Wednesday, March 16, 2016

2016 #Briarhill24WorldTour Video

Thanks to Sara Lesley, LISD Instructional Technology Facilitator, and Erin Bookout for working so hard on our #Briarhill24HrWorldTour 2016 video

Friday, March 11, 2016

NBC DFW Channel 5 Story


Last stop, Dr. Rogers, our Superintendent

 We saved our last skype for our Superintendent.  We were excited to tell him about all the places we went, the people we talked to and all that we learned.  

Friday, March 4, 2016

Anchorage, Alaska

We just got off of our 24th Skype with Anchorage, Alaska. They got 20 inches of snow all season, but some parts can get up to 500 inches. 3 years ago, they got 120 inches of snow. They said that Alaska is a lot colder. They also said that there is not as much people even though Alaska is a lot larger. There is a lot more wildlife that live in their backyard than Texas. Some animals include ravens and moose. They also have a State fair that is also a really big deal. It is a lot like ours except what they serve instead of beef, they eat caribou and moose. They miss swimming, the heat, and their friends. Over there, it is 18 degrees Fahrenheit. It was 10:47 am when it was 1:47 pm here. Most kids are home schooled. The state of Alaska also provides money for all of their textbooks. They have had lots of encounters with moose, and have seen a few bears before. There was a bear that tried to get into a Target, and a moose got into a Walmart and ate the produce. They have lived there four about 4 years.



Vaughn, Canada {MYSTERY}

Vaughn, Canada

We did a mystery skype with a class in Vaughn, Canada. The following are most of the questions that we asked and the answers that they provided.


Question: Are you north of the Equator (NORTHERN HEMISPHERE)
Answer: "Yes"

Question: Are you east of the Prime Meridian (WESTERN HEMISPHERE)
Answer: "No."

Question: Do you live on a large continent? (LARGE CONTINENT)
Answer: "Yes."

Question: Are you in Canada? (CANADA)
Answer: "Yes, we're in Canada."

Question: Are you in southern Canada? (SOUTHERN CANADA)
Answer: "Yes."

Question: Do you border an ocean? (NOT BY AN OCEAN)
Answer: "No."

Question: Do you live in Saskatchewan? (NOT IN SASKATCHEWAN)
Answer: "No."

Question: Are you in Alberta? (NOT IN ALBERTA)
Answer: "No."

Question: Do you live in a territory? (IN A PROVINCE)
Answer: "No, we don't." 
 
Question: Do you live in Ontario? (ONTARIO)
Answer: "Yeah!"

Question: Do you live in a major city? (CLOSE TO A MAJOR CITY)
Answer: "We're close to a major city."

Question: Do you live near Toronto? (NEAR TORONTO)
Answer: "Yeah, yeah we do."

Question: Do you live in Mississauga? (NOT IN MISSISSAUGA)
Answer: "No."

Question: Do you like in Brampton? (NOT IN BRAMPTON)
Answer: "No."

Question: Do you live in Vaughn? (VAUGHN, CANADA)
Answer: "Yes!"



Vaughn, Canada







Cameroon

Cameroon

How do you get your food when your in Cameroon?
They go shopping at a variety of stores. The bulk comes from a huge market. Instead of grocery carts they hire men to carry your items and they might wheel barrels. They drive 12 hours to get frozen/refrigerated foods. They also have stands on the streets and fish from lakes.

It is March 4th and 7pm
Here it is March 4th 12:00pm

9 students in the school
3 girls rooms in dormitory
3 guys rooms in dormitory

Technology in Classroom
Projectors, Internet, Computers, Screens

CAR= Central African Republic

What are the students favorite classes/things?
P.E., Drama, English teachers, Science Teachers, and Bible Teachers

International School
Variety of cultures
European
American
African

Most common dish?
Greens
Favorite dish
GBudu Greens mixed with peanut oil and meat.

Native Language
Cameroon: French and English main
CAR: HUGE Variety



Unfortunately, we could not connect to see her face so we used audio! Great experience. Thank you!!



State Representative

Tan Parker
State Representative for Texas


How long is your term as our District Representative?
2 years. He has a campaign and represents 17 cities in Texas.

What is being discussed most around our area?
-Education, making certain we have a wonderful environment and being prepared/ having the same opportunities. We need to be able to provide in the future.
-Transportation, adding new roads and investing millions into new roads
-Borders, keeping everyone safe.

What is your most successful Bill?
-Everyone having an oppurtunity to work.
-Most passionate about bills that help and protect children from all kinds of harm. 


Texas is the 12th largest economy in the world. They must be prepared and discuss things. If they have an idea they file it and take it to the chairman, if he considers it they have a debate on the importance of. Later they vote on the 'bill' (idea). He will campaign the bill and if the majority votes they pass it. The same process happens again in the Senate. After it goes to the governer, the governer either veto's or approves it. In his job he files the bills, answers phone calls, and votes on bills.


What is your most successful Bill?
-Everyone having an opportunity to work.
-Most passionate about bills that help and protect children from all kinds of harm. 

Challenges
- Tremendous amount of energy and time because he is representing and meeting so many people. They come to him with concerns and then it's in his hands to get it fixed.
- Responsibily

Inspiration
-9-10 years old, impressed with Ronald Reagan, he knew he wanted to be in politics.
- 16 years old, made a republican group and taught people what it meant.
- College did community service

Notes to us:
Follow you Dreams: Never give up
Nothing more  important than serving other people no matter what level. Any type of person, get involved. Understand how blessed you are.

Rome, Italy

It is 10:00am and we are skyping with Tolly Dolly Posh in Rome, Italy. She is a fashion designer and is 15 years old. She blogs about fashion and is a designer.

Her real name is Tolmeia but she goes by Tolly. She started vloggging when she was 11 years old. She started the blog as a summer project. Her goal is to become a professional fashion designer, and to make people happy and confident in what they wear.



Ukraine

The 18th Skype was at 9:30 AM. Our Skype was with Odessa, Ukraine. Over there, it is 5:30 PM. We started off by sharing our top ten historical figures. Then they told us about the history of their city, and we thought it was cool. Then they told us about their holidays. It turns out, they celebrate Christmas like we do. They are all girls that range from 14-16 years old. After that, they told us about some of their foods. Borscht is one of there most common foods that they serve. It is pretty much stew. They speak Russian and Ukrainian. Then they tried to teach us some Russian and Ukrainian words. They asked how we celebrate "Holiday," or "Vacation." Then it was time to go.




Quito, Ecuador/8am

     Good morning! Our morning skypes started with a class in Ecuador. We talked about the challenges our countries are facing today. We carried a conversation on about oil rigs and how they're polluting are lakes and rivers. Quito has one season, spring! They measure their temperatures in Celsius. Since Ecuador sits on the equator their homes may be on the northern hemisphere but they got to school in the southern hemisphere. Kids in Ecuador used to work on the streets, but now it is against the law to not go to school. In they're public schools they must wear uniforms.  Thank you for talking to us. On to the next one!

Iceland

Click here to see the presentation on Iceland that was shared with us

Talking to Nigeria


  NOW WE WILL BE SKYPEING WITH NIGERIA!!


                    So we called Nigeria at 5:00 A.M and it is currently 5:15, this means that we have been waiting for 15 minutes for them to call us back. The man said he wasn't ready at 5:00, so he had to take a couple minutes to get ready.
                    We have finally reached the man from Nigeria, but there were some technical difficulties and had to disconnect again. This Skype has been stressful already, and we haven't even gotten started yet! We finally reached them and are now starting the Skype. We are going to be showing them our top ten lists and they will be talking to us about them.   

                    In Nigeria it is 12:30 PM , while it's 5:25 AM for us. When we have four seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, they only have Wet and Dry season.

             Now we are talking about our top ten places to visit, and some of the places such as Disney World/ Disney Land, and they are all getting so very excited, because they know what we are talking about.

          Some of their world struggles that they have in Nigeria are some of the same struggles that we have in America. 

        It also seems like we have a lot of the same entertainment, and that is something that we all bonded over. They are very interested in learning about our culture, just as we are about them. 
           
 



LEBANON

    



           LEBANON

  WE ARE SKYPING WITH JENNA'S COUSIN. WE HAVE TALKED A LOT ABOUT HER FAMILY. SHE WAS SHOCKED TO FIND OUT THAT IT WAS 4 IN THE MORNING. SHE SAID "WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING AT SCHOOL". SHE SPEAKS FRENCH ARIBAC SPANISH AND ENGLISH. SHE SPOKE SOME FRENCH TO US ALSO SHE SPOKE ARABIC.  
WE WERE VERY GLAD TO BE ABLE TO CONFERENCE WITH HER!

Kathmandu, Nepal

It is 3:15am and we are calling our next person. Everyone is drinking caffeine trying to stay awake! We have about 10 people sleeping and 10 people skyping. 

Madison and Kadin are introducing themselves to the people. It is kinda of hard to understand them so just in case, we got a translator. Madison and Kadin are telling the people about the top 10 holidays.

They asked about our culture. We told them that most of America is Christian. We also told them our top 10 resturants such as starbucks, chipolte, chick-fil-a, and more. The poeple in Nepal asked Kadin and Madison what there favorite holiday was and they both said Christmas. They told them that Christmas only lasted one day.

They asked Madison and Kadin what there hobbys where. Madison said singing and Kadin said messing around with video games. They asked Madison and Kadin what they do in school. They replied saying "ELA, Geography, Science, Math, and PE." 

The main language they speak is Nepaly and English. They were excited to see us and they waved at us and said "hello, hi."

Here is a picture of Kadin (left) and Madison (right). The translator is all the way to the right.

                                                  Alayna researches facts about Nepal

BLOG BY : NATALIA



Trolle, Antarctica/2:45am

     We began our next Skype bright and early at 2:45 am! We skyped a man named Kim in Antarctica! His job was to make sure that the satellites were working and that everyone could communicate well. The pictures for Antarctica on google earth are downloaded from them! It is 8:45 am there. The men were transported to Trolle by a plane. They get their food by a supply boat, and it comes once a year! There are 28 people on Kim's crew. In a couple of weeks, only 6 people will be left to take care of the electronics. The climate is VERY cold, and sometimes windy. It was 14 degrees fahrenheit today, but Kim has felt temperatures of under -7 degrees fahrenheit! Sadly, Kim has not seen any penguins, but he has seen many birds. Thank you Kim for skyping with us!

Chennai, India


It's 2:00am and we are talking with Chennai, India.  We asked them about restaurants and they said that they had KFC and Mcdonalds and things like that. The adults there wear robes but the kids wear close like us. They have a Monsoon season and it is typically always hot and humid. It was ninety degrees there. The have typhoons and hurricanes too. he's asking questions about us now . He's asking about our temperature and tie.


Chennai, India is like the Detroit of India.  They have a big automobile industry there. 


They have a lot of malls  and school wise they're curriculum is a lot like us. Most people there are Hindu but there is a lot of religions there too. They have a lot of snakes and there was once a snake in his school. Some people are very rich but others are poor. They like animals so there are a lot of animal reserves.


Sweden

Now we are talking to a class in Sweden. The sound is not working;don't worry it started working! They like ice sports and play them a lot, because it is very cold there. They also watch some of the same movies and T.V shows! Such as... The Hunger Games, Pretty Little Lier's,

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Tromso, Norway/1am

   

     We started off our next Skype talking to a gentleman named Oje in Norway. He said that the weather was always cold, and it snowed a lot! Narwhals live in the oceans nearby. It is currently winter in Norway. If you look up at the sky at night, you can see the northern lights. They are blue, pink, purple, and green. Tromso, Norway is about 8 hours ahead from the USA. Their main language is Norwegian. Oje said that he loves the snow and midnight sun. They have a king and a prime minister to run their economy. The food in Norway consists of fish, reindeer, and sometimes whale. He asked us about the weather here, because it barely reaches sixty where Oje lives. We look forward to skyping more people, and the adventures to come! On to our next skype!

Mystery

Questions And Answers
Can you guess where they are?


Q-Are you by a body of water?
A-Yes

Q- Do you live in the northern hemisphere
A-Yes

Q-Are you Asia
A- Kinda

Q-Are you north of China?
A-Yes

Q- Are you in Russia?
A- No

Q-Are you west of India?
A-no

Q-Do You border Russia
A-yes

Q-Are you in Kazakstan
A-yes

They live in Atyrau, Kazakstan

It was amazing that we have this opportunity to skype people all the way in Asia!

Everyone is gathering to see Mr. Bleemel and Mrs.Weesner play a very competitive game of ping pong. They are trying to "beat the world record" of the longest ping pong rally. With skill and luck they got a rally of 87!


Istanbul, Turkey

This is our 8th Skype, and we are skyping with Istanbul, Turkey. We are excited to learn new things about turkey. We will be taking pictures of the Skype and writing down the conversations.

It is 11:00pm and we are calling him. His name is Josh.


What is the most famous landmark?
 --The Grand Bazarre

Holidays?
--Ramadam

weather?
Cooler/mild

Summer?
70 - 80 degrees

Foods?
baroque (layers of tortillas)
kabob (lamb and cow meat)

Political government?
Prime Minister
(currently strange)
He's trying to change rules so he can stay elected.

Singers?
Actor named Cem  (C=J sound)

They most common languages are Turkish and Arabic. 



Kenidee and Thomas ask questions about Josh. They also ask questions about Istanbul, Turkey.


                                         This is a picture of Josh answering questions.

BLOG BY : NATALIA AND KATE




Mountain View, California

Mountain View, California
Google

Q: How did you get into Google?
A: "I was an intern here last summer." 

Q: What are your jobs at Google?
A: "We work a lot in IT. " 

Q: What inspired you to work for Google?
A: It was the number 1 company to work for for the 5th year in a row. We have a self driving car. 

Q: When did you decide to work at for Google?
A: "I wanted to be an architect then work in finance after I took many classes then found out about Google and wanted to do something with technology."


It was so cool getting to watch Alexandra tell us about her experience working with Google.  She told us so many cool things like what technology you get to work with. For example, Atlas, a humanlike robot and a self driving car. Alexandra told us they get to work with Apple computers and Chrome books that are made by Google. Google lets them go to another country for 3 months.



Skyping Kobe, Japan!!!!

                                              Now we are skypeing Kobe, Japan


                   We showed them our top ten things that we do from day to day at school. They told us about their holidays and things that they do at their school. One of the things they do that captured my attention was a food and fun fair. At the food and fun fair different people make different foods from around the world. They also love to do sports. They asked us questions about our country and culture. We had a great time talking with the students in Japan!

mystery 2

This was our second mystery Skype of the tour. This is how it played out      




   Questions And Answers


Can you guess where we are skyping?
     
 Q- are you in Australia 
  A -Yes


 Q-are you the northern hemisphere 
 A -No

Q- Are You on the eastern side
A- No


Q- Are you on the coast
A- Yes

Q- Are you in Sydney
A-Yes!

They are in...

Sydney Australia!

It was really cool to talk to them. They were very excited to find out where we were. 

   

     

                                                                
     
        




   
   

Mystery Skype

In this Skype, we will be asking yes and no questions trying to figure out where they are, and they don't know where we are. The first person to figure out where the other is located wins.



Q&A:

Q: BMS- Are you north of the equator?
A: Mystery- Yes

Q: Mystery- Are we in the Northern Atmosphere?
A: BMS- Yes

Q: BMS- East of Prime Meridian
A: Mystery-Yes

Q: Mystery- Are we from Europe
A: BMS-No

Q: BMS: Are you From Asia
A: Mystery: Yes

Q: Mystery: Is your country in the morning right now?
A: BMS: No

Q: BMS: Is your country in the morning right now?
A: Mystery: Yes

Q:Mystery: Is your continent in North America?
A: BMS: Yes

Q: Mystery: Is your Country Canada?
A: BMS: No

Q: BMS: Are you east of Iran?
A: Mystery: Far away from Iran

Q: Mystery: Are you in the Southern part of America?
A: BMS: Yes

Q: BMS: Are you an Island?
A: Mystery: Yes

Q: Mystery: Is your state in America a big one?
A: BMS: Yes

Q: BMS: Are you in Taiwan?
A: Mystery: Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Q: Mystery: Are you in Oklahoma?
A: BMS: No

Q: Mystery: Are you in Texas?
A: BMS: Yes

Q: BMS: Are you in Taoyuan City?
A: Mystery: No

Q: Mystery: Are you in Austin?
A: BMS: No

BMS: We are in Dallas, Texas
Mystery: We are in Taichung City, Taiwan

Overall we figured out a lot besides the city. They did too. They were closer than we were to figuring us at.


NBC Virtual Tour-6:35pm

This will be our third Skype of the night. His name is Kris Gutierrez from NBC5. Tonight he will be showing us behind the scenes of NBC5! He went to Lewisville High School. Most of us in the room now are Marauders."You will turn out fine," Kris said! Well, I hope this turns out good. Thanks!


   
                                

Skyping Brazil

Here we go on Skype number two of the day!! We are currently skyping Lagoa Santa, Brazil!!! The first subject we discussed is he is an teacher English. He teaches English as a foreign language to Brazilians. At the moment they are in night school at 8:06 PM. The time difference is 3 hours ahead of us. He has a student that is 68 years old!!! They go to school 5days a week but two days out of the week they go to a separate school to learn English. They currently are in summer but are transitioning to fall. For them it is hot and cloudy and it typically rains at the end of the day/night time.  They speak Portuguese; a student even spoke to us in Portuguese!!! There are many mosquitoes in their region, so there are many diseases passed around. In Brazil they do not get very much snow, if any. They are very excited to have the Olympics hosted in their country. The kids in his class play basketball, baseball is not common, volleyball, dodge ball, and soccer also known as football. The kids' favorite foods are pizza (surprisingly), but there are different ingredients. There are many kinds of dessert the kids enjoy having. We hope you enjoyed our skypaothon
blogging, and please keep up with each skype!!! ;)













Baghdad, Iraq/ 4:30

HERE WE GO!
     Our first skype of the day we are talking to an army soldier in Baghdad, Iraq. He talked about how people there were mainly Islamic and prayed seven times a day! They mainly speak Arabic. He said they are very friendly to him and greet him often. When everyone eats, they stand up around the table. They grab what they want, and have feasts. The most common foods are lamb and goat. When we skyped him it was 1:30 in the morning! He will be there for a year in August.  He misses his daughter and Mexican food the most. He has been there another time before, and he feels safer this time than the last. They wear body armor when they go out to protect people. Their traditional clothing is head dresses and robes. It gets very cold in the winter months. He said it is hard to be away from his home, but he feels happy serving his country. Thank you Chris for your service! On to our 2nd skype!

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

One day away.


Going over last minute details and what we need everyone to to do.  Our adventure is about to begin.