Hi Jodie, Sorry for taking ever to get back to you. Our school year just finished and the usual end of year rush prevented me from catching up with emails. The plan is to start the next story circle late fall. Would you be interested? Inayath

Hi, My class is a group of 1st and 2nd grade gifted students. I have some excellent writers. I would be very interested in being a part of the writing circle. My school starts up again August 20th. I tried to email you with the email address below but was unsuccessful. So I hope you get this message. I hope you will include us. Pamela from the USA Florida psgifted@epals.com

Hello, I would be very interested in having my class participate in the story writing. I think that is a great idea. We could create a wonderful story with everybody involved. We could even publish the story! My students love to write with expression. I teach in Florida. I have a multi age classroom of 1st and 2nd grade gifted students. We are pressently on summer vacation until August 20th. I am sure my 2nd graders would be ready to write immediately as I had them last year. Please let me know. If you want to schedule us in a time frame now feel free to do so. I can't wait to get them started. Look forward to hearing from you real soon. Pamela psgifted@epals.com

Hi Inayath, The short story writing idea sounds great and I would be interested in being a part of it. I am a teacher of grade five in Australia. I have some good writers who need more practise at creative writing tasks. Hope to hear back from you. Regards, Jodie

Hello Inayath! I am not a school, but a very interested parent! My son Cory (age 10) is in 3rd grade in Florida, USA. He has multiple exceptionalities - ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, and Complex Partial Seizures. He loves to make up stories and type them in my computer, adding graphics as he goes. He is SLD in reading and math, due to processing difficulties, and has an IEP in place at school. He is intelligent, very computer literate, and wants to participate in something like this. Would you consider an individual as a member of a group? I would be happy to share what I know of our culture and his school. Also, I would share everything with his school teacher and maybe get her interested as well. Please advise. Thank you! Kim Hovey (a soon-to-be teacher 12/07!)

Hi Jane, We started the story circle already (2 weeks ago) with five schools. But it does look like there's plenty of interest for a second group. So hang in there. As soon as I can round up two more schools I'll have a second group of 4. Inayath

Hi Inayath, I have four pupils age 8-9 years who would be capable of participating. We are located in the Northwest of England and we are a small rural school of 120 pupils. We have been focussing this term on storywriting, particularly on the topic of Myths and Legends. We look forward to hearing from you. Regards Jane

Dear Inayath, I typed my reply and then lost it due to technical error. Argh. As much as I love this technology, at times it is very frustrating! We have Spring Break at the end of March. If you are starting on the 12th, could we be earlier rather than later? You asked for us to talk a little about ourselves and our students. Like you, Inayath, I am a Canadian. I am a Canadian trained teacher, but I have worked in England as well. I currently work in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Many of my students are children of immigrants or immigrants themselves (mostly from India and the Philippines). The students who are not from immigrant families, tend to be from a middle to low economic home (often because the mother has decided to stay home to raise the children). We also have a woman's shelter in the neighbourhood. The students who live there have experienced family violence and typically suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. They are also usually only with us for 6 months to a year. Pretty diverse, eh! As finances and language limit my students' exposure to culture, travel and extracurricular enrichment, they really benefit from these sort of projects. I will be selecting a group of girls who need a little push/challenge/enrichment in their writing for this project. The make up of this group is reflective of my class - one immigrated to Canada last May (her language acquisition is amazing). One is a first generation Canadian. And the other's family has been in Canada for a number of generations. I hope that helps. Cheers, Colette

There are students at our school who would love to participate. We are a Primary school in Queensland, Australia. We are on the coast and enjoy wonderful warm weather and spend much of our leisure time on our beautiful beaches. I have some great writers of all ages who would love to be involved. Let me know who and how. My email is jeast@epals.com Cheers Judy

Dear Judy, Thank you so much for expressing interest in the collaborative writing project. Seven schools – yours, two from the States, one each from Canada, Russia and Egypt - and mine from Saudi Arabia have expressed interested. All of you contacted me within a week since I posted the note on ePALS! Thank you. I’m looking at a project start date of 12th. My class will be quite happy to start the proceedings. The process is and guidelines are as follows: Guidelines: • The story can be about anything the children choose. The only condition is that it contain an icon or character representative of the country the school is in. Process: • Each school writes a maximum of one type written page. • The first school begins the story (by writing a maximum one page). They email it to me who emails it to the second school. The second school introduces their character/icon into the story and writes a page. They then email it to the third school who email it to me. I then in turn email it to the third school who…you get the idea. As each segment is added and the story grows I’ll email copies to the schools who have contributed already just so that the children know how the story is unfolding. As a first step, I suggest that we share a bit of information about each other and our schools. My name is Inayath Mohamed. I’m Canadian and teaching is my second career. After working as a management consultant in Toronto, Ottawa and Chicago I threw in the corporate towel and went to teachers college in – of all places – Christchurch, New Zealand. Part of the plan behind becoming a teacher was to teach in international schools and travel. I must have done something right because at last count I had visited twenty four countries. OK, I did a bit of travel before as well. Prior to Saudi, I taught in Gaza, Palestinian Territories and Oman. My school, The International Programs School, is an international school. It is in al Khobar in the East of Saudi Arabia. We are an hour away from Bahrain. The student body tends to be very international. I have 18 children from 12 countries in my class. There are South Africans, Koreans, Pakistanis, Canadians, Americans, Syrians, Jordanians, Brits, Germans, Australians, Egyptians and Jordanians in my class. Could you please send me a brief description of yourself (if you don’t mind) and a little bit of info about your school. Could you also please confirm your interest in the project so that I can finalize dates and we can get started. Thanks a million. Inayath

Dear Natasha, Thank you so much for expressing interest in my collaborative writing project. Six schools – two from the States, one each from Canada, Russia and Egypt - and mine from Saudi Arabia have expressed interested. All of you contacted me within a week since I posted the note on ePALS! Thank you. I’m looking at a project start date of 12th. My class will be quite happy to start the proceedings. The process is and guidelines are as follows: Guidelines: • The story can be about anything the children choose. The only condition is that it contain an icon or character representative of the country the school is in. Process: • Each school writes a maximum of one type written page. • The first school begins the story (by writing a maximum one page). They email it to me who emails it to the second school. The second school introduces their character/icon into the story and writes a page. They then email it to the third school who email it to me. I then in turn email it to the third school who…you get the idea. As each segment is added and the story grows I’ll email copies to the schools who have contributed already just so that the children know how the story is unfolding. As a first step, I suggest that we share a bit of information about each other and our schools. My name is Inayath Mohamed. I’m Canadian and teaching is my second career. After working as a management consultant in Toronto, Ottawa and Chicago I threw in the corporate towel and went to teachers college in – of all places – Christchurch, New Zealand. Part of the plan behind becoming a teacher was to teach in international schools and travel. I must have done something right because at last count I had visited twenty four countries. OK, I did a bit of travel before as well. Prior to Saudi, I taught in Gaza, Palestinian Territories and Oman. My school, The International Programs School, is an international school. It is in al Khobar in the East of Saudi Arabia. We are an hour away from Bahrain. The student body tends to be very international. I have 18 children from 12 countries in my class. There are South Africans, Koreans, Pakistanis, Canadians, Americans, Syrians, Jordanians, Brits, Germans, Australians, Egyptians and Jordanians in my class. Could you please send me a brief description of yourself (if you don’t mind) and a little bit of info about your school. Could you also please confirm your interest in the project so that I can finalize dates and we can get started. Thanks a million. Inayath

Hi Suher, Thank you so much for expressing inertest in my collaborative writing project. Six schools – two from the States, one each from Canada, Russia and Egypt - and mine from Saudi Arabia have expressed interested. All of you contacted me within a week since I posted the note on ePALS! Thank you. I’m looking at a project start date of 12th. My class will be quite happy to start the proceedings. The process is and guidelines are as follows: Guidelines: • The story can be about anything the children choose. The only condition is that it contain an icon or character representative of the country the school is in. Process: • Each school writes a maximum of one type written page. • The first school begins the story (by writing a maximum one page). They email it to me who emails it to the second school. The second school introduces their character/icon into the story and writes a page. They then email it to the third school who email it to me. I then in turn email it to the third school who…you get the idea. As each segment is added and the story grows I’ll email copies to the schools who have contributed already just so that the children know how the story is unfolding. As a first step, I suggest that we share a bit of information about each other and our schools. My name is Inayath Mohamed. I’m Canadian and teaching is my second career. After working as a management consultant in Toronto, Ottawa and Chicago I threw in the corporate towel and went to teachers college in – of all places – Christchurch, New Zealand. Part of the plan behind becoming a teacher was to teach in international schools and travel. I must have done something right because at last count I had visited twenty four countries. OK, I did a bit of travel before as well. Prior to Saudi, I taught in Gaza, Palestinian Territories and Oman. My school, The International Programs School, is an international school. It is in al Khobar in the East of Saudi Arabia. We are an hour away from Bahrain. The student body tends to be very international. I have 18 children from 12 countries in my class. There are South Africans, Koreans, Pakistanis, Canadians, Americans, Syrians, Jordanians, Brits, Germans, Australians, Egyptians and Jordanians in my class. Could you please send me a brief description of yourself (if you don’t mind) and a little bit of info about your school. Could you also please confirm your interest in the project so that I can finalize dates and we can get started. Thanks a million. Inayath

Hi Walter, Thank you so much for expressing inertest in my collaborative writing project. Six schools – two from the States, one each from Canada, Russia and Egypt - and mine from Saudi Arabia have expressed interested. All of you contacted me within a week since I posted the note on ePALS! Thank you. I’m looking at a project start date of 12th. My class will be quite happy to start the proceedings. The process is and guidelines are as follows: Guidelines: • The story can be about anything the children choose. The only condition is that it contain an icon or character representative of the country the school is in. Process: • Each school writes a maximum of one type written page. • The first school begins the story (by writing a maximum one page). They email it to me who emails it to the second school. The second school introduces their character/icon into the story and writes a page. They then email it to the third school who email it to me. I then in turn email it to the third school who…you get the idea. As each segment is added and the story grows I’ll email copies to the schools who have contributed already just so that the children know how the story is unfolding. As a first step, I suggest that we share a bit of information about each other and our schools. My name is Inayath Mohamed. I’m Canadian and teaching is my second career. After working as a management consultant in Toronto, Ottawa and Chicago I threw in the corporate towel and went to teachers college in – of all places – Christchurch, New Zealand. Part of the plan behind becoming a teacher was to teach in international schools and travel. I must have done something right because at last count I had visited twenty four countries. OK, I did a bit of travel before as well. Prior to Saudi, I taught in Gaza, Palestinian Territories and Oman. My school, The International Programs School, is an international school. It is in al Khobar in the East of Saudi Arabia. We are an hour away from Bahrain. The student body tends to be very international. I have 18 children from 12 countries in my class. There are South Africans, Koreans, Pakistanis, Canadians, Americans, Syrians, Jordanians, Brits, Germans, Australians, Egyptians and Jordanians in my class. Could you please send me a brief description of yourself (if you don’t mind) and a little bit of info about your school. Could you also please confirm your interest in the project so that I can finalize dates and we can get started. Thanks a million. Inayath

Hi Collete, Thank you so much for expressing inertest in my collaborative writing project. Six schools – two from the States, one each from Canada, Russia and Egypt - and mine from Saudi Arabia have expressed interested. All of you contacted me within a week since I posted the note on ePALS! Thank you. I’m looking at a project start date of 12th. My class will be quite happy to start the proceedings. The process is and guidelines are as follows: Guidelines: • The story can be about anything the children choose. The only condition is that it contain an icon or character representative of the country the school is in. Process: • Each school writes a maximum of one type written page. • The first school begins the story (by writing a maximum one page). They email it to me who emails it to the second school. The second school introduces their character/icon into the story and writes a page. They then email it to the third school who email it to me. I then in turn email it to the third school who…you get the idea. As each segment is added and the story grows I’ll email copies to the schools who have contributed already just so that the children know how the story is unfolding. As a first step, I suggest that we share a bit of information about each other and our schools. My name is Inayath Mohamed. I’m Canadian and teaching is my second career. After working as a management consultant in Toronto, Ottawa and Chicago I threw in the corporate towel and went to teachers college in – of all places – Christchurch, New Zealand. Part of the plan behind becoming a teacher was to teach in international schools and travel. I must have done something right because at last count I had visited twenty four countries. OK, I did a bit of travel before as well. Prior to Saudi, I taught in Gaza, Palestinian Territories and Oman. My school, The International Programs School, is an international school. It is in al Khobar in the East of Saudi Arabia. We are an hour away from Bahrain. The student body tends to be very international. I have 18 children from 12 countries in my class. There are South Africans, Koreans, Pakistanis, Canadians, Americans, Syrians, Jordanians, Brits, Germans, Australians, Egyptians and Jordanians in my class. Could you please send me a brief description of yourself (if you don’t mind) and a little bit of info about your school. Could you also please confirm your interest in the project so that I can finalize dates and we can et started. Thanks a million. Inayath

Hi Jeri, Thank you so much for expressing interest in my collaborative writing project. Six schools – two from the States, one each from Canada, Russia and Egypt - and mine from Saudi Arabia have expressed interest. All of you contacted me within a week since I posted the note on ePALS! Thank you. I’m looking at a project start date of 12th. My class will be quite happy to start the proceedings. The process is and guidelines are as follows: Guidelines: • The story can be about anything the children choose. The only condition is that it contain an icon or character representative of the country the school is in. Process: • Each school writes a maximum of one type written page. • The first school begins the story (by writing a maximum one page). They email it to me who emails it to the second school. The second school introduces their character/icon into the story and writes a page. They then email it to the third school who email it to me. I then in turn email it to the third school who…you get the idea. As each segment is added and the story grows I’ll email copies to the schools who have contributed already just so that the children know how the story is unfolding. As a first step, I suggest that we share a bit of information about each other and our schools. My name is Inayath Mohamed. I’m Canadian and teaching is my second career. After working as a management consultant in Toronto, Ottawa and Chicago I threw in the corporate towel and went to teachers college in – of all places – Christchurch, New Zealand. Part of the plan behind becoming a teacher was to teach in international schools and travel. I must have done something right because at last count I had visited twenty four countries. OK, I did a bit of travel before as well. Prior to Saudi, I taught in Gaza, Palestinian Territories and Oman. My school, The International Programs School, is an international school. It is in al Khobar in the East of Saudi Arabia. We are an hour away from Bahrain. The student body tends to be very international. I have 18 children from 12 countries in my class. There are South Africans, Koreans, Pakistanis, Canadians, Americans, Syrians, Jordanians, Brits, Germans, Australians, Egyptians and Jordanians in my class. Could you please send me a brief description of yourself (if you don’t mind) and a little bit of info about your school. Could you also please confirm your interest in the project so that I can finalize dates and we can get started. Thanks a million. Inayath