
English capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES/ACTIVITIES:
While writing emails students will practice proper grammar, and gain experience about providing
specific facts for their ePals. Through a peer editing process, students will contribute to a
learning community and be able to support each others writing skills.

Mathematics Standards Alignment

MATH STANDARDS: Standard: 1.OA.1 Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word
problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and
comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a
symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
LEARNING EXPERIENCES/ACTIVITIES:
Students will be given a word problem using our time zone and their ePals time zone to figure
out the time difference between the two countries.
Science Standards Alignment
SCIENCE STANDARDS: Standard 1.0 Skills and Processes: Students will demonstrate the
thinking and acting inherent in the practice of science.
LEARNING EXPERIENCES/ACTIVITIES:
-Students will raise questions about the world around them and be willing to seek answers to
some of them by active research and through email exchange. In order to convey their lives to
their ePals they will describe their environment as it relates to a common piece of knowledge
(ex: If the student is talking to their ePal about snow and the ePal lives on the equator, they will
have to relate it to something that both are familiar with).

Social Studies Standards Alignment

SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS: Standard 2.0 Peoples of the Nation and World:
students will understand how people in Maryland, the United States and around the world are
alike and different.
LEARNING EXPERIENCES/ACTIVITIES:
Students will write emails that describe their daily lives and will learn about how their ePals life
differs from theirs; this will eventually be culminated into a final project about their ePals life.
Students will be expected to understand that individuals and groups share and borrow from other
cultures by noting similarities between each country.

Additional Standards Alignment (Technology)

STANDARDS: Understand the uses of technology systems; Demonstrate knowledge of
technology systems; Use and understand how technology enhances learning
ELA standards: W6 CCR Anchor Standard: Use technology, including the internet, to produce
and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES/ACTIVITIES:
Students will use the keyboard to type letters and numbers and know how to use special key
functions. They will demonstrate proper care of equipment (such as following lab rules, handling
equipment with care). Finally, students will discuss safety issues related to use of the Internet.

Projects Essential Driving Question: How is my life similar to and different from people
around the world life?
ENTRY EVENT
Overview:
In this project entry event, students will familiarize themselves with the concept of ePals and
become aware of the differences between various regions. Students will then engage in a get-toknow-you game and share fun facts about themselves in order to begin to understand what they
might want to share with an ePal. Next, students will contribute to a K-W-L chart with things
they already know about their ePals, things they want to know about their ePals, and later what
they have learned. Lastly, students will explore a resource center set up with informational texts
about different countries, a map of the world, and books about pen pals.
Instructional Materials:
-Books about different ePals countries
-Map of different ePals countries
-Pictures of the different countries
-Books about pen pals
-Poster for K-W-L chart
-Markers
-Poster for unique facts
-Book: Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James
Technology/ resources:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/index.html

Time Duration: 80 minutes

Instructional Sequence:
Event
Segments

Approximate
time per
segment

Detailed Steps/Procedure

Set Up

5 minutes

Explaining
Activity

5 minutes

Launch

15 minutes

Explain
Relevance of
Activity

Explaining
Activity

The teacher will hang up a poster and draw a T-chart:

one side with names of each child, and the other side
for their respective fun fact. Next, the teacher will ask
children to come sit on the carpet.
The project is titled The Way We Are. The teacher
will ask the students what this means. Explain to them
that in order to share The way we are with ePals, it is
important for each student to be able to identify and
describe specific characteristics about himself/herself.

The teacher will then play a get-to-know-you game

in which students sit in a circle and share a fun fact
about themselves. The teacher should model this for
students by starting with them a fun fact about
himself/herself.
My name is Ms. Smith and I have a twin sister.
Next, the teacher should keep a chart of the students
names and the fun fact that they agreed to share.

5 minutes

The teacher should end the activity by discussing the

different fun facts and explaining that the students will
be learning all different and interesting things from
their ePals.

5 minutes

The teacher will explain to the students that they will

make friends (ePals) with students who live in other
countries.
By exchanging emails, you will learn about daily life
in that country. You will explore yourr ePals
experiences and daily lives and share and reflect on
your own experiences and daily lives.

Launch

10 minutes

The teacher will then introduce the term pen pal by

using a K-W-L (what we know, what we want to know,

Reading a
book

10 minutes

Complete
Activity

10 minutes

Next, the teacher will read Dear Mr. Blueberry by

Simon James to help students understand the concept
of a pen pal. The teacher will ask students to think
about two questions as she is reading the book aloud:
Why do they write to each other? and What do they
talk about in their letters?
After reading the book, the teacher will discuss the
students responses to the questions on the K-W-L chart
and add or revise any information they provide. Next,
post the essential question: How is my life similar to
and different from the lives of other people are the
world? Explain to the students that this will be the
guiding question throughout the unit. The teacher
should keep the essential question posted throughout
the unit and refer to it as needed.

Set Up Closing 5 minutes

Activity

Closing
Activity

and what weve learned) chart and brainstorm with the

class.

8-10 minutes

The teacher will gather and display books about pen

pals to better inform students of what a pen pal is.
These books will be displayed around the classroom as
well as in a resource center that also includes books
about the different countries. The teacher will also post
maps and pictures of the ePals countries around the
classroom in order to familiarize the students with
these regions, as well as having texts that depict the
everyday lives of people living in those countries.

Teacher will allow students to explore the resource

center and learn more about the countries their ePals
are from.

EXIT EVENT
Overview:
At the end of the email chain, students will compile all of the information they learned about
their ePals in order to share what they have found with their classmates and parents. Students
will be expected to create a tri-fold board that is designed as a compare and contrast chart. They
will brainstorm the similarities and differences they have found between their ePal and
themselves both individually and in a group setting. Students will create a tri-fold in class and
display the board during a gallery walk event hosted in the evening for parents and members of
the community.
Instructional Materials:
-poster board (tri-fold) for each student (students will need to bring one in)
-construction paper to decorate board
-glue sticks
-markers to decorate and write facts about themselves and ePals on board
- picture of themselves and a picture of their ePal
**We will have a premade poster to demonstrate what the final project might look like.

Technology:
-computer and printer to print out picture of ePal and pictures of the ePals country
Time Duration: 80 minutes in class time (35 minute session and 45 minute session) and 40
minute after school display for parents
Instructional Sequence:
Event
Segments

Approximate
time per
segment

Detailed Steps/Procedure

Recap Exit
Activity Final
Product

5 minutes

The teacher will remind students that they are creating

individual posters about themselves and their ePals
similarities, differences and unique characteristics.
She/he will explain that these presentations offer them
an opportunity to really reflect on all that they have
learned about their ePals and about the country where
they are from.

Individual

20 minutes

The teacher will have his/her students compile a list of

work

10 minutes
Group
Discussion

information about their ePals by individually rereading

all of their emails. Asking: What similarities and
differences do you see in how your ePals lives and
what he/she is like? Ask students to pay particular
attention to some of the main topics in the unit: culture
(food, holidays, family, etc.), environment (climate,
physical geography), their daily schedule.
The teacher will bring the students back together and
lead the whole class in a discussion of what the
students learned and the patterns the students found
reviewing the emails from their ePals. What inferences
can students make of what its like to live where their
ePals lives?

(Day 2)
Explanation/
Modeling of
poster

10 minutes

The teacher will model for students how to create a

proper tri-fold poster. On the left will be a picture of
themselves and on the right will be a picture of their
ePal. Under the students pictures will be his/her
interests that differ from the ePal. Under the ePals
picture will be his/her interests that differ from the
students. In the middle of the tri-fold will be the
similarities between the student and the ePal.

Create Poster

30 minutes

Set Up for
Final Display

5 minutes

Students will then work individually and use the

compiled list of information that they gathered from all
of their ePals emails to fill out the right side of the
poster as well as the center. Students will then use their
All About Me sheet (activity completed during the
emailing process between ePals) to fill in the poster
beneath their picture as well as the center. For students
who might need extra help with writing have the
opportunity to work on the project during free time
and lunch time with the teacher.

Students will then display their individual posters on

their desks in preparation for the parent gallery walk.
Introduction of

5 minutes

The day the project is finished, the next day visitors are

project to
Visitors

invited to come to the classroom at 6 pm for a gallery

walk of the students posters. The teacher will introduce
the project to the parents and give a brief summary of
what the students have worked on.

Sharing of
poster

30 minutes

Closing

5 minutes

Hello, and welcome to our second grade classroom.

The students have been working exceptionally hard on
the presentations you are about to see. Over the past
few weeks, they have been communicating with
children their age in other countries. Tonight you will
see how they have compared their lives with their
ePals lives. Please enjoy!

Students will stand in front of their desks with their

posters displayed for the visitors to see. Children will
get the chance to share their poster with adults passing
by.
Teacher will close the event thanking the visitors for
coming to acknowledge the students hard work
throughout the project as well as thank the students for
their input during the project.
Thank you for all coming tonight! We appreciate your
support!