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AACPS E-Mail Projects for Students:
Four Suggested Communication Options/Activities
- Communication with experts, elected officials, and other professionals
Visit http://mdelect.net/ to locate your elected officials
Visit http://embassy.org/ to communicate with foreign embassies in Washington, D.C.
Visit http://njnie.dl.stevens-tech.edu/askanexpert.html for Ask-an-expert resources in all content areas
- Inter-county, class communication (this may be facilitated by your instructional support tech or Resource Tchr.)
Suggestions for Inter-county E-mail Projects
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| Add-a Story | Students add to a story that is started in another class. | All ages | Language Arts | Classroom 1 initiates the story and develops the setting and characters. Classroom 2 develops the plot, etc. |
| Me in a Shoebox | Students respond to the prompt "What would you put in a shoe box that best describes you?" | Primary | Language Arts | See Patti Weeg's project at http://www.globalclassroom.org/shoebox.html |
| Math Puzzles | Students E-mail math problems (or MSPAP type activities) to each other and return solutions | Elementary | Mathematics | See
examples at http://www.globalclassroom.org/puzzle.html |
| Peer Editing | Younger students pair with older students in the revision/editing phase of the writing process | ES / MS | Language Arts | |
| Birthday Survey | Students gather data of birth dates (or other information) from classmates and exchange information with other classes for comparison / graphing activities, etc. | Elementary | Mathematics | Sample Prediction: We believe that more birthdays occur in the Fall than in the Spring in AACPS. (Students research via E-mail to test hypothesis.) |
| Rain / Snowfall | Students measure precipitation in various parts of the country and E-mail the data | All ages | Science / Mathematics | Students can make predictions and compare and contrast data. |
| 5$ Stretch | Students in various parts of the county will compare prices. Students will be given "$5" to spend and surveyed to identify interests and hobbies. | All ages | Mathematics / Social Studies | A variety of information / data can be pulled from this activity. |
| How do you get to school? | Students in various parts of the county will compare mode of transportation to and from school. | By grade level or school | Mathematics / Social Studies | Students can make predictions about regional differences and graph results. Students may graph distances to and from school. |
| *Write a travel brochure | Students in different geographical areas create travel brochures based on information and graphics sent to them from the other class. | All ages | Language
arts/Social Studies/ |
Contact a class in another geographic area to participate in a travel brochure project. With this class, develop agreed upon criteria for producing the brochure. Research your local area for information to be included in the brochure (include graphics and text). Once you have collected everything, email it to your partner class. They should do the sam thing for your class (each develops the brochure for the other class). As drafts are completed, students can email each other back and forth. The final product must meet the approval of each home class. |
| *Impersonate a literary character | Students choose a character from a story both classes have read. They recreate an event, telling from the character's point of view and keeping the identity of the character a secret.The other class must guess who it is. | All ages | Language
Arts/ Foreign Language |
Collaborate with a keypal teacher ahead of time to slect a character-rich short story or novel that both classes can read. |
| *Social problems | Students from different areas the five most significant social problems in their respective areas. | MS/HS | Language
Arts/ Foreign Language/ Social Studies |
You can do this in a three-state process: 1) Identify the problems and reach consensus on their definitions; 2) research some possib le causes; and 3)describe different ideas for trying to address the problems. |
| *Virtual Biographies | Students write biographies of their keypals called "An Imaginary Day in the Life of _______" | All ages | Language
Arts/ Foreign Language/ Social Studies |
Have your students contact their keypas and exchange information about each other via e-mail. Developing a list of interview questions can help the process. Then ask the students to write biographies of their keypals. |
* James Lerman (1998). "You've Got Mail: Ten nifty ways your teachers can use e-mail to extend kid's learning." Electronic School Online. (Accessed October 17, 2001)
- E-mail
project observation - Collect data, observe organized online project
or quest
Examples:
The Journey North 2000 (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/fall2000/)
Follow Monarch butterflies to Mexico, plant tulips, create a wildlife refuge, exchange seasonal data.
The Quest Channel (http://quest.classroom.com/)
Follow Australia Quest or Maya Quest and assist an expedition team (subscription recommended but not required)
- Full
participation on global project or sponsor your own unique E-mail
project
Resources:
Kidlink http://www.kidlink.org/
A grassroots organization aimed at getting children in the group 10-15 involved in global projects. Visit the Global Classroom and read about Global projects.
Intercultural E-mail Classroom Connections
http://www.iecc.org/
Helps teachers & classes link with partners in other countries and cultures for E-mail projects.
Global Schoolnet Foundation
http://www.gsn.org/
A place where classrooms on the Internet meet to share ideas.
Classroom Connect - Teacher Contact Database
http://connectedteacher.classroom.com/home.asp
A great way to locate other educators for online projects or collaboration
Free E-mail !
We recommend
that teachers use Epals (http://www.epals.com/) or
Gaggle.net (http://www.gaggle.net/) for classroom
E-mail projects.
*Please note: At the Elementary level, students may not have
individual E-mail accounts!
Computer & Information Ethics Resources on the Net !
http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/computer/topics.html (follow link to Core Rules of Netiquette)