Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017

The Earth is what we all share, and what we all need to respect and protect. These are the central beliefs behind Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017. Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017 connects classrooms across the world, from sea to sea, to celebrate our Earth and learn cultural awareness. We aim to connect classrooms on every continent to celebrate what unites us, while also embracing our cultural differences! Scroll to the bottom of this post to see past Buncee Buddies projects.

What is Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017?

Buncee Buddies is a digital pen pal program that connects classrooms to build friendships, discuss ideas, and share Buncees based on a prompt. For the spring of 2017, Buncee Buddies classrooms will be celebrating Earth Day! Simply sign your classroom up, connect with your partners, and exchange awesome ideas and Buncees.

Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017 Prompt

“The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” — Former First Lady Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson

What does this quote mean to you?
What is the environment like where you live? What are some environmental issues your community is affected by?
How can you and your classmates work together to promote positive changes, environmental conservation, & sustainability?
What actions can you take to address an environmental issue where you live?

Sign Up For Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017

Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017 Project Steps

By March 17th, sign up for Buncee Buddies to register your class for the project. Sign up will close March 17th onward.
If you sign up for Buncee Classroom, you can create your students’ Buncee accounts. See how to create them here. If your students are under the age of 13 and sign up for Buncee Free, the students will need their parents’ email addresses to send them a parental consent form. This is in line with COPPA guidelines, which Buncee is in compliance with. Learn more here.
By March 20th, you will receive an email with information about your partner classes. Partners will be made in groups of four. You can coordinate with each other to decide how you’d like to connect. You can connect all at once or pair off in groups of two.
At the core of Buncee Buddies is the goal to exchange Buncees in response to the prompt, but a fun way to start chatting with your partner classrooms is through a Mystery Skype! To take the project to the next level and address all four pillars of global competence, check out the ideas in the section below.
Coordinate with your Buddies to share Buncees and connect. You can share your Buncees with your partner class via email. Each student can email the partner directly, or each student can copy their share Codes in one classroom document that you email your partner teacher.
Share your creations on social media with the hashtag #bunceebuddies, in this Padlet, or in this Facebook group.

Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2016 Ideas & Resources

Head to our Earth Day Classroom Activities blog for some Buncee creation ideas.
Check out the beautiful videos, photos, and lesson plans created by the Global Oneness Project. Choose one to discuss with your pen pal class or as a Buncee creation prompt.
Start your project with a Mystery Skype! Keep the location of your Buncee Buddies a secret and have your students prepare strategic questions to ask your partner class. Then, have them guess where they’re from.
Why not Periscope your Buncee creation session? Share the Periscope with the hashtag #bunceebuddies.
Live Training: Sign-up here for live training with the Buncee team!
Support Page: Here you will find a link to live chat, FAQs, and our contact information.

Buncee Buddies: Earth Day 2017 Standards

Buncee Buddies addresses the four pillars of global competence from the Asia Society, “the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context.”

Investigate The World: By participating in a Mystery Skype to begin the pen pal project, students are prompted to research and ask questions relating to geography, culture, and language. Responding the the prompt will require students to research global and local issues surrounding environmental issues.

Communicate Ideas: Students will need to take into account language and cultural barriers when creating Buncees to send to their Buncee Buddies. They will need to use media literacy skills in order to effectively communicate their ideas. Video chats will also require students to take into consideration their Buddies’ point of view to effectively communicate.

Weigh Perspectives: After seeing their partner’s responses to the prompt, students can compare and contrast their own classroom’s responses with those of their partners. While discussing the partner’s responses, teachers can prompt their students to take into consideration perspective, point of view, and history of their partner’s country.

Take Action: Response to the prompt can lead to actionable items that will promote environmental conservation in schools and communities, both locally and globally. Students should discuss with their partners how each class can take action to initiate change!