Idea Exchange

Dear Class,

Thanks for taking the opportunity to write to your state governor about conservation issues in your park.  Since this is a formal letter that will be sent, some revisions are needed on your drafts.  Please review and revise your letters.  The ones I have are attached below.

IMPORTANT:  Save your letter as FinalYourName (ex:  FinalDenise’sLetter) in the MY DOCUMENTS folder.  Please leave a comment to let me know what computer your work is on.  Example:  Hi Ms. Castek, my letter is saved on computer 223. Please don’t forget this step.

Thanks for doing your best
alexsletter.doc

anthonysletter.doc

antoniosletter.doc

dajevonsletter.doc

emilysletter.doc

enriquesletter.doc

erinsletter.doc

evelynns-letter.doc

johnathansletter.doc

jordansletter.doc

juliesletter.doc

lynethsletter.doc

lailasletter.doc

mariahsletter.doc

michaelsletter.doc

micolesletter.doc

mizrahysletter.doc

patricksletter.doc

santiagosletter.doc

michellesletter.doc

talisesletter.doc

I am a 5th grader and I have a great dog that I love a lot. Her name is Flash. My family wants to go on vacation and I know Flash would like to go too. I heard that lots of times what you read on the Internet isn’t true and I’m not sure about these places. They may just want our money.

We found these three places:

1. Dog Paddling Adventures http://dogpaddlingadventures.com/
2. Dog Island http://www.thedogisland.com/
3. Camp Winnaribbun http://www.campw.com/

Can you look at these sites and let me know:

· Which of these places is real?
· How you know if they are real or not?
· Why you think so?

Thanks,
Janissa

We are 4th graders from Exmouth, Australia. We know that otters live in most areas of the world but they don’t live in Australia or Antarctica. We heard that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is working to protect sea otters. Google maps showed that the aquarium is in California about 136 miles from your school.

We want to find the sea otter interactive on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website.

Can you:
• find the sea otter interactive
• post the address of the sea otter interactive

Tell:
• who made the interactive (we want to email a bunch of sea otter experts)
• are the maker’s experts, how do you know?

Thanks to you!

We are 4th and 5th graders from Lincoln, Nebraska. We’ve been looking and looking but we don’t know for sure how many species of otters there are. Our teacher says that the sites we get information from should be made by experts. We found one website, but we’re not sure if we can trust this source.

Can you:

· Find out how many otter species there are?
· Find more than one site that gives the same number of species?
· Post the names and addresses of the sites where you found the number of species?
· Explain whether the sites you found are reliable (trustworthy) sources of information?

Thanks!

We are 4th & 5th graders at Edwards School in Vancouver, Canada. We are looking for a site we lost called “Endangered Animals around the World” and the BBC makes it.

Can you:
·  find this site
·  read the information about the eight animals AND
·  send us this site’s website address

Post:
· the main reasons why animals become endangered
· what kids can do to help

We’ll put your ideas on our website for other kids to read.

Thanks for your information!

I am a 4th grade teacher in Albuquerque, NM. My class and I just read an article in National Geographic Kids News about the dangers of keeping exotic animals as pets. You can find it at:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2004/04/exoticpets.html
I had my students respond to a question I posted on our class blog.
Their ideas sparked lots of discussion from kids around the world.
Could you add your ideas too?

· First, read the National Geographic Kids News article
· Finally, write your own response that explains your opinions.

Refer back to facts in the article you read to make your arguments as
strong as possible. Be convincing, you can add facts from other
resources if you think they will help you make your point.
My students will read what you post. Thanks for helping us better
understand this issue so we can make good decisions.

Mrs. Anderson
4th grade teacher
Blackfoot Elementary School