THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512190088
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Jennifer Craig isn't your usual elf.
She doesn't even own a elf uniform, but that doesn't stop Craig. The Lakeland High School sophomore is among several dozen Suffolk elves recruited to help Santa.
He asked students in Lakeland teacher Jane Butler's sophomore English class to answer Santa letters e-mailed to him from kindergartners and first-graders in Austin, Texas. Then he asked students in Betty Jo English's Business Information Systems class at P.D. Pruden Vocational-Technical Center to type those letters into the computer and e-mail them to Texas.
Dennis Cowick, a high school teacher in San Diego, Calif., created the Clobal Schoolnet Foundation's Annual Letters to Santa Project, 10 years ago. This is the first year Suffolk students have participated.
Classes of participating kindergarten and elementary school students from all over the country write letters to Santa Claus via computer.
Then letters are e-mailed to classes of older students in other parts of the country - honorary elves - to be answered.
Craig and the other students say the project was fun but unexpectedly difficult.
``It's hard because we can't promise anything to the kids,'' Craig said. ``We have to be careful to write letters in a way that keeps the kids from getting their hopes too high.''
Sophomore Georgina Sykes said she had to make herself think the way Santa thinks. ``We have to find ways to answer their questions without giving away the big secret.''
Butler's students said Santa got some pretty unusual requests from the youngsters attending Purple Sage Elementary School in Austin.
For example, kindergartner Lauren Osborne writes, ``O ples I would like a uliv lizrd for Crismis. Im not joking.'' Lauren was full of curiosity, also wanting a lot of other questions answered: ``What doo rander et? How big is the slay? Are the elfs cyowt and gren?''
Another kindergartner who just identified himself as Jeremy told Santa he wanted a big jet like he found at Toys R Us. He also told Santa that he ``wants to see your randier so I will tell you whaer I am slepeing at my haws so you can wac me up. Then I can pet the randier.''
Kindergartner Ross Speed is hoping to find a snake under his Christmas tree next week. ``But frst you can put it in a kaje.'' Like most of the other kids, Ross plied the jolly elf with questions: ``How many mene childran are in the welrd? This is mi ges 333,427,685. Which wa do you kum to mi house? How long dos it take to get to erth?''
English's class said typing the letters was as fun as writing them.
``I tried to put myself in the children's places when they were receiving the letter,'' said Dominique Simpson, a senior who attends Nansemond River High School. ``Typing in the letters was fun. It took me back to the time when I used to write letters to Santa.''
Both Butler and English believe the project had a multitude of benefits for students in their classes. It helped the students work together as teams, improved their letter-writing skills and enhanced their computer knowledge. by CNB