Do you have questions for the In2Books team? For quick answers, start here by reviewing the answers to commonly asked questions. Just click on a question to see the related answer.
You can bring In2Books to your students for as little as $450 per classroom, plus the cost of the book plan you choose! To help determine how much it would cost for your class, we’ve broken down the components below.
- The In2Books Program & Online Materials: Cost $10 / student
This component covers our tools, content, and pen pals, the core of In2Books. It also includes custom websites for our teachers, students and pen pals: Teacher Place, Student Place, and Pen Pal Place. Each site includes in-depth content related to book genres, lesson plans, key vocabulary, and critical-thinking questions. Tools include rosters, digital graphic organizers, and book selection help, as well as crosswords and word searches to emphasize vocabulary.
- Professional Development: $250 for a new teacher, $75 for a returning teacher
Professional Development will include a total of six units over the course of the year, each specially designed for the program element you will be teaching. Units are designed so that you can take them “virtually”, on your own schedule.
- Books: Options for different budgets and different needs
Our books are priced at cost plus shipping and handling, a savings of up to 40% off MSRP. Our book selection has been compiled by experts and our program is optimized to work with those selections. Of course if the books are already available to you through other means, such as the library, you may not need to purchase books!
- Personalized Student Pack: $30 / student
The Personalized Student Pack is our standard option. With this option each student is able to select books from our booklist (with approval from the teacher) and keep them for their own personal libraries.
- Teacher-Selected Classroom Packs: Starting at $360
The Teacher-Selected Classroom Packs are designed for the teacher to select and keep for the classroom and use in following years. This option allows for significant savings in the following year(s) as books are reused. We understand that from year to year you may need to replace books in your collection.
For more information on In2Books classroom and book options or school and district pricing please contact
i2bsupport@epals.com. Prices are subject to change.
Your students' safety is our primary concern. We have safeguards, including screening software, criminal background checks, verification processes and full-time moderation of student forums. But you have the most important role in ensuring safety in your classroom because you review the adult pen pal letters before they are released to your students. For more information, please download the In2Books Primer on Background Checks & Safety
Student names are collected so that teachers can easily manage student participation in the program. Teachers upload their students' names to manage the program, and are the only ones who can view those names. Adult pen pals only learn students' first names, and teachers review all pen pal letters before they are released to students.
In2Books pen pals are a diverse group of caring adults. They may be parents of children at your school or volunteers from local community organizations, corporations, government agencies, universities, and professional organizations. They are adults of all ages, working or retired, having occupations ranging from lawyers to web designers to stay-at-home parents and retirees. Despite their diversity, In2Books' adult pen pals all share a commitment to helping school-age children reach their personal and academic potentials.
Corporations including National Geographic, Applied Matierials, SAP, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Ernst & Young and others have provided employees to serve as In2Books pen pals. All pen pal applicants are required to submit to background checks before receiving approval to be In2Books pen pals.
For more information on background checks, download the In2Books Primer on Background Checks and Safety
The In2Books book selection committee of national children's literature experts works to select high-quality age appropriate books that both appeal to a wide range of readers and support their classroom studies. Many of our recommended books have won major awards and appear on booklists such as those compiled by the American Library Association and the National Science Teachers Association. We select books with paperback editions to minimize associated costs.
View the current In2Books Booklist
If a pen pal does not write, the first step is to send him or her a message from the Mail Center so that you can understand what is going on with the pen pal and when to expect a letter. If the pen pal does not respond, please let us know and we will match your student with a new pen pal.
Please take the time to involve pen pals in the program. As we discussed in our tutorials, the best way to get your pen pals to respond promptly and write letters is to get them involved in your classroom and to make them feel like valued members of the team. Set a schedule and stick to it so that they know what is expected of them and when. Communicate with them if there is to be a change or if a student can’t write for some reason. Let them know what’s going on with your classroom : share good news, what you’re studying, when you’re in exams etc. It helps them feel like they are an important part of your class.
For more detailed information, please review Tutorial 9 and Write a welcome message your students’ pen pals.
To get a pen pal for a student you just have to add the student to your roster and he or she will be matched within 2 business days, pending pen pal availability
You can change your class roster any time it is necessary by adding new students or deleting students that will not be continuing. For complete instructions, please refer to Tutorial 2: Uploading Your Class Roster.
Keep your roster up-to-date is important so that students and pen pals aren’t kept waiting.
You can request the replacement of a pen pal by sending us an email. Make sure that you provide the reason why you would like the pen pal replaced. Note – If you are requesting to replace a pen pal because he or she has not written, make sure that you have done the following;
- Messaged the pen pal through Mail Center requesting that he or she write, a letter by a certain date.
- Verified that the pen pal has received a book letter from your student.
Your class will be matched after you have completed the required Professional Development Tutorials, uploaded your class roster and approved your student “Getting To Know You” letters. We try to match students with pen pals within a week or less. Please log in to check your status and, once matched, approve pen pal letters so that the book units can begin.
It takes about two - three weeks to receive books once your order has been placed. It is possible that the order may come in multiple shipments. If you do not receive your books please contact In2Books Support
Not to worry! Frequently, In2Books program books are shipped from different warehouses and consequently arrive in separate boxes. Shipments should arrive within 2-3 weeks of ordering.
From time to time, unavoidable events such as exams, vacation, or snow days will occur, forcing you to change deadlines. If you do need to change deadlines for any reason, please be sure to make the appropriate changes to your In2Books Scheduler. We recommend that you also message your pen pals about the change as well. It is very helpful for them to understand the reasons for delays or changes and to feel involved with your class.
Printing letters is easy, however you may need to take a few steps to ensure that your browser will print the letters properly. The default setting of most web browsers disables the option to "print background images." To print your letters with their decorative borders and images, please follow these instructions:
- To enable background printing in Firefox for Windows
- Open Internet Options in the Control Panel.
- Click on the Advanced Tab.
- Scroll down to find "Printing" and select the checkbox labeled "Print background colors and images."
- Click Apply.
- To enable background printing in Firefox for Mac
- With the page you want to print open, choose File > Print.
- Choose Firefox from the print dialog's pull-down menu that defaults to "Copies & Pages."
- Select the checkbox labeled "Print background images."
- To enable background image in Safari
- With the page you want to print open, choose File > Print.
- Choose Safari from the print dialog's pull-down menu that defaults to "Copies & Pages."
- Select the checkbox labeled "Print backgrounds."
- If You Use an Email Filter
If the email system on your computer uses a filter or spam blocker, please add i2bsupport@epals.com to your address book or "white list" to ensure that you receive our emails and notifications.
- If Your Company or Network Uses Email Filters
Please contact your email system administrator or Internet service provider to see if a filter or spam blocker is in use.
- If Your Email Provider Uses Email Filters
Some Internet service providers or web-based email providers have email filters or restrictions that may prevent our emails from reaching you. If you think that email from In2books is being blocked, we suggest you add i2bsupport@epals.com to the address book or contact list offered by your email provider.
- Examples:
Gmail
|
Yahoo (similar steps for AOL)
|
Click the following links
- Settings
- Filters
- Create new filter
- Enter i2bsupport@epals.com
in the “from” field -or- enter @epals.com in the "has the words" field
- Click "Next Step"
- Enter your selected Preferences (ex: "Never send it to spam")
- Click the "Create Filter" button |
Click the following links
- Options
- Mail Options
- Filters
- Enter “epals.com” in the “from header “contains”
- Have messages moved to the “inbox”
- Finalize by clicking the “Add Filter” button |
Simply go to the In2Books pen pal registration page and fill out the online application to sign up your classroom. For student safety, you will be required to complete a background check.
Pen Pals must be at least 18 years of age. We know that there are many volunteers that are younger than 18 who would be excellent mentors and correspondents with the classroom.
The In2Books Program runs primarily during the academic year. Most classrooms start between late September and mid-October. The Getting Started Unit generally takes a week or two, and the five Genre Units take approximately 6 weeks each.
After you have
completed your “Getting To Know You” letter and completed the pen pal
Tutorial, you will be eligible to be matched with a student. Matching with students occurs on a first-come, first-serveed basis, starting at the end of September. Please make sure you’ve completed the requirements above to ensure that you’re ready to be matched!
After you have been matched with your student, your student will choose a book that he or she would like to read with you. When the teacher approves the book selection, you will receive an email notice letting you know what book to read!
Unless you hear otherwise from the teacher, you write your letter about the book first so that the student can respond to you. Please pay close attention to the schedule provided at Pen Pal Place. You’ll see deadlines for your letters plus other things you will need to do. It’s important that you read and write in a timely manner so that your student is not disappointed and so that the class can continue progressing. If you have a question about timing, please ask the teacher by sending a message from the Mail Center.
Please review the Pen Pal Tutorial for a review of the procedures and guidelines for letter writing.
Going on vacation? Did you get a letter to which are unsure how to respond?
Talk to the teacher by sending him or her a message from the Mail Center. It is helpful for teachers to know about things going on in their classrooms and to understand concerns that pen pals may have.
In2Books is compatible with Sarafi 3.0 and higher. If your computer does not have the capability to run Safari 3.0 or higher, please try downloading Firefox 2.0 or higher.
You may be required to download and install missing applications or plugins in order to get the module to display correctly.
- Be sure that you have pop-ups enabled. Access the options or preferences in your internet browser to turn this option on.
- After pop-ups have been enabled, a message will appear at the top of your screen alerting that you are missing necessary applications.
Right click this area to get details on what you are missing and how to download those applications
Required Settings
- Pop-ups enabled
- ActiveX enabled
- Adobe Flash Player
Login and click on Mail Center tab to view your letter.
If your question is not addressed in the information above, please email us at i2bsupport@epals.com.