School: John Muir School
    San Diego, California, USA

199 students, ages 5-18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 19, 2009. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Classes and Teachers: e, MonHope, Susan, Kerry, Marcia, Lindsay, Billie, Monica, Stacey, Joy, Katie, Chet, Lusia, Caryn, Joan, Anne, Trudy, Chet, Vince, Monique, Patti, Jason, Richard,

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://new.sandi.net/schools/muir/About/Pages/default.aspx

1. Description of Our Community

Muir is a K-12 school, which means kindergarten through 12th grade. It teaches about global citizenship. It teaches the ideas of Paideia through seminars. I thought the 12th graders were going to be mean and everything, but once I got to Muir everybody was friendly to each other. Since it's a small school everyone knows each other. It's like a great big family. There's no violence and no drama. It's just so calm.

Muir is a school that works on teaching kids how to be global citizens. We students here are ALL are global citizens. A global citizen is a person that helps the community and who participates in events to help their community. . Global Citizenship is teaching social skills and how to take responsibility for actions. Muir is a K-12 school, so the little kids can someone to look up to the older kids. The older kids help the little do their homework The teachers here talk about how to conserve water and convince others to conserve water too. The senior class is trying to recycle and help the world. We like to submit stuff to Cyberfair because we have really nice work to show, and we are very proud of our work.

2. Summary of Our Project

We studied water in San Diego --how it comes to us, how we use it, and how we will plan for our future water supply. Every student in the school attended the H20=Life exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum October 10, 2008. We discussed desalination, pollution, and other current issues in Paideia seminars. Some students took action by volunteering, recycling or working in our gardens. We collected our findings, and posted our results in March

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Construction has been in progress at Muir all year. The move to the bungalows was hard on our classes, seeing as they had to pack a lot of boxes and it took a while for everyone to get comfortable. But after a few weeks, we were all in. The work got a bit harder, because of the construction going on, and it was hard to hear directions. But we got through that and moved back to our classrooms, where we don't have to worry about ruining a carpet anymore. The work is getting a bit easier to do and the new library is great with books and a nice place to be, like the classrooms are.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

We students here are ALL are global citizens. Save water!

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

We used water as a theme all year. Work on this CyberFair site includes work which satisfies the following content standards:

Grade 6 Persuasive Essay

Grade 8 Informational

Grade 12 1500 Word Research Paper

Elementary Technology NETS Standards: Spreadsheets, Word, PAINT, research

Secondary Technology NETS Standards: Web authoring, Google Earth trips, podcasting, videos

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We have lots of computers that most upper grade kids get to use. The lower grade kids use little typing machines. This is so they can practice typing. Most the computers are nice and new. We even have laptops that are very nice. We are all told to use these things to help better prepare us for life. All these computers have up to date programs and have working internet. We used telephones, video and digital still cameras, digitizers and scanners, books, databases, museums and oral interviews for this project. We have projectors and microphones and speakers so their teachers can hear them a little clearer. We are very grateful to have all of this technology at our school it gives us a boost on learning, and what goes on in this world. When I have spare time I listen to the radio, and watch TV, and also play video games. I LOVE MY I POD. It has all my favorite songs like Just Dance; No Air; Cool Rider, and Superhuman. I don't know if you guys know these songs.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Since are school is very small, all students can go to a field trip together. This year we went to the Natural History Museum exhibit called H20=LIFE. We learned all about water and earth. We got to watch a movie about the earth and how it is getting global warming. We got to look at pictures and explore the museum, and it was super fun.

Our school cares a lot about recycling and keeping our community clean. We connect with the community through things like Knowledge Quests, which are when we have meetings about different topics. We had a Knowledge Quest on Friday a couple months ago about I Love a Clean San Diego, and they taught about the earth and how we can volunteer to help out and pick up trash so that are world is not dirty. We volunteer at many places because we want to have a great and clean San Diego . I participated in the I Love a Clean San Diego Knowledge Quest at John Muir, and it really spoke to me. I want to help the Earth be a clean environment and free of pollution of all kinds. People who litter in the ocean, streets and near rivers or lakes, are making water pollution worse. People also litter on the beach, and that gets washed into the water, so we can't have any to use to drink or cook.

We also connect to our community through field trips like World Discovery Days, when we go on different field trips. What some people did is help plant some flowers and pick up trash and recycle. Two seniors constructed a greenhouse. Some of us went hiking, some of us learned about plants, and some of us learned about golf! Golf may sound like it was only fun, but it wasn't. It helped us who took it learn about trust and integrity. We are global citizens!

We also learn about the community through Paideia Seminars. This is when we meet with our advisory classes in a circle and talk about certain topics, about things like Water. The water seminar was when we talked about well, water of course! We learned about desalination, water conservation, the water cycle, and other things.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

We are all more aware of water now. We put out pots to collect water when it rained. We are making drought-tolerant gardens and using mulch. We are recycling bottles. We are making posters about saving water.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We had a visit from the activists at the I Love a Clean San Diego. They told us how to volunteer in the community. We had museum guides at the Natural History Museum. Jerry Schad who wrote Afoot & Afield in San Diego went with us on our hike and told us about the trees and plants in Balboa Park . Nobody helped us build the greenhouse, but the people at the nursery told us about native plants. AVID 11 class worked with a class in Wako Japan on the topic of global warming, and we had a video-conference with them. Grades 2-4 participated in a Carbon Footprint exchange project with classes in Barrie , Ontario , Canada .

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

The H2O=Life was an exhibit that taught students about water in San Diego and the whole World. It taught us many facts about water, and how it is a necessity for life. It also taught about erosion, and other amazing things about water. This best part was the very end, where we learned about water as a habitat from a certain TV series called Planet Earth. I remember that we looked at water and how people got killed in it and how we can't live without water like I said.