Junior school children are focused on imagery, want quick feedback and
like to create their own material quickly and easily Below are a collection
of internet/e-mail based activities that meet this criteria.
1.
Instant Big Books: Create your own big book using photos
from FreeFoto and your word processor.
Project them up on the wall and you have "mega-books".
2.
Impersonate a Character/Location: Use the web to research
a location somewhere in the world or a famous character and have students
e-mail or chat to the researcher and have them try and guess the character
or location from the clues that are given/asked for. Locations such
as the Tower Bridge (London)
The
Pyramids, The
Great Wall of China, The President
of the USA, AJ Hackett .
. .
3.
e-Greeting cards
(written/visual language work) Send an e-card describing a place or
famous person and provide a web site where they can check their answer.
Sites below are all free to access.
4.
Travelling Buddies/Mascots/ Use a resource
such as e-Pals
to locate schools in areas or cultures that you are studying or that
have newsworthy interest. Send a mascot/buddy to the first location
with postage to cover him/her being sent to the next location. Ask each
location questions or to reciprocate with a buddy.
5.
Ask an Expert
6.
Key Pals
This is the electronic version of Pen Pals in the e-world. For a selection
of over 20 000 schools looking for e-Pals register (free) here at e-Pals
7.
Student based Education Sites
8.
Flat Stanley:
Originally a filing cabinet fell on Stanley and flattened him and then
some bright spark decide to scan an image of him and send him on a trip
around the world asking him to e-mail back information abut the places
he visited. Great concept and kids love it! Flat
Stanleys Home
9.
Picture Talks The ideas here is to take digital photos with
a digital camera and to have students tell a story using only images.
This is very helpful in developing the idea of structure within stories.
Students may start with three photos and then add additional ones and
new ideas are developed. Each photo represents a sentence/paragraph
of writing depending on the age of the student.
10.
Picture Stories:
Using an image from an image site such as FreeFoto
or take your own digital photo and project the image onto a whiteboard
(using a data projector), and have 2-3 students use white board markers
to add labels to the picture asking their peers to help them. Ideal
for fire safety, our town/country; the solar system, our school, bike
safety, the zoo . . . .
11.
Using CU-SeeMe/Net Meeting:
Schools can use either CU-SeeMe software or Net Meeting to videoconference
at a low level. Applications here include hearing other culture speaking
about their lives and viewing See http://www.gsn.org/cu/
for ideas and a list of schools that are looking for partners.
12.
Visiting famous/Interesting Places via Web Cam's:
Whether it is web cams anywhere in
the world, weather
in Antarctica, yellowstone
geyser or where you wondering about the traffic
in Auckland Central?
13.
Voice e-Mails:
For $NZ40 you can download
software that lets students talk in their e-mails! Much less stressful
than watch them type them in at 1 word/min.
