Primary 2

Using e-mail tofind out about myself

By using email, children can have real contact with other culturally different schools, and exchange text and photographs with children of differing views, cultures and beliefs. Children also learn that text and images can be combined using ICT to create a multimedia book.

What they did

Make contact with another culturally different school via email. (If possible, link with a teacher who you know personally.) Failing that, contact another school via search engines, or school penpal portals such as ePALS or Think.com.

Get the children to take photographs of different body parts (hands, feet, finger, ears, and so on) and download them to your computer.

As a whole class, using an interactive whiteboard or digital projector, write an email to the other school and send them the photographs. Get the children to say what they want to write, while you act as scribe. In the meantime the other school will do the same.

Use the photographs from the other school, mixed with your photographs, to write a book containing photographs and text along the theme of 'I have…'. The book will show a photograph of one child's body part (such as two feet), and underneath say 'I have two feet'. Continue along this theme, ensuring that the photographs are well cropped to the body part, are of children from both settings, and contain a mixture of skin colours.

Each child should be involved in at least one page of the book, either choosing the photograph and/or writing the text with adult support. Provide what support is needed, either scribing for them, or doing a mixture of children and yourself typing, or use word banks next to the computer for the children to copy.

Resources

The resources used are:

digital camera
email
contrasting partner school
writing software that has a facility to combine text and photographs, for example a word-processing programme for a paper-based book or a presentation programme for
an electronic book
digital projector or interactive whiteboard.

Relvance to the Early Learning Goals

Experiences and opportunities related to RE include:

knowledge and understanding of the world: children begin to know about their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people; and they ask questions about why things happen
communication, language and literacy: children ask and answer questions about religion and culture as they occur naturally within their everyday experiences. They also listen and respond to a wide range of religious and ethnic groups
personal, social and emotional development: children learn that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs, which need to be treated with respect. They also understand that they can expect others to treat their needs, views, cultures and beliefs with respect.

How ICT enhanced teaching and learning

The use of ICT:

enables pupils to experience wider and more authentic access to different religions, cultures and beliefs than may be available in their own school or locality

presents children with lots of opportunities to ask questions and to think about their own beliefs and experiences

motivates all pupils to be actively engaged in their learning.

Related Resources on the Becta website