Keypals & Social Studies
In this activity, I listed five educational uses of keypals in the Social Studies Classroom, and
then listed two keypal sites I found to be most helpful.


Great things about using Email in the Classroom
Use of Email in the classroom can be beneficial to students in so many ways. Below are just five of the benefits I believe students can get out of educational email use. I also believe that using email in the classroom leads classes to meet the Information Literacy Standards we have discussed in class. After the benefits, I listed the levels of that benefit and the standards these benefits indicate.
1) Students in World Cultures can communicate online with students their age in countries around the world. This allows the concept of the world community to be much more real and concrete for the students.  (World Cultures, any secondary grade level; Standards 1, 3, 7 )

2) Keypals allows the more quiet and shy students to express themselves without doing so "in front" of their peers. They can share their ideas in a near anonymous media. (Any level; Standards 4, 6)

3) Students with keypals can inspire each other; be each other's "sounding boards" for projects, ultimately leading to more creativity and better teamwork skills. (Any level Standards 2, 3

4) Students strengthen their email communication skills, their writing skills, and their critical thinking skills. (Any level; Standards 1, 2 & 8)

5) Students can use keypals as part of a cooperative learning/jigsaw activity. Students can collaborate online with keypals and then return to their class to present their findings. (Any level; Standards 2, 3, 9).




Looking for Keypals for your classroom? Check out:

Epals.com - www.epals.com 12/02/05
This site has over 5 million teachers and students involved in 191 countries. The site is well-organized, easy to navigate, and very student and parent friendly.
Why I like it:-Provides email communication, a student-friendly "safe browser", and e-mentoring
-Projects are divided by age levels: 6-11, 12-14, and 15+
-Has pages for parents, students, and teachers with special tips
-Great language translation capabilities

Yahooligans! Ask An Expert - http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/school_bell/ask_an_expert/
This site has all of Yahoo's searching capabilities, as well as links to great sites to ask experts on a variety of topics.
Why I like it:-Easy to search and navigate
-Flexible site; Students can use the student-friendly search to complete research, can contact experts with specific questions
-Related to teaching.com... great resources for teachers
-Really interesting experts to ask: "Ask the Amish", "What's that Stuff?" Intriguing. Would also be a great activity to use for emergency sub plans.



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This site was created to complete the Keypals assignment for SLM521.