Schoolscape | Pen Pals | Laptops | Report on the 1st Year
Mary Rector, Pleasantville Elementary School, Iowa USA
Two years ago our school's technology coordinator came to me with an opportunity that had been presented to her by our Area Education Agency. The AEA technology coordinator had received an email from Marion Scott-Baker, a teacher from Cheam School in Great Britain, looking for a first grade instructor to work with. Marion was interested in pen pal activities plus technology activities the two classrooms could share. From there I was given Marion's email address and we began our correspondence. Through several emails we were able to set up a plan of exchanges. The first year began with just a couple exchanges. This past school year there were more exchanges and contact.
We started the school year by sending a 'Meet Our Class' book which had photos of each student and a few photos of our school and classroom. My students did their first writing assignment, which was an introductory letter. They were to include in this letter their name, age and something they liked to do. The students' letters were then put together into a 'Hello Hug Book' and mailed off to Cheam School.
We, in turn, received an introductory book from Marion's class with an introduction of each student. My class did graphing activities with the information they enclosed about themselves. It was a great way to be introduced!
It's hard to explain or put into words the excitement of my students when we received our first mailing from Cheam. Right before our very eyes those students became real to us! That excitement was there through each and every project we sent as well as those we received.
We tried to coordinate projects, themes, and units of study throughout the school year, hoping to compliment each other's curriculum. My class studied the life cycle of the butterfly as our first science theme. We shared the life cycle of the monarch caterpillar with them by making an 'imovie' and emailing it to their classroom. The movie was short but included each of the stages as we witnessed them in our classroom caterpillar tank. We also showed them how we released the butterflies once they emerged and their wings were dry.
Included in our first mailing from Cheam were questions about apples. This was one of their first units of study. It fitted right in with our curriculum because we also discuss the life cycle of the apple tree. We were able to answer their questions, send them a photo book of our trip to an apple orchard, and provide them with a storybook of information about apples from our region.
My class learned about Guy Fawkes Day from the Cheam students. They shared a literature book along with a 'class-made' book about their celebration. My students and I were totally unfamiliar with the celebration. We were extremely interested in this story and event. It was a great learning experience for us all.
Christmas brought a fun ornament project with a letter to the Cheam students sharing holiday plans for our winter break.
The largest project we shared with our Cheam pen pals was our research project on penguins. My students were divided into groups with each group having to research and find information about a specific type of penguin, collect data, make a life-size model of their penguin, and make a presentation to the classroom. The presentation was taped and sent along to Cheam along with a 'Penguin Fact' class book, a penguin literature book that was a class favourite, and penguin erasers. We were confronted with the problem of converting the tapes for viewing, which ended up being quite costly. We're currently working on a solution to that problem.
Along about the same time, our Cheam pen pals created a video for us about their school with interviews from each student as well as a few staff members. What an enjoyment! My students sat spellbound listening and actually seeing their pen pals in their school environment.
One of our final projects came in the form of an email question from Cheam. They requested information about our housing. They were beginning a unit of study on homes. We did a special homework assignment that gathered data about each student's home. We also did a writing project that shared some of the information we gathered. We received back from Cheam information and history about their homes with pictures. My students thought it particularly interesting that their houses had names!
We plan to continue our relationship into this next school year with hopes of including our second grade classrooms. There is interest on both sides to continue with exchanges. It has been a very fun and rewarding experience. We're both hoping to include a bit more technology while adding some new projects!
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