Back in early September, I was thrilled to find out that I’d been accepted into Cohort 1 of the Empathy Project Fellowship. I loved being a part of the America Achieves National Teacher Fellowship in 2014-2016 and felt so honored to join this new fellowship.

One great part of joining the Participate’s Empathy Project Fellowship is that I had already signed up with Empatico and had been matched with a 2nd grade teacher in Calgary. At first I was disappointed to not be matched with a class in the southern hemisphere but my kindergartners have done 2 exchanges so far and love all of it!

Here are some pictures of our 2nd interaction, which was the 1st time we were alone (not with our 4th grade buddies). My kindergarteners were sharing their favorite books from our How to Make A Friend board.

We practiced what they’d say, how they’d stand, how loudly they’d speak the day before. We looked at our atlases and remembered where Calgary is and some facts about Canada. The  kids felt ready, excited and a little nervous!

Here are some pictures I took during out video exchange. We are off for Thanksgiving break but look forward to connecting again in December.