Patty Falsetto’s first-grade students at West Sedona School spent the morning of Monday, Nov. 25, having an early Thanksgiving meal of chicken soup and pumpkin pie as an online collaborative lesson with students from Terri Williamson’s first-grade class at the Elizabeth Rummel School in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.
“It’s taken three years of formulating committees in Sedona and Canmore, and making the contacts, and it’s finally happening, which I’m so excited about,” Falsetto said.
Monday’s event was the outcome of a partnership between the Sedona Sister Cities Association and Canmore, which are exploring a potential sister city partnership.
SSCA formed an education committee, including WSS teachers Falsetto and Deb Sanders, Verde Valley School Head of School Ben Lee and Anne Walton in Canmore, to explore possible partnerships after the two cities signed a two-year friendship agreement this spring.
“This [was] the first time ever that WSS did a lesson exchange on our smart TVs with another elementary school that happens to be in Alberta, Canada, and we’re on the same time, which is just amazing to me,” Falsetto said. “The sister city organization has been going on for three years. And Deb Sanders is an amazing educational influence by incorporating the educational aspect of Sister Cities. And now its extremely gratifying to see that we’re doing a high tech pen pal with another classroom.”
As pen pals, Williamson’s class sent the Sedona class a book that they made that included photographs and short biographies about all of the students, as well as covering Williamson’s love of crafts, reading and dark chocolate.
In October, during Sedona-Oak Creek School District’s fall break, Sanders visited Canmore to deliver exchange items from Falsetto’s class. During her visit, Sanders introduced Canmore students to Arizona by giving them a Google Earth tour of WSS and a copy of “The Three Little Javelinas.”
The Monday lesson involved SOCSD substitute teacher Linda Spokes reading Maurice Sendak’s children’s book “Chicken Soup with Rice,” over the Zoom call. The students on both sides of the border were instructed to eat spoonfuls of their soup only when the phrase “chicken soup with rice” was read out loud and to make sure that they had enough soup to last for the duration of the reading.
“Patience is when we have to do something, sometimes a little tiny bit at a time, and that’s what we’re going to be doing today with the book,” Spokes said to the students. “We’re going to practice patience.”
Following the story, Williamson’s class performed several short songs and poems.
Sanders discussed the schools’ partnership during the Arizona Sister Cities State Conference in Sedona on Nov. 15 and 16.
“Individual citizens like you and me have the right, if not the responsibility, to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation,” Sanders said, quoting Sister Cities International’s mission statement. “We have a school [where] our demographics have changed significantly over the last 10 to 15, years, and 72% of our student body are on free and reduced lunch … So I wanted for these children to be able to have a sister city accessible financially.”
Sanders added that it was useful that Canmore and Sedona are in the same time zone and that she has found several low-cost airfares between Arizona and Alberta.
“I like for things to go faster, but I’m learning more patience as I get older,” Sanders said.
“We want to share some Christmas cheer with you later,” Williamson told the WSS students, and Falsetto added that the Canmore students will lead an online activity for the two classrooms in December.
