Lessons From Our Google Hangout with Ms. Burnett's Class in NZ

This past week, we were lucky enough to have our first Google Hangout with Ms. Burnett's class of year 3&4 students in Auckland, New Zealand.  We were going to talk about the book The Not Perfect Hat Club, but after a short discussion about rumors and gossip, the students became quite intrigued with the opportunity to ask questions about what life is like in another part of the world.

Some of the items that we learned about New Zealand and Ms. Burnett's classroom are:

• they are 18 hours ahead of us, we were finishing our school day and they were just starting the NEXT school day! (Kind of neat, talking to someone in the "future.")
• they do not get snow where they are (most of them have NEVER built a snowman!)
• their temperatures range from about 5 degrees Celsius as a winter low to about 25 degrees Celsius as a summer high
• they are about 5 minutes away from the beach, compared to our hour plus drive to a beach
• they are in the season SPRING right now, while we are in FALL
• their school has about the same age of students as we do, ages 5 to 11
• they spend most of their time sitting on the carpet or the floor, instead of on chairs at desks
• they seemed to be wearing some sort of school uniform - check out the sea of blue sweaters in the photo!
• we share many of the same holidays, but they celebrate the Queen's Birthday and Waitangi Day (Feb. 6)
• Waitangi Day celebrates the signing of the treaty between the British and the Maori people

What a great opportunity to share and learn with other students, and follow their interests!

​K. losey