Mary, everything sounds great! I just briefly touched on Netiquette with my 8th graders! Let's figure out 'how many' students you and I have because in total I believe I have about eighty or so 8th graders (in 4 classes).

I have entered almost all of my students into the ePals system and have set up email accounts through here for them. I have also started a blog through ePals, that you guys are more than welcome to check out and comment on. (It is still in the making).

Get back with me on how many students you have and we will go from there. Do you know what the next step is? Do we exchange our students emails with one another? I will also read up more on 'what to do next' and see where we go from here.

Have a good weekend! Talk to you soon!

Nicole

Hello, Good evening. I'm currently teaching world cultures/social studies to 6th grade students located in Texas. I'm still waiting for district approval if and when I receive the approval to establish email. In any event, if I can't, my classes can still participate via traditional mail or if you would like, we can email each other as a class. Email if you are interested. 

Nicole,

Thanks for responding.  I am new to ePal too.  It would be great to connect through email if Twitter isn't an option.  My 8th graders all have school email accounts and we will be doing a unit on business etiquette than includes netiquette.  Would you be interested in collaborating on something related to that?  My 7th graders don't have email accounts yet, but I am working on it.  They are set up as a business and we are going to be having a logo and slogan contest.  Once we decide on a logo and slogan for our business, the students will be designing business cards, flyers, and brochures to advertise our business.  What if your students were our judges?  They could provide us with feedback.  I eventually want my 7th graders to journal, maybe we could post a journal question and they could share answers with their ePal.  This would allow them to learn about each other's schools.  Another idea might be developing a class newsletter that we could share back and forth once a month.  Let me know if you like any of these ideas or if you have something that we might be able to do.  I would love to do something through a webcam, but that will take me some time to put together through our technology department.  I am waiting on a flip camera (I should have it soon) that we could possibly put together a video and post on a private blog or website to communicate until a webcam option is availalbe.  If you send me your email through the ePals email we can converse more on some possible ideas.

Thanks again for responding.  My students will be very excited to be able to connect with students from another school.

Mary

Hi Mary, unfortunately I do not think a Twitter account is the right thing for us at this time. The school rules are no FaceBook, Bebo, MySpace, etc....during school time so I don't think I should do the Twitter-thing. Sorry.

But....if you would still like to have the students connect and email we could then go from there and see what/where it takes us. Maybe work on some projects together and/or connect webcam? (Just some thoughts).

Let me know if that interests you at all. And if so, I will need some direction on what to do next. I am very new to the site and I am not sure what to do after I find someone who wants to connect.

Thanks, hope to hear from you soon!

~Nicole

Hello, Nicole!

I have  30 6th grade students in Russian school and they will be happy to have ePals of the same age. We could exchange letters about once a month and if you are interested you can contact us at: natkat@epals.com

Natasha

Nicole,

I also teacher computer classes to 5th-8th graders and am seeking to connect with students from other countries.   In addition to ePals, would you be interested in setting up a Twitter connection?  I thought it might be fun for my students to use Twitter to post updates on what we are working on and in addition follow another class via Twitter.  My 8th grade class is Exploring Business and my 6th & 7th grade classes are Keyboarding and Computer Applications.  Let me know if you might be interested in trying this out. 

Thank you!

Mary Byrns
Business Education

byrnsmjr@epals.com

I teach 5th-8th grades computer class. We are looking to connect with the same age students, English speaking. We can write anywhere from once a week to once a month. Looking to talk about any/all topics! We are an environmental friendly school and would love to hear about your school(s) and/or environment/culture, etc. Let me know what grade(s) you have and we can connect some of our students! We are in St. Louis, Missouri.

Thanks, Nicole S.