Looking for video pen pals

I teach kindergarten and first grade technology classes. We just purchased 8 laptop carts and we must have the kids use them once a cycle. The laptops are equipped with cameras and I thought that perhaps I could use them to have video pen pals. Does anyone have any ideas on this? Where to find appropriate pen pals, what interface to use (Skype?). Thanks in advance for your ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Hillery on October 5, 2010 at 7:36pm

I think that is a great idea! I think Skype would work. My son is in kindergarten and I would love it if his class did this. I will suggest it to his teacher if you don't find another class to do this.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Green on October 5, 2010 at 8:27pm

Great, thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Green on October 5, 2010 at 9:10pm

First and foremost, our goal is to familiarize the students with the laptops themselves so they can use them within their individual classrooms for reading and math programs purchased by the district to track their achievements.

This worries me in that the computer is becoming one-dimensional to the students. I want them to understand, even at this level, the scope at which technology can be used. As of now, they see it as an electronic worksheet. It's unfortunate that the district has cut back time from my curriculum to accommodate for time on the data-driven programs they purchased. If you want some fun, try to teach 18 kindergarten students, who are just being introduced to letters, numbers and the keyboard, to enter a password such as "Student70*" complete with a capital letter and asterisk. It takes them 20 minutes just to type this. And they get so frustrated that they are quickly learning to hate the computer.