Pupils at two Sheffield schools write books with just skype and email

Children from Hallam Primary and Totley Primary joined forces to create books using email and skype. Photo by Dan Dwight.

Year 6 pupils from Hallam and Totley primary schools had to come up with a plot, write, illustrate and edit their books in a fortnight before they were sent to publishers.

But the children were only allowed to communicate with the other half of their team, based miles away, using the Internet – giving them a taste of modern day teamwork.

Pupils only met their team mates as the books were unveiled to proud parents at the Memorial Hall in Sheffield city centre.

Annabel Jeffries, aged 11, of Hallam Primary School, said: “It was really fun working with children from the other school and I love the book we made.”

Niamh Mcauley, 10, of Hallam, said: “I learned so much. We had to use the computer publisher, email, Skype, we had to draw and be creative with words – it was amazing.”

But the process did create obstacles which the teams had to overcome.

Dania Soroup, 11, of Hallam, said: “It was challenging coming up with the story on email, but we all had a lot of fun.”

Johnny Dixon, 11, of Totley Primary School, said: “Sometimes it was difficult because you wanted a reply straightaway, but it’s not always that fast on email. I really enjoyed making the book.”

Freddie Crossey, 11, of Totley, said: “Before the deadline everything was going wrong – laptops were running out of battery.

“But we had so much fun. I was a bit nervous meeting my team, as we had only talked on Skype. But we get on really well.”

The concept was dreamt-up when teachers Hannan Mohammed, from Hallam, and Coralie Corrin, from Totley, met in February to discuss best practices.

Hannan said: “We wanted to challenge the children with reading, writing, drawing, using computers, building their team working skills and this project has really helped with that.”

Coralie added: “The children have really enjoyed it too, they were so excited to make the books and they all look absolutely great.

“We’d like to thank teaching assistant Matt Wale, who sat with the children for a day-and-a-half straight while the children Skyped each other.”