Grade 6 students at Runnymede are embarking on a very exciting project that will see them communicate electronically with students at the Moshono School near Arusha, Tanzania. Using e-mail letters, photo journals, mapping activities, and other computer programs, our students will have the opportunity to learn about their counterparts in this east-African community, all the while sharing their own personal experiences in their urban environment of Toronto.
Runnymede has already developed a connection with this community. Five years ago, a few of our classes raised money to help build the school from the ground up. Now that the construction is complete, the next development phase for the school is to supply laptop computers and to secure Internet access for their use. Runnymede can continue to support this venture in the following ways:
- If you have any laptop computers that you no longer use, please consider donating them to the Moshono School. Their contents will be deleted and new programs reloaded. Our liaison, Isabel Litwin-Davies, will personally take all of the donated laptops to Africa when she next visits on December 12. You may simply bring the laptop computer to Runnymede and leave it in the office for pick-up.
- Our Grade 6 students will be organizing a number of events in December to raise money for Moshono School’s Internet access. One event in particular, the Tanzania Toonie Tuesdays, will involve a collection of spare change from students throughout the school on three consecutive Tuesdays: December 4th, 11th, and 18th.
Runnymede has received much technological support for their part in this project. Through the Mobile Computing Strategy, we have received a large set of laptop computers of our own to pursue our goal of communicating electronically with diverse international communities. This project dovetails closely with our current Grade 6 Social Studies unit examining Canada’s Links to the World. We, in turn, would like to extend a generous hand to our “twin” school in Tanzania by contributing laptop computers and funds to ensure their full partnership in this project. Many thanks for any contributions, laptops or money, that you are able to make.
Runnymede Public School Council 