Every Monday we will post a newsletter on the homepage.

An overview of previous newsletters:

 

 

NEWSLETTER Monday February 6 (week 1):

 

Dear participants, welcome to the Learning Circle Children's Rights!

A large circle of students, learning from and with each other; both in your own classroom and online with students from other schools.

 

We will start with an introduction of yourself, your class or group and children's rights; each group has ONE school page to post contributions for the introduction, the challenges and to receive feedback; find it by clicking on your school name at the bottom of the pages.

You can find the assignments for the introduction phase on this page. Check out the links in the sidebar for all pages.

 

There are many ways to learn more about children's rights; you can read about it and tell us what Children's Rights mean to you.

By telling your own stories and hear, see and read how the other participants in the Circle experience it, you will collect more than just knowledge. During our learning journey you will discover more about the way things are for children in many countries.

 

Good luck and have Circle-fun together!

 

NEWSLETTER Monday February 13 (week 2):

 

Today we are starting the second week of this Learning Circle: with an introduction of yourself, your class or group and children's rights.
Each group has ONE school page to post contributions for the introduction, the challenges and to receive feedback; find it by clicking on your school name at the bottom of the pages.
 

You can find the assignments for the introduction phase on this page. Check out the links in the sidebar for other useful pages: the ‘Resources’ page, the ‘Background information’, and the ‘Reflective questions’ (pdf) for the introduction etc.

 

Parents and others like to follow your stories and ideas in the Learning Circle.

You can invite them to take a look by sending them the link of this wiki.

 

We're looking forward to your introduction.

Good luck and have Circle-fun together!  

 

NEWSLETTER Monday February 20 (week 3):

 

Today we are starting the third week of this Learning Circle: with an introduction of yourself, your class or group and children's rights.
Each group has ONE school page to post contributions for the introduction, the challenges and to receive feedback; find it by clicking on your school name at the bottom of the pages.
 

You can find the assignments for the introduction phase on this page. Check out the links in the sidebar for other useful pages: the ‘Resources’ page, the ‘Background information’, and the ‘Reflective questions’ (pdf) for the introduction etc.

 

Parents and others like to follow your stories and ideas in the Learning Circle.

You can invite them to take a look by sending them the link of this wiki.

 

On Monday March 6 the first challenge will take off. The pages are all open, to be prepared in time. 

 

We're looking forward to your introduction.

Good luck and have Circle-fun together!  

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NEWSLETTER Monday February 27 (week 4):

Good morning everyone,

 

This Monday we are starting the last week of the introduction phase.

We ask all participants to add a nice contribution on their schoolpage this week. 

 

You can find the assignments for the introduction phase on this page. Check out the links in the sidebar for other useful pages: the ‘Resources’ page, the ‘Background information’, and the ‘Reflective questions’ (pdf) for the introduction etc.

 

Parents and others like to follow your stories and ideas in the Learning Circle.

You can invite them to take a look by sending them the link of this wiki.

 

On Monday March 6 the first challenge will take off. The pages are all open, to be prepared in time. 

 

We're looking forward to your introduction.

Good luck and have Circle-fun together!

 

Manon

 

N.B.:
Request: Please resize all those nice pictures (to 50-100Kb) before you upload them in the wiki.

Five pictures uploaded directly from your camera will make the wiki page too heavy (10-20MB).

In countries with a dial-up connection it takes minutes before your page is visible.

 

Furthermore, downloading files (Word or PowerPoint) isn’t possible in many schools, for security reasons (virus etc.)

It’s best to post photo’s and stories IN the wiki page, so everyone can see them immediately.

Presentations like Prezi or Glogster can easily be embedded in the page, with the embed code.

 

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NEWSLETTER Monday March 6 (week 5):

 

Dear participants,

 

Thank you for your wonderful introductions! Did you take a good look at the school pages of the other participants? Most groups started to connect in this Circle by making a creative introduction. Some classes will add their presentations this week.

 

This week we’ll start the first challenge.

We all know that the right to a safe home is not accessible to all children. Together we can think about issues of importance, we will share our own experiences and research as a group. In this way we get to understand more about this right and what it means to you.

Start with he information on the page of Challenge 1. The reflective questions for this challenge (see sidebar) can help to make a good start. You can find interesting websites on the page with resources. Have conversations in your classroom and decide what choices to make in the assignments. Work on one or more assignments with your class or divide the class into smaller groups to work in various ways.

 

Until April 3 each group has four weeks to work on Challenge 1. Time to consult and discuss in your own group, but also to connect with the other students in your Circle; We are doing this by giving feedback and comments. We hope you will all give a lot of feedback on the work of other groups; that's what makes working in a Learning Circle unique and exciting!

 

You can also meet students from other groups by making a Skype appointment. A good way to have conversations about your ways of life and your views on children’s rights! You can find information about how to organize a Skype meeting on this page.

 

We are very curious about your plans and contributions,

Good luck!

 

Manon van Herwijnen

 

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N.B.:
Request: Please resize all those nice pictures (to 50-100Kb) before you upload them in the wiki.

Five pictures uploaded directly from your camera will make the wiki page too heavy (10-20MB).

In countries with a dial-up connection it takes minutes before your page is visible.

 

Furthermore, downloading files (Word or PowerPoint) isn’t possible in many schools, for security reasons (virus etc.)

It’s best to post photo’s and stories IN the wiki page, so everyone can see them immediately.

Presentations like Prezi or Glogster can easily be embedded in the page, with the embed code.

 

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NEWSLETTER Monday March 13 (week 6):

 

Dear participants,

 

Snow in Canada, almost spring in parts of Europe, always summer in Nepal and Suriname... 
A lot of sun or rainy days, what matters for a child is growing up in a safe home.

In this Circle we focus on such issues of importance to all children.

 

This Circle is all about learning with and from each other. It’s important to keep the others posted: What assignments have you chosen in this first challenge and how will you tackle them? The learning process is as valuable as the results!
The reflective questions for this challenge (see sidebar) can help to make a good start. You can find interesting websites on the page with resources.
 

Learn more about children’s rights by sharing your own experiences with other participants. Good to hear that some Skype appointments have been made to talk to each other directly, and to get to know each other better!

It’s nice to read comments and feedback from other classes or groups on your school page. That’s the way to find out what other students learn from all your ideas and contributions. Please take your time to carefully look at the pages and give feedback as much as you can, directly on the school pages.

 

Have a good week,

Thanks and good luck!

 

Manon van Herwijnen

 

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N.B.:
Request: Please resize all those nice pictures (to 50-100Kb) before you upload them in the wiki.

Five pictures uploaded directly from your camera will make the wiki page too heavy (10-20MB).

In countries with a dial-up connection it takes minutes before your page is visible.

 

Furthermore, downloading files (Word or PowerPoint) isn’t possible in many schools, for security reasons (virus etc.)

It’s best to post photo’s and stories IN the wiki page, so everyone can see them immediately.

Presentations like Prezi or Glogster can easily be embedded in the page, with the embed code. 

 

NEWSLETTER Monday March 20 (week 7):

(and for all Dutch schools: --->  extra newsletter about Mohamed Sidibay's visit to The Netherlands)

 

Dear participants,

 

In this first challenge of the Learning Circle we focus on what's important to all children: growing up in a safe home.

 

Some schools started to share their contributions. They are keeping us posted about the assignments they choose in this first challenge.
As we have noted: the learning process is as valuable as the results!

The reflective questions for this challenge (see sidebar) can help you to make a start or to keep track. You can find interesting websites on the page with resources.

Learn more about children’s rights by sharing your own experiences with other participants. Good to hear that some Skype appointments have been made to talk to each other directly, and to get to know each other better!

It’s nice to read comments and feedback from other classes or groups on your school page. That’s the way to find out what other students learn from all your ideas and contributions. Please take your time to carefully look at the pages and give feedback as much as you can, directly on the school pages.

 

Have a good week,

Thanks and good luck!

 

Manon van Herwijnen

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NEWSLETTER Monday March 27 (week 8):

(and for all Dutch schools: --->  extra newsletter about Mohamed Sidibay's visit to The Netherlands)

 

Dear participants,

 

We are in the final week of the first challenge.

In the past weeks many groups in all Circles worked to make a good contribution. Students show what they find out and share their own experiences and creative ideas on children’s rights. 

We expect the other schools to add their contributions for this challenge this week. 

By giving a brief update on your groups’ progress in this wiki every week, you can keep track of the other schools. If there’s a delay, please report this to the other participants on your school page. Take a good look at the work of your Circle mates and give feedback on it. 
Comments and feedback are an important part of this project; it’s the way to connect and it’s always fun and exciting to read what others think of your work!

 

We hope you can bring a lot of spring-energy in this circle, to increase awareness about ‚the right to a safe home' in many people's lives.

Good luck!

 

On behalf of the LC team, 

 

Manon van Herwijnen

 

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NEWSLETTER Monday April 3 (week 9):

 

Dear students and teachers,

 

For most of you it is a regular school day today.

In the second challenge, starting today, you’ll find out that there are many areas where it is not so easy to go to school, even in your own community. Fortunately, many people are committed to children's rights to learn and play, like you do in this Learning Circle!

The future of children looks very different if they can learn and play together at school. It can be such a good place to explore how to be independent and completely yourself and to learn and work together.

  

In the past week many groups worked hard on their contributions for challenge 1. We expect the other schools to add their part of the first challenge soon, in this way we can really continue to work together!

 

Some schools are telling us that they want more contact with the other schools. 

There are several ways to make it happen:

• We ask each school to give feedback to the other participants, directly on the their school pages. 
  It's nice and important to know how others appreciate your work!

• By giving a brief update about your progress every week, you can see what is happening in the other schools.

• By posting a comment at the bottom of a school page.

• By making a Skype appointment; live contact via webcam is so much fun! Read more about it on this page.

 

Have a great week and good luck!

On behalf of the LC team, Manon 

 

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NEWSLETTER Monday April 10 (week 10):

 

Dear students and teachers,

 

In the past week some schools made a good start in the second challenge and more wonderful contributions were posted for challenge 1.

 

For example: Have you seen the page of Lawrence Heights Middle School ?

They wrote: "Our class is working very hard to complete challenge 1. We have divided into 2 groups and each is working on 2 personal stories. We will be presenting those in variety of ways and hopefully we all will learn about the RIGHTS OF A CHILD. Ms. Bhatnagar, our teacher has taken us through the reflection questions based on article 22,24 and 27. This has encouraged us to think about our own lives and how different it is from the lives of other unfortunate children.Now you will see our videos that we made for the harsh life of child labour".

What an inspiration to share different perspectives like this!

 

Everyone can learn something about Children’s Rights; all wikis are set to public, so by sharing the URL also parents and other interested parties can follow your activities.

 

Some schools have responded very positively to our call to connect to the other schools.

Remember some simple ways to achieve this:

• We ask each school to give feedback to the other participants, directly on the their school pages. It's nice and important to know how others appreciate your work!

• By giving a brief update about your progress every week, you can see what is happening in the other schools.

• By posting a comment at the bottom of a school page.

• By making a Skype appointment; live contact via webcam is so much fun! Read more about it on this page.

 

Go 4 it!

Good luck,

 

Manon