On December 20, Billy Mitchell ES and Shiojirinishi ES held our 4th videoconference.

The conference began with a report on our pair project. Billy Mitchell 6th grade reported on what they had learned about our local watershed and how a river helps to create rocks. Shiojirinishi also presented the findings from their most recent river study.

6th grade in the both the US and Japan appears to be an occasion for exciting field trips. The Shiojirinishi students described their trip to Tokyo and practiced their English interview skills with students from Billy Mitchell. My students were very impressed that the 6th grade was able to visit Tokyo, and a little bit jealous that the trip included time at Tokyo Disney! Our 6th grade had just returned from a week at Sly Park Outdoor Education Center, which is located in the El Dorado National Forest, just west of Lake Tahoe. Our students were able to describe for the Japanese how we hiked 3 - 5 miles a day, climbed the rock wall, built shelters in the rain and made new friends with students from other schools.

We wrapped up the videoconference with a language lesson. The Japanese taught us about New Year Celebrations. We explained the holiday season in our classroom. As my class is extremely diverse, we explained about diversity in the US. Students presented about Christmas, Hanukah and Eid as we have students who celebrate each of those holidays. We tried to explain to the Japanese that even though we are very different, we all get along and really like each other. I think that this is the part of the videoconference that my students were most proud of!

Of course, we had to have a little fun. We have discovered that the Japanese and US students LOVE to play games with each other. This time we played the can stack game. We tried to see who could build the tallest tower with empty soda cans. My class practiced for a week! When the competition was over, we lost by 4 cans, but I was so proud of my students. They were very gracious and showed excellent sportsmanship when the final tally was revealed. They also had worked hard to come up with a strategy to work together, which they used when they were competing.

We also plan to talk about Japan's Coming of Age Day when we return from Winter Break. As usual, we are looking forward to seeing our Japanese friends on Jan. 23 for our 5th videoconference.

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