Title:  Using e-mail to Communicate with Students in an Inner City
School developed by Annice Rockwell  AnniceS@msn.com

Grade:  4

Assumptions:  Students have basic knowledge of PC use and use of e-mail.

Objectives:  Students from a rural, fourth grade class will use e-mail
to send messages to their pen pals at an inner city school.

Initiation:  Teacher will model instructions by e-mailing a message to
the corresponding fourth grade teacher.

Materials:  A PC for each student
                 Access to the Internet

Procedure:  Students will compose a message in the form of a letter to
describe what differences they might have coming from a rural school.
They will describe "a day in the life of a rural school..." as part of
their first message.  They will send and receive messages at the
beginning and end of each week over the course of a month.  Their last
message will contain a picture attachment to introduce themselves to
their pen pals.  At the end of the month, a field trip to each school
will be planned.

Assessment:  Students will be assessed at the end of their completed
project.
 
 

Designed for: Second Graders
(Can be modified for other grade levels)

Goals:  At the conclusion of this lesson, the student will:

1.  Have an understanding that the world is made up of many different types of communities.

2.  Have an appreciation for the different types of people who contribute to different communities.

3.  Be exposed to diverse literature, art, and music representing a multicultural world.

4.  Have the opportunity to make connections (written and in-person) with children from another community.

5.  Have the opportunity to use current computer technology to E-mail a letter to his/her penpal.

Objectives:     After the completion of this lesson, the student will:

1.  Have demonstrated compare/contrast skills while identifying similarities and differences between two different communities, both verbally and in writing.

2.  Have met, interviewed, and drawn a picture of his/her penpal from a school in another community.

3.  Have demonstrated writing skills in writing a letter to his/her penpal.

4.  Have participated in a group reading/discussion of How To Be A Friend by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown.

5.  Have worked cooperatively with his/her penpal to create a hand-printed T-shirt to keep as a remembrance their meeting.

6.  Have plotted his/her own community and his/her penpal's community on a local map.

7.  Have used current computer technology to E-Mail a letter to his/her penpal.

Materials:
Chart paper on which to write a class letter to penpals.
Paper and crayons for use in drawing portraits of penpals.
Class-composed list of questions for penpal interview (sample attached).
The book, How To Be A Friend by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown.
Any of the following books to be used as an extension of the lesson in the Social Studies program:
        Arrow to the Sun (A Pueblo Indian Tale) by Gerald McDermott;
        Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove;
        Grandma's Latkes by Malka Drucker;
        Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Berna Aardema;
        Crow Boy by Taro Yashima;
        Children of the North Lights by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire;
        Five Brave Explorers: Great Black Heroes by Wade Hudson.
One white T-shirt for each student and assorted colors of fabric paints.
Access to computers with Internet connection.
Supportive teachers, administrators and parents committed to making a Penpal
Program, which includes field trips to another school district, possible.

Motivation:
        TEACHER:  "As you know, during the past two weeks, we've been learning
about the different types of communities that make up our world.  We also wrote a letter
to our new penpals in another community and we're preparing to visit them at their
school at the end of this month.  Well, today, we received a letter from our penpals!  Let's
read it together and find out about them!"

Initiation:
        The teacher posts the large, class-written letter that she has received from the
penpals on the board or on an easel for all to see.  S/he invites the class to "chant read" the
letter together, while she points out the words.  The teacher then asks the children to think
about what they have just read and to look for things that are the same and things that are
different about their penpals and themselves (based on the contents of the letter.)

Content of Language Arts/Social Studies Lesson:
        The teacher then posts a copy of her/his own class's letter that the children had
previously written to their penpals.  As a class, they read the letter together.  The teacher
then leads the class in a compare/contrast activity as they look for similarities and
differences between the children and their schools from two different communities.
        On chart paper, the teacher writes headings for two columns SAME andDIFFERENT.
        In searching for items that are the same and different about the two letters, the
teacher uses questions such as the following to draw out responses from the children:
        What is the same about our two classes?
        What is same about our two schools?
        What is different about our schools?
        What are the favorite colors of the two classes?
        What do your penpals like to do at recess?  What do you like to do?
        What is your penpals' favorite subject in school?  What is yours?
        What are the favorite books of the two classes?

        (Obviously, the two teachers participating in the Penpal Program would have
planned in advance regarding the content of the letters so that the children would be able
to find similarities and differences about common subjects like favorite colors, subjects,
books and things to do at recess.)

        The teacher would then direct the class's attention to a map of their state on the
wall.  S/he would point out some of the larger cities and some of the smaller towns, calling
them by name, including the two communities involved in the penpal program.  S/he
would then ask the students to locate their community as well as their penpals' community
on the map.  The teacher would ask a child to place a "star" on each community to mark
where the class lives and where their penpals live.  Ideally, this penpal exchange would
be best suited for making connections between an urban city and a suburban or
rural town, so that all participants would have the opportunity to learn about and
experience another community.

(The second part of this Social Studies/Language Arts Lesson would take place
when the two classes of penpals meet on a joint field trip at either the urban or the
suburban school.)

This portion of the lesson is written in the present tense, as it would be
taught:
        After greetings are exchanged, penpals are matched up in twos.  The penpals draw
a portrait of each other, which gives them a chance to be social, talk with, and look at
each other during the process.  Then, each child interviews his/her penpal with the list of
questions that his/her own class had previously prepared (copy attached.)

        Both classes then come together as a group, and led by the two teachers, discuss
the similarities and differences among the responses to the interview questions.

        After sharing lunch together, the teachers share in reading the book How To Be A
Friend to the children.  The teachers take turns in asking the children for their ideas on
what qualities make a good friend and how they can be a good friend to their penpal.  The
teachers make wall charts of the student's responses to take back to their prospective
classrooms.

Art Activity:
        With the assistance of parent helpers (it's important to get the whole community
involved!), the teachers lead the children in a culminating activity of decorating T-shirts
with the children's handprints.  Each child receives a shirt on which they place their own
and their penpal's handprints (using fabric paint).  Adult helpers assist in writing the
children's names in fabric paint under their handprints.  Each child now has a memento of
the day to take home with him/her to share with his/her family.  These specially decorated
T-shirts can be worn on future joint field trips of the two classes, which makes the penpal
pairings easily identifiable.

Extensions:
        There are many possible extensions of this penpal program.  Individual letters can
be written by each child to his/her penpal and E-mailed on computer, if both schools are
properly equipped.

        Teachers would also plan future activities that bring the two classes together
around a common curriculum theme.  These get-togethers would include writing,
reading and hands-on art and science activities.  A joint field day with gym, music,
dance and art activities and a year-end picnic could be planned which included families of
both communities.

Evaluation:
        There are lots of opportunities to evaluate this penpal program.  One
of the most obvious is observation.  Teachers will want to observe the behavior and
conduct of the children as they interact socially and work on collaborative group projects.
        Assessments of written work samples are also performed on the basis
of the letters that the children produce; the interviews that they conduct; and the group
letters and lists that they contribute to.
        Teachers will also evaluate their students' map skills, ability to
compare/contrast, and reading comprehension by mediating during group times.