Mrs. Catron's First Grade Class emails Lithuania

Mrs. Catron's 1st grade class is now "epaling" with a 1st grade class in Lithuania. Mrs. Goodwin, AES's Technology Resource Teacher, set this up through a website called ePals. ePals allows teachers to find classes all over the world and set up correspondence with them.

Below are the emails that have been sent and received, with the most recent on top.

Edita is the contact person in Lithuania who is translating our letters for Ms. Loreta's 1st grade class. Couliette is the Technology Resource Teacher for Atkins Elementary School.

April

This month, the two classes exchanged national symbols.

Lithuanian national symbols - Word Document

U.S. Symbols - PowerPoint - written by students

March

Teachers in Lithuania go on strike.

From Edita - Thousands of teachers are going on strike because their salary is too low. The average salary of a teacher in Lithuania is about 1 345 (litas) which is approximately 592 US dollars a month.

February 2, 2008

Shrovetide Festival: These are pictures from a Lithuanian school celebration of Shrovetide. SHROVETIDE refers to the last three day before the Lenten fast which begins on Ash Wensday. The Lithuanian name for Shrovedite, Uzgavenes, lays stress on the third day, Shrove Tuesday. The verb uzgaveti means "to eat well and heartily before beginning the fast." Read more about the festival here.

November 8, 2007

Dear Class,

Here are the answers to your earlier questions:

  1. How did you make the pictures behind you?
    Did you make them on the computer or did you draw them? These are the pictures of our grandparents. We draw them ourselves. October was announced the month of the elderly, so this way we wanted to show love to our grandparents.
  2. How old are the students in your class?
    All the students are 7 years old except for one, who is 6.
  3. Why do you have to wear uniforms?
    It was decided in the school council.
  4. Are you having a birthday party?
    The first day at school was a simbolic birthday of our class.
  5. Do you celebrate Halloween?
    No, we do not. It is not our traditional festival. We ceebrate All Souls Day.

Please tell us about your day at school: what lessons you have, where you eat, play or exercise, what books you read, what tasks you do for homework. With pictures, please.

Looking forward to your letter

Edita

11/1/2007

Here is a Halloween Power Point Mrs. Catron's Class sent to Ms. Loreta's class in Lithuania.

10/30/2007

Dear Couliette

Edita sent me her home address which we will use to send cards to her students. Following is more from her email.

By the way, the tradition to celebrate Halloween is getting more and more popular in Lithuania especially among students who welcome every opportunity to celebrate, though, as I have already told you, it's considered to be inappropriate among the rest of the society since Halloween is not our national festival. On the whole, Lithuanians are not cheerful people. For the most part it's due to the climate which could be described as "eternal autumn" with lots of rain and low temperatures not to mention 9 months of heating season. Furthermore, we are the nation which suffered many years of Russian oppresion and fought their way to independence only 17 years ago. As a nation we are considered to be rather pessimistic. Our children will be different, I hope.

Well, I'll talk to you later.
Edita

10/30/2007

Edita,

I would love to send the 1st grade class a Halloween card (even though it will be late). It has been a long time since I have mailed anything overseas. Would you give me your address? Maybe I could also include some small Halloween decorations. (This is SO exciting!!)

Couliette

10/26/2007


Dear Virginia Class,

Thanks for your letter. It's nice to hear that you enjoyed the pictures. It was only yesteday that I gave the letter to the 1st class teacher. My son goes to the 1st class and he reported me that the whole class including the teacher are very excited. I have translated your second letter already so tomorrow they'll be reading it and answering the questions :-) I have even bought a world map for them to hang it on the wall! Next week is a holiday for us too. However, it's not joyfull, I'd rather say sad. We celebrate All Souls' Day. Traditionally we go to the cemetary "to visit" the dead. We light the candles and put flowers on the burial ground, we also pray for the dead. It's a day when all the family gathers to gether to honour the dead. This festival is celebrated all over Lithuania. The candles are lit on every grave and they keep burning for about 24 hours. It's a spectaculous view, especially at night. Due to the festival, the children get their autumn holidays, tomorrow is the last day of school. The children will be back to school on the 5th on November. Hope they will be able to answer your 1st class letter tomorrow. Anyway, I'll let you know.

Bye for now,

Edita

10/25/2007


Dear Lithuania Class,

Thank you for the pretty pictures. We have some questions.

Class Picture:
How did you make the pictures behind you? Did you make them on the computer or did you draw them?
What are the words on the board behind you?
How old are the students in your class?
Why do you have to wear uniforms?

1st Day Picture:
Are you having a birthday party?

Next week, we have a holiday that is celebrated in the U.S. It is called Halloween. On Halloween (October 31), we get to go “trick-or-treating” (we knock on other people’s doors and ask for candy). We dress up in costumes. We get lots of candy. Do you celebrate Halloween?

Sincerely,
Mrs. Catron’s 1st Grade Class

10/22/07

Dear Class,
Thanks for your letter. I finally messed up with my power point presentation so this morning, having read your letter, I decided to send you picture by picture - to stop the torture of waiting :-) The first picture is of the class. There is 21 student: 10 girls and 11 boys. The girl's names are: Dovile, Laura, Guste, Odeta, Gabriele, Šarune, Ieva, Paulina, Ugne and Vaida. The boys' names are: Augustinas, Karolis, Benas, Regimantas, Tadas, Ridas, Justas, Mantas, Jokubas, Povilas and Everdinas. The teacher's name is Loreta. She teaches the children Mathematics, Lithuanian, Music, Physical education and about the World. The second, the third and the fourth pictures are from the 1st day at school which is the 1st of September. The last two pictures are taken before the beginning of the lesson. As you can see, our children must wear uniforms at school...
That's about all for now.
Sorry for the delay. Hope you enjoy the pictures :-)
Edita

Ms. Loreta's 1st Grade Class
1st Day of School

1st Day of School

10/20/07


Dear Virginia Class,
It's two oçlock in the morning and I don't think I will be able to go to sleep because I am so excited. It's because of your letter :-) The pictures are wonderful and I can't wait to show them to the class. I can already imagine how excited the the pupils will be... Thank you so much. I will ask my husband to help me wiht my Power Point. Hope to send the letter on Monday. Thanks again,
Edita

10/19/07


Edita,
Here is a Power Point our class created for you. I included some pictures of seasonal decorations in our classroom. I thought your students might have some questions about them. I also tried to include some pictures of our building and the surrounding landscape. I thought it might me interesting to compare these things.
Couliette