Pam Work                 

SLM 521

Week One

Elective Assignment

2/05

The purpose of this activity is to develop a list of five ideas on how to incorporate key-pals in my classroom. Select two sites from those given that are the easiest to navigate and locate project ideas and possible key pals to communicate with.

 

I preface by making known that my teaching experience is in the elementary field; therefore my ideas will not be subject to one particular grade, but rather to grades K-5.

The subjects that I will use key pals in will be integrated Language Arts and Social Studies.

  1. In the primary grades students are learning how to construct a personal letter. I would use this program method to introduce letter writing and give added practice to students as they write to a key-pal. The key-pal list would be another classroom in the building.
  2. Integrating Social Studies with key-pals. Intermediate levels. Have students select a country. The student will complete a research assignment on that country which will include a specific city. From there the student will access information from http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/article/penpal.htm in the Pen Pal Network to select a pen-pal.
  3. Intermediate level. Students will complete a family tree and research for any facts and interesting notations about their family. This will be shared with the key-pal.
  4. A class project would include adopting another class from within the continental USA and using a digital camera, will log a week of all the activities for that week. This information will be shared and used in a comparison discussion about what may be the same and what may be different in the way they spend their instructional time.
  5. Individual project for all grade levels. Brainstorm a list of age appropriate story starters and the students will actively involve themselves and their key-pal to a “never-ending story” to be shared with the class.

 

The two sites I chose as being the easiest to navigate and locate project ideas are:

    1. Pen-Pal Exchanges: Topics and Activities   http://www.siec.k12.in.us/`west/online/coll1c.htm

Teacher friendly and thorough

    1. More Than Just Key Pals

                        http://www.siec.12.in.us/~west/article/penpal.htm

                        Suggests ways to find key-pals and joining an educational mailing

                        list.   

                        Provides safety tips for Internet use.