Christmas Card Exchange

I received my group list for participation in the Christmas Card Exchange, which is hosted by Jen Wagner over at Projects by Jen  I LOVE these projects, and plan to participate in every one this year with a different grade level. I participated in the Pumpkin Project with 2nd grade, and now I'll be participating in this one with 3rd. First, I took my excel spreadsheet that Jen sent by email - that's right, she does all the hard work of putting the groups together and participants just wait and receive the already-put-together list - and hid (right click on the column letter header and select hide)  some of the columns so I could print the list of names and addresses all on one sheet. I printed two of these, and cut one up. I will let the students draw one to see who they get to send/receive a card from. We are going to watch this really short google street view VIDEO, then I will demonstrate how to use google maps street view. They will then go to the computers and type in their address and fill out this short QUESTIONNAIRE. When everyone is finished, we will share our information and have a discussion - how many schools were in a big city? What were some neat things you saw that were close to your school? Was your school on a dirt road or paved road? How is your school the same/different than our school? etc. This will be our introductory activity to build excitement and interest. Our next step will be to make our cards, address them, and mail them. Finally we will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of our cards in the mail! So excited about this project, look for more posts soon!