Limestone Central class bonds with peers in icy North Dakota through the Internet
By SCOTT POWELL Ledger Staff Writer spowell@gaffneyledger.com

Berthold Elementary second grade students sent greetings from North Dakota last week to their new pen pals at Limestone-Central Elementary.

Fifteen smiling faces lounged around in the snow on a school playground in North Dakota in a photo sent to Limestone-Central Elementary School students last week.

Bundled in their large winter coats, Berthold Elementary second grade barely noticed it was 7 degrees outside. They were more than happy to take a picture at school recess during one of North Dakota's typical frozen wintery days.

Limestone-Central Elementary second grade teacher Jennifer Summey is involved in an online collaborative project with Berthold Elementary second grade teacher Melissa Lahti. Their classes have been corresponding by e-mail for the past week.

Berthold Elementary is in Lewis & Clark District 161.

The project was arranged through the efforts of district technology coaches Rita Easler and Buddy Hanrahan in North Dakota. The classes hope to end the project with a video conference.

"I wanted our students to have a better idea of how large the world is by working with a class from a different part of the U.S.," Summey said. "Our class would like to share and learn about the language, customs, cultures, traditions, and roles of various workers in different communities."

Berthold has a population of 400 residents and is located in a rural area in the western part of North Dakota. The community's school has 125 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Most parents work in Minot, a city of 35,000, about 25 miles to the east of Berthold.

In addition to her duties, Lahti is the elementary principal.

"We are so excited to share letters, pictures, e-mails and video with another class as far away as South Carolina," Lahti wrote in response to an e-mail from The Ledger. "We are hoping that we will be able to learn a lot and make some friends along the way."

Summey used traditional mail to send a large package last week to Lahti's second grade class.

It contained a letter and pictures with scenes from Gaffney, including the famous Peachoid water tower.

Lahti has already posted the letter on her classroom wall from the Limestone-Central Elementary students. Her students look forward to learning more about the Gaffney school in the next few weeks.

A little cold weather wasn't going to keep her class from enjoying recess outside Tuesday afternoon while finishing a typical winter day at Berthold Elementary.

"It is -5 and sunny here so I'm sending the students out to recess...have a great day!" Lahti wrote, in signing off on her e-mail to The Ledger.