Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh

Using Email in the Classroom

• I have a student in an LD classroom at Vann Elementary School who is fascinated by email. Through my account, she corresponds with a cousin at Penn State. Last year, for her birthday, I requested birthday greetings from Penn State and Allegheny College. We got replies from students, faculty, employees. The mail box was full for days. She was thrilled! She keeps the email messages in an album.

  We have a number of other students who have college pen pals. A group of us at Vann have recruited students to correspond with our fourth and fifth graders. Last year we had college pen pals at Allegheny College, USC, Cooper Union, Penn State and the Virgin Islands. (Kathy Gallagher, Vann Elementary)

• The newspaper staff at Westinghouse H.S. will be filing their stories this year by electronic mail. The plan is to publish the newspaper in normal newsprint as well as electronically. The electronic version will be accessible from the school homepage at http://georgew.gw.pps.pgh.pa.us/gwhs/. (Ed Henke, Westinghouse High School)

• Last spring the origami club at Minadeo E.S. was part of a "crane-making" project on the Internet. Cranes were forwarded to a central school and then sent to Japan as part of the Hiroshima ceremonies. The announcement for the "crane-making" project was posted via the Internet mailing list LM_NET and we emailed back saying that we would participate. Mr. Zewe, our club co-ordinator, facilitated the mailing after our parents worked with the children making cranes. (Judy Ermlick, Minadeo Elementary)

• I'd like to mention the project I did last school year in March during Women's History Month. Scholastic On-Line sponsored an election for the most important woman in history. At my 2 schools, Greenfield and Colfax, I gave a brief introduction about the 75th anniversary of the woman's right to vote, then asked each student to complete a ballot. I sent the vote tabulations to Scholastic using email. Scholastic announced and published the results of the national Internet election, comparing our school's results with the final tabulation. Our winner, Harriet Tubman, was also the national winner. (Cheryl McLaughlin, Greenfield & Colfax Elementary Schools)

• I subscribe to numerous mailing lists which I use with my kindergarten class at Colfax. My favorite current project is "Finding Fall." (I found this activity on one of my mailing lists.) My class observes a tree, records times of sunrise and sunset and noon time temperatures. We also write any signs of fall we observe. We then send these observations via email every Wednesday to the mailing list. Others participating in this project also share their results. We hear from subscribers in: Fairbanks, Alaska; Elkhorn, Nebraska; Easton MA; Saranac Lake, NY; Middletown, RI; Ceder Falls, Iowa; Boyceville, Wisconsin; Greensboro, NC; Clarksville, Tennessee; Willow City, MD; Orange Indiana; and Geneva, Ohio. One teacher wrote that she had previously taught kindergarten and sent information to me about the kinder-l mailing list. (Loretta Sullivan, Colfax Elementary)

• Last year a number of students in my 4th and 5th grade math classes at Fulton E.S. participated in problem solving through email. These students found math problems that were posted on the Common Knowledge gopher. After figuring out the problem, they sent their solutions to Rick Wertheimer who followed up with questions about their solutions. In the beginning of the correspondence, my students found it hard to describe their solutions without a visual representation. However, by the end of the year, the students were able to communicate their thought processes and problem solving strategies through email. This process helped my students develop their writing, mathematics and communication skills. (Yvonne Holbrook, Fulton Elementary)

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What is the best way to find teachers on the Internet who would be interested in email projects?

Answer: Generally, you can find teachers interested in email projects on mailing lists and newsgroups that pertain specifically to K12 education. These include: Kidsphere, Cosndisc, LM_NET, Kidlink and Ednet. In addition, there are mailing lists that pertain to most subject areas in the K12 curriculum.

The next newsletter will expand on what a mailing list is and how you can use them to find other educators on the Internet.

Obtaining Help

Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh
501 Fortieth Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
(412) 622-5930; Fax (412) 622-5935

	Education Staff
Barry Check	check@pps.pgh.pa.us
Priscilla Franklin	franklin@pps.pgh.pa.us
Richard Wertheimer	wertheim@pps.pgh.pa.us
Mario Zinga	zinga@pps.pgh.pa.us

	Technical Staff
Andy Adams	akadams@psc.edu
Eugene Hastings	hastings@psc.edu
Gwendolyn Huntoon	huntoon@psc.edu
Kevin Sullivan	ksulliva@psc.edu

	Project Director
Robert Carlitz	rdc@vms.cis.pitt.edu