Philip Cammarata points to a photo taken by a member of his first grade class at Bush Elementary School during a presentation to third graders at Positivo International School in Curitiba, Brazil held via Zoom. The two classes have been working together to help on a climate change project.

“Boa tarde!” exclaimed Philip Cammarata’s first graders at Bush Elementary School.

“Good afternoon!” responded Anna Carolina Alves’ third graders at Positivo International School in Curitiba, Brazil.

Only a Zoom screen could contain the excitement in both classrooms, as Cammarata’s students said hello to their newest friends, located over 5,000 miles away from Jamestown’s southside.

Geared around teaching students about climate change while also tapping into his own Brazilian heritage, Cammarata and his students have begun collaborating, virtually, with third grade students at Positivo, an international school with just under 1,000 enrolled students, located in Curitiba, the largest city in the Brazilian state of Parana.

“My class is working on this climate change project with Ms. Alves’ third grade class,” Cammarata said. “Some of her students are taught in English for half of the day and one of the reasons we’re working with this class is so that they can practice and listen to English.”

Cammarata and his students worked on a presentation to share with Alves’ students and vice versa as a way to introduce both classes to the different cultures in Jamestown and in Curitiba.

Jamestown Public Schools technology integrator Jason Kathman then helped Cammarata set up a video call utilizing the district’s Cisco cart that allowed the students to be “virtually” face-to-face with their friends in Brazil. Both presentations included photos of nature from both areas as a way to demonstrate to the students how different this time of year is in other parts of the world.

“We wanted to introduce our classes to one another and talk about what nature and school looks like in Brazil,” Cammarata said. “Each student even had the chance to ask questions to the other class and practice saying some phrases in Portuguese.”

The classes will continue to work with each other throughout the year, he said, and the ultimate goal will be to teach students about similarities and differences using the Venn Diagram model.

As this class came to an end, though, Cammarata’s students could hardly contain their excitement to connect again with their new friends. An entire continent away in Curitiba, that sentiment was shared by Alves’ students.

“Valeu!” — an informal way of saying “Thank you!” in Portuguese — exclaimed both classes to each other as they signed off.