ePals Ideas: Class Buddies From Another Country

Created by: Nicole

Grade: Kindergarten

Subject: Culture/Diversity

For this activity I would contact a teacher in another country via ePals and arrange for our classes to be buddies. Once a month, our class would create a video and send it to our buddy class via email. Before we make our videos, the other teacher and I would decide what we wanted to discuss. We would also arrange a day to have our videos sent by. In each video our classes would share about the topic for the month. For example, the first video would probably be a tour of our classrooms and an overview of our daily schedules. Some other topic ideas could be; foods we eat, music we like, books we read, what our homes look like, games we play, what our cities look like, etc. After watching the video we would have a class discussion about the video we received from the other class. We would talk about similarities and differences between what they do and what we do. We would also talk about any questions that we might have for our buddy class. After the class discussion we would send an email back to our buddies with our questions and any comments that we had. During this activity I would have the class sitting on the carpet in front of the screen. I would have the video on the screen for them to watch and I would also type out our questions and email response on the screen so that they can see and help construct them. Once we receive the questions and email response for our video from our buddies, I would put the email up on the screen and have the students be involved in answering them.

Ed Tech GLEs

1.2: 
 Collaborate: 
 Use 
 digital 
 media 
 and environments 
 to 
 communicate 
 and 
 work 
 collaboratively 
 to 
 support 
 individual 
 learning 
 and 
 contribute 
 to 
 the 
 learning 
 of 
 others.

This GLE is met by sending emails to our buddy class. When sending and reading the emails I would have them pulled up on the projector screen so that the class is able to see them. I would also have my students decide what we wanted to say to our buddy class.

2.2: 
 Operate 
 Systems: 
 Understand 
 technology 
 systems 
 and 
 use 
 hardware 
 and 
 networks 
 to 
 support 
 learning.

2.3: 
 Select 
 and 
 Use 
 Applications: 
 Use 
 productivity 
 tools 
 and 
 common 
 applications 
 effectively 
 and 
 constructively.

These GLEs are met because the students will be using a video camera to film a video. I will show my students how to use the video camera and allow them to help with the actual filming. I will let them push the record and stop buttons and allow them to hold the camera during filming. My students will also learn how to construct and send emails. When reading and replying to the emails from our buddies I will have the email projected onto the screen. I will then show my students the steps of setting up and email. I will also have them decide what to say to our buddies.