For the past few years I’ve done the Christmas Around the World project where I had students draw a country, research it, and write a paper. Last year I decided to try something different.
I made a Facebook post asking for anyone living in a different country to send a letter to my students explaining holiday traditions in their country. I’m still overwhelmed with the response that we got. We received videos, letters, goodie boxes, Christmas cards, and emails from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania, Switzerland, and England. This was definitely one of those shining moments that make you realize there are still wonderful people all around!
We had biscuits and Christmas Crackers to open from London. Oh how I wish I would have caught the reactions on video when the firecrackers (Christmas crackers) started exploding. We had cookies from Australia, and we even got to watch a video of a Christmas parade in Switzerland. I have never seen students so excited over an assignment. I lost count how many times a day I heard, ¨Do we have any mail? Can I go check your box?¨ 
I’m introducing my new third grade class to this project tomorrow. I can’t wait to see where we’ll go this year.