Curated OER
Rock Swap
Students collect rocks found locally and write a brief description which includes the name of the rock, whether the rock is sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous, and what uses the rock has. They exchange rocks with another class in...
PBS
Dear Pen Pal
Explore cultures from around the world with an engaging pen pal resource. Through a series of classroom activities and written correspondence, children learn about the favoritec pastimes, schooling, geography, and weather that is...
Curated OER
Pen Pals
Students collect bird count data at their sites, and share and compare the data collected from two different schoolyards using computer technology.
Ball State University
Dear Pen Pal
Keep your class in conversation with others across the country or across the sea by writing letters to pen pals. The activity calls for students to be pan pals with pupils in Africa; however, the listed steps could be used for any...
Curated OER
Modern Day Pen Pals, Connecting Our Art Room to the Rest of the World!
Initiate an international pen pal program! After establishing communication with an art class in another country, groups share pod casts and video streams of their work. The scripted resource details how to prepare for the pod casts, but...
Curated OER
Message in a Bottle
Young scholars acquire a pen pal in a foreign country and write letters at least twice a month throughout the year to exchange with them. At the end of the year, they write an essay that compares one important difference and one...
Curated OER
Meet Your New eBuddy
Students are introduced to the eBuddies laptop system. Using the technology, they create a new Word document and practice using a mouse. Opening a new window from Internet Explorer, they view an appropriate site which allows them to...
Curated OER
The Canadian Expedition
Fifth graders research and write a pen pal letter about the geography of a Canadian town. Students create a script for a phone call with their pen pal and perform it with a friend for the class.
Curated OER
Pen Pals
Students write to a pen pal and learn about their lives. In this pen pal instructional activity, students learn about a person from another country. Students develop an understanding that they have many things in common with people from...
Curated OER
Out of Old England in the 1630s-Flat Me Project
Students write letters to penpals. In this geography/literacy lesson, students become penpals with a classroom in England to learn about customs and society across the ocean. Flat Stanley by Will Holton is read aloud, and students...
Curated OER
Check My Writing: Diversity of Learners Adaptation
Students explore different spellings of the same words within the English language, as well as different words for the same thing with the international pen pal classroom. They become familiar with units of measure and time. Students...
Curated OER
Biome Exchange - Send the "Stuff" Not The Kids
Students exchange ecological information with students from different geographic biomes. They box up the "unique ecologically significant features" of their area, send the box to another class in another area and then receive a similar...
Curated OER
You've Got Mail
First graders study the postal system and letter writing. They exchange class letters with another class in a different area and become pen pals with residents in a local nursing home.
Curated OER
Art Across the Planet: Exchanging Art
Students explore art when it is used as a source of information about society and material culture. They communicate with students in a foreign country, and share ideas and experiences in order to create drawings of their homes to exchange.
Curated OER
Pen Pals
Fifth graders become pen pals from other countries and research their countries for information that help with their writing. This information is then sent to another student who is also portraying someone from another country.
Curated OER
Emailing Colonial Pen Pals
Fifth graders write emails to a friend imagining they are traveling to colonial America. For this emailing penpals lesson, 5th graders discuss appropriate language and topics in email communication, use correct format and write...
Curated OER
Letters and Photos
Learners practice using a new language by reading letters. In this foreign language lesson, students read a fictional letter by a young person from the target language's country. Learners read the letters separately, but collaborate in...
Curated OER
Enhancing Friendships Through Photography
Students connect with pen pals through photography. In this digital photography instructional activity, students create photo booklets to share with pen pals. Students correspond with their pen pals throughout the school year. Students...
Curated OER
Cans Make a Difference
Students design a service-learning project with pen pals. In this philanthropy lesson plan, students research various charitable organizations with a pen pal and collect cans in order to get money for a donation. Students write to their...
Curated OER
Biomes of The World
Students research different biomes, using links from global pen pal letters.
Curated OER
Pen Pal Project
Second graders write letters to a pen pal in proper letter form. In this writing lesson, 2nd graders discuss why they would write to a pen pal, brainstorm the elements that should appear in their letters, then write the letters. To close...
Curated OER
E-Mail Pen Pals
Students write an e-mail message about what they have been doing in their physical education class. They break in to groups of 3 or 4 students and use the teacher's e-mail account to send an e-mail to their Pen Pal. They then read posted...
Curated OER
Computer Pals
Pupils have a pal from a different part of the country or world. They create introduction letters to send to their pals. They write a story about activities occurring at school and then current events in the community to inform their pal.
Curated OER
E-Mail Mentor Project
Students use e-mail to introduce themselves, ask for and receive advice and information on certain school concerns, and share information on activities they enjoy with other students from other schools.