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Sara Ertl's first graders are getting to meet kids their own age from different parts of North America, and they don't even have to leave their classroom at North Branch Primary School. Last week they interacted with students in Alberta, Canada and earlier this school year they spent time with kids in Dallas Texas.

Ertl is, for the first time in her teaching career, utilizing new wireless technology in North Branch Schools. It allows users to participate in inter-active videocasts, either between district sites or outside the boundaries of #138.

This is a great learning opportunity that Ertl says she wouldn't hesitate to use again. She e mailed other instructors who have similar equipment capabilities and scheduled lesson plans that the classes could share, centered on a book. The teachers set up four, half hour segments for the interactive connections.

The students are all reading "What Do Snowmen Do At Night?" for their shared book project. They then make art related to the book which they can present to the remote location by standing in front of the camera on the modem. The remote class can be seen, projected onto the screen in the Primary School room. At the same time Ertl's class is also being seen by the students in Alberta. Students take turns speaking aloud "clues" they wrote and the class on the receiving end guesses what the clues describe. The topic when we visited was sports.

Ertl said the kids acquire knowledge about geography using maps and studying about the location of their interactive class partner. They can ask about the weather (it was minus-38 in Alberta) and they broaden their cultural horizons. The day this reporter visited an Alberta youngster explained what the sport ringette is when Ertl's students couldn't guess it by the clues.

Pix are Connor in gold sweatshirt or Jaden in red. Whichever you like, They are presenting artwork standing in front of system camera. On large screen is other class. Have pic of book cover too.

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