Students composed sea chanteys and performed them 'in Antarctica,' through the use of VR headsets (Mrs. Werner recorded 360-degree videos while she was in Antarctica).

Students listened to Ralph Vaughn Williams' "Sinfonia Antarctica." They painted images of what they thought the composer was trying to tell us about Antarctica. We used water that was made to have the same salinity as the water that Mrs. Werner kayaked in while in Antarctica.

Students tracked the weather in Wisconsin while I was in Antarctica, and we compared the two using musical compositions to manipulate the data. We looked at sun vs clouds, temperatures, and wind.

Students learned about the role water plays in paintings and musical compositions, comparing how the water is repesented in each piece.

Students learned about how sound waves and ocean waves work - the similarities and differences!

Students were given a design challenge to create musical instruments that required water to perform, after studying instruments from other cultures like the Tibetan water bowls, Norwegian ice instruments, and the water gong (to name a few).

Students learned about Antarctic landscapes and created music to represent each landscape.

Students studied music from the indigenous people surrounding Antarctica (that may have set foot on the continent) and created a mosaic of their symbols and musical rhythms.

Students learned about the Antarctic Treaty, and each student composed a measure to represent one country of the Antarctic Treaty. They had to research that country they picked, listen and learn about the country's traditional music, and compose a measure to represent that country. We then combined everyone's compositions to create a song to symbolize the unity of the treaty.

Students created beatbox compositions using the sounds I recorded for them while in Antarctica.

Students learned about scientists and musicians who use music to convey data to audiences. They then found data for subjects they were interested in and created compositions to help audiences understand the data.

Before I left for Antarctica, I had students take a picture of what they thought they would look like in Antarctica. I also had them draw a picture of what they thought Antarctica looks like. I put their explorer photo in their drawing to create Antarctic postcards for a bulletin board I set up while I was gone.

Before I left, I had students record what they thought penguins sound like. I recorded penguin sounds while I was in Antarctica, and we compared the two when I got back. 

When I returned from Antarctica, I had students take pictures in my parka, and then placed their parka photo in pictures from Antarctica so that they could see what they would look like in Antarctica!

All students participated in the Float Your Boat project - decorating wooden boats that researchers will bring up to the Arctic, place on the ice, and track the ocean currents. Students decorated their boats with songs in order to spread music around the world!

Before I left, students created a bucket list for things they wanted me to accomplish, and a list of questions for me to find the answers for. Some of my favorite knowledge gained from this expedition was from questions the elementary students had me ask! I also had a bulletin board set up that adults in our building and parishioners from our church could submit questions as well.

Students designed challenge coins to represent our school and Antarctica. I had the winning design (voted by the students) made. On the back was a QR code that took the people who scanned it to a Google Form. This form collected information on where the person was from, and what song most reminded them of home. I handed these coins out to everyone I met on my expedition- the other guests, the scientists, ship's crew, etc., and the students and I got to hear music from all around the world!

While I was gone, I had an optional book club hosted online for students to read a book about an Antarctic expedition. When I came back, those that participated got to have a Penguin Party, where we discussed what we thought about the book.

We collaborated with a school in Washington, North Dakota, and Kentucky to analyze thermal images I took while in Antarctica, look at water data I captured while kayaking, and review air samples I collected in Antarctica. These comparisons where fun to make, and it was great getting to see the differences in our data at home, our partner schools' data, and the Antarctica data!

Students from preschool all the way up to 8th grade created plans to help the health of water on our planet. For more information, click on this link devoted to that project.