Expedition Crew from Middleton

While I spent my days aboard the National Geographic Explorer and exploring the remote and pristine land of Patagonia, my expedition crew from home was busy at work. In the amazing hands of Mrs. Klipfel (yes, my mom was my substitute) my students might not have physically been in Patagonia with me but they followed along for every step. Every day my exact location and pictures were added to a hallway bulletin board so all of Howe-Manning could follow along. 

Each morning students completed a daily Patagonia slide to learn about where in the world I was exploring and a little more about this faraway land. These daily Patagonia slides were not just completed in my classroom and across Howe-Manning, but also with schools and teachers I'm connected with across the United States, and even by a group of students in England. 

Click here to view daily Patagonia Slides📎

My expedition crew from home was also busy playing Explorer BINGO. Each letter of BINGO stood for a different aspect of being an explorer. B stood for "Be on the Lookout For", I was "I See", N was "Not on Land or in the Sea", G stood for "Got to See Sea Animals" and O stood was "Other Explorer Things". Before I departed, students filled in their BINGO board with different aspects of my expedition such as "ate a Calafate berry", "used 360 camera", or "saw a rockhopper penguin". This was definitely a highlight for students. 

Mrs. Klipfel even used her fancy tech skills and green-screened the students in Patagonia with me. This was a fun surprise to get one morning and see how much my students were also learning about Patagonia without even making it home yet. Many of the National Geographic and Lindblad experts were very impressed not just with students' Patagonia knowledge but with their impressive technology skills.

Yes, my expedition was phenomenal but an aspect that made it extra special was having a large expedition crew from home following along and sharing in all the wonders Patagonia had to offer. You never know, hopefully, I will be their expedition crew from home someday as they set out to explore.