Ultimate field trip: Monelison students visit Canada

By Annie McCallum

Published: July 2, 2008

Monelison Middle School students and teachers went on the ultimate field trip this summer.

Eight students and two teachers recently traveled 2,353 miles to Calgary, Alberta in Canada as part of a grant program.

The trip was great for sightseeing, the group went to the Calgary Zoo, visited a dinosaur museum and even dined at five-star restaurant, but it served a greater purpose.

“Because we live in such a global society travel is so important to understanding all beliefs. Not that you necessarily have to follow them, but it helps to be exposed to them and understand and be compassionate,” said Monelison teacher April Saunders, who received the grant and chaperoned the trip.

Saunders earned the grant from the SMARTer Kids Foundation, an organization geared toward bringing technology into classrooms around the world, to implement a program called Connections.

Through Connections, Saunders’ students spent time sharing information digitally with students from as far away as California, Minnesota, Mexico and Canada. During the Calgary trip students were able to meet the students they had been communicating with all year.

Monelison was one of eight schools selected to participate and was the only Virginia school.

What started as Saunders’ attempt to get a SMART Board for her classroom turned into a cultural experience.

“They are a hot commodity in Amherst. Everyone wants one,” Saunders said referring to the electronic blackboard system.

The grant included the recipient of a SMART board, which Saunders and her students used for interactive lessons and communication.

“You can do basic projection on it, but that’s not really what it’s for. I did more interactive stuff,” she said.

For example, Saunders used the technology for spelling and vocabulary lessons where students would come up to the board to match words with their roots of meaning.

Rising seventh grader Meagan Taylor said she thought the experience was “really cool.”

The 11-year-old was a little nervous to fly — it was her first time on a plane — but she got a window seat and had a blast.

Taylor said her favorite part of the trip was the Drumheller Dinosaur Museum, and she also enjoyed meeting her new friends.

“I think it was really cool because they told us everything about them and we got to experience it when got to see them,” she said.

Looking back on the trip Saunders said it accomplished one of her main goals for her students.

“To have them to meet other students and accept them for who they are,” she said. “That will take them a little farther in life.”