Hi Chris,
I am a Year 7 maths and science teacher from Australia, at Hawkesdale P12 College (approx. 270 students prep to year 12). We only have 4 weeks of classes left before Christmas holidays and then start with a new class. I have worked with Gerald Ardito (New York) and Catherine Laguna (Philadelphia) on trans-pacific projects. Skype is a bit difficult with US classes due to the time zone differences, but I have used Tokbox successfully to record and recieve video messages.
At present we are completing an 'On Line Science Fair' project with year 7 and year 9 stduents at: http://onlinesciencefair.wikispaces.com. You are welcome to join, visit and participate if it suits your needs.
My blog is at Technoscience and I contribute to the year 7 class blog at: Techno7's
After Christmas would be better for me also. Did you have any ideas in mind? What units are you guys studying and where are you from? My 7th graders are going to be in genetics after hristmas ahich might be pretty interesting. My 8th graders will be moving from chemical reactions to force and motion. We could do some long distance experiments on speed, velocity, and acceleration or demos on the laws of motion. We could hook kids up with science fair pojects also. Let me know what you think.
I am very happy to have found this thread. I have been looking for opportunities to create a distance / skype match for our students. My 8th grade Science teacher is will be doing these topics... there is a great opportunity.