Goucher Elementary School second-grade students wave goodbye Monday after participating in their first video conference with a secondgrade class in Malvern, Ohio. Students in the two classes are pen pals this school year. Goucher Elementary School second-grade students in Carol Davis’ class could have a special guest next month when it comes time to board The Polar Express.

Davis converts her classroom into a model train each December for an in-depth study of the popular Christmas book “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg. She hopes new friends from a second grade class in Ohio can participate in the event.

Davis’s second-grade students held their first video conference Monday with students in Alyson Lutz’s class at Malvern Elementary in Malvern, Ohio. Students from the two classes will be pen pals this year and were able to introduce themselves over the television screen.

Video conferencing is a system where students can see and hear someone in another location using multimedia equipment which broadcasts two-way video and audio communications via satellite.

The students shared information about their schools, personal hobbies and the weather in South Carolina and Ohio. Afterwards, Davis said her class was amazed to be able to interact with students in another state five hours away.

“We really enjoyed it. We had never done anything like this before,” Davis said. “We always do a big event while reading ‘The Polar Express’ before the Christmas holidays. We transform our classroom into a train and give each student a ticket to board the train. We hope the students in Ohio will be able to participate in the event.”

District technology coach Rita Easler got in touch with Lutz by email after the Ohio teacher expressed an interest on a message board looking for pen pals for her class. She was able to arrange for Lutz and Davis’ classes to exchange letters and participate in the video conference.

“The children were so excited to meet their pen pals,” Easler said. “The students plan to continue corresponding by mail and will plan several lessons between the classes by video conference. We have discussed the classes reading to each other, sharing book talks and doing weather lessons about each location, among many other ideas.”