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"The mission of ePALS Classroom Exchange is to offer safe, innovative ways for learners to make contact with other cultures. They currently connect over 4.5 million users from 191 countries, speaking 136 languages, by providing built-in Webmail language translation and safety features such as monitored e-mail and profanity filters. All of the tools and resources on the site are free to anyone with a computer, anywhere in the world. The site also offers collaborative projects that students can join, as well as tools for creating projects and contacting students in remote locations."

ePals is the social network optimized for K-12 learning. Over half a million classrooms in 200 countries and territories have joined the ePals Global Community to connect, collaborate and exchange ideas. ePals now translates in 35 languages! The benefits of the site are that the students can connect with other students and classrooms around the globe. You connect with them by the projects that you are working on in the classroom. This gives the common ground to talk about back and forth. The possible pitfalls are if you get a classroom that is not as involved as yours. It could be a let down and you may have to find another classroom that you could connect with.

This site is free and connects you with other educators seeking to connect classrooms for global projects. It has great safety features and has a variety of projects for all content areas and grade levels. You can form e-mail pen pal connections with classrooms around the world. Very cool!

The topics are standards-based and of global interest. Each project is designed to be used as is or customized to your classroom's needs. An easy way to find a classroom with which to partner is to check the "Connect with Classrooms" forum on the project index page for posts by interested classrooms. Topics include holidays and festivals, digital storytelling, spanish, global warming, habitats, weather, and natural disasters.

List of projects that make use of global connections to study various topics for late elementary to middle school aged students. I love how the project calendar lays out a specific timeline for when to introduce concepts and exchange emails. The website provides a forum to find cooperating classrooms. The possible pitfall could be not finding a class to exchange ideas.

This global collaborative project at http://ciese.org/curriculum/squareproj/ -- Registration closes SEPT 30 Driving questions: Why HERE and not THERE? Presents students with a world map and two animals/insects from different areas (EG Monarch butterfly and Australian stick insect specimens). Pose a challenging question: Why here and not there? Why there and not here? How can we find out? Register class on Square of Life, an Internet-based collaborative project that has students investigate their local environment and share information with students from around the world. Students examine a square yard of local ground and organize what they find into categories they define themselves: living and nonliving, plants and animals. Through close examination, they organize small creatures into groups by shared characteristics, and learn to discriminate between classes of animals, including insects and isopods. Theorize about the role of habitat and niche in insect distribution. Share their findings with Australian students (or students from around the glove) and report their conclusions about Why here and not there? Why there and not here?

Journey North is a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. Journey North is an online science education project in which students track spring's journey across the northern hemisphere. There are so many great objectives linked to the different studies. This is a great activity for a primary and an intermediate class to work together on. A possible pitfall may be spending too much time on these fabulous activities.

Krystal, What a great project. This would be something great to do with a kindergarten class because I know kindergarten does a whole unit on Monarch butterflies.

Mystery Class starts January 30! This is a fun 11-week project that engages students science, technology and global collaboration.

This website is an amazing collection of global wildlife migration for several different species within different animal kingdoms. I really like how many resources there are for each area of study. Teacher resources are provided to integrate with reading and writing as well as the social science areas. I became particularly interested in the Gray Whales Migration because it has many terms 4th graders need to know. It also dicusses the migration of whales in their science book. I think it would be neat to share what we learn with others as we move through the project and monitor the migration of the whales. Places that are along the coast may actual get to see and report a sighting. We can share through our class blog and perhaps find other classes to skype with. One pitfall I see is the amount of time that could potential go into this project. But, it would be worth it.

Shauna's class did it http://blogs.goaj.org/mrshamman/2013/04/11/journey-north-mystery-class/

"The premise is simple; we pick a book to read aloud to our students during a set 6-week period and during that time we try to make as many global connections as possible. Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. In the past we have used Twitter, Skype, Edmodo, our wiki, email, regular mail, Kidblog, and any other tools we can think of to make these connections. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year."

Webinar Wednesdays occur twice a month and shine a spotlight on all things PBL.  The upcoming webinars are highlighted below and are open for registration.  Future webinar topics will include service learning, math, literacy, globalization, web 2.0, leadership, and many more.  The presenters are members of BIE's National Faculty & Staff and special guests. Registration for these 60-minute events is free. We will broadcast them twice on the designated day at 12pm and 3pm Pacific Time. The webinars will be recorded and uploaded to BIE's YouTube Channel shortly after each broadcast.   Webinar Schedule Wednesday, October 5, 2011 STEM and PBL Wednesday, October 12, 2011 Online Learning Environments and PBL Wednesday, November 2, 2011 PBL in Advanced Placement Classes Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Differentiated Instruction and PBL

Early registration is now open!