The OLPCorps Ampitso team will be working with Malagasy kids from 6 to 12 years of age, but mostly on the lower end of that age group. We'll be in the village of Ambatoharanana, which is almost entirely agriculture-based. The language of the school is English, and it's run by a Canada-based NGO, the Madagascar School Project.

Most Malagasy schools, including the ones we're working at, are taught through call-and-response. Teachers say something, and the children repeat until they've "learned" it, or at least memorized. This method is out of necessity; appropriate books are in short supply. That's one impact the XOs will definitely have - providing a simple method of reading and writing. But that's not enough, and we know that.

Which Sugar Activities work the best?

We're trying to come up with some "learning projects", OLPC terminology for educational, constructivist projects that usually engage several programs and may cross subject lines - like integrating math and English. We have some wiggle room as far as curriculum goes; we'll be working with teachers separately on ideas for the school year, and we'll have the kids in a sort of summer camp during July and August.

The teachers are not necessarily college-educated (though the administrators are), and our biggest project will be teacher training. We know we can't change everything, including a traditional method of education, in the 10 weeks we're there.

But we want appropriate activities that are easy for teachers to learn and apply. Several of the teachers have worked with computers before, but a few may not have. Activities like EToys won't necessarily be accessible to them at first, as there are barriers to learning.

Our educational objectives are relatively vague for the summer camp, if only because we recognize that we're not in Madagascar to teach kids (rather, to create the best possible, most sustainable project we can). The XOs will be exciting to use, and we're confident the kids can be creative. We want our learning projects to demonstrate how the XOs can be used as learning tools in the future, beyond reading and writing.

Important concepts for the long-term MSP goals include language skills, conservation awareness, and civic and health education. Madagascar has three official languages (French, English, and Malagasy); the school works in English, and kids speak Malagasy at home. While we won't be teaching French (beyond our scope), reading and writing will improve communication in both.

Conservation is particularly important, as Madagascar's unique biodiversity (many flora and fauna are endemic to the island) are increasingly threatened. Health education will improve living conditions and increase awareness of necessary practices. Civic education will fight the rural isolation, and, in an era where Madagascar's democracy has been repeatedly threatened, increase engagement and empowerment.

Obviously, we can't spin these goals out of thin air in ten weeks. We can, however, work on a framework to engage teachers and students in the true power of the XOs. We're working on creating our own larger learning projects. So, here's where we need ideas:

What are the top five Sugar Activities we should focus on using, and why?

Simply saying "Scratch" and leaving it at that isn't going to help us much. We also probably will not have internet access in the classrooms. We're already working with a few activities, which we'd love help on:

• TamTam Suite, Speak, Write, Typing Turtle, Read, and Poll Builder and InfoSlicer for teachers. We are also considering Physics, and Story Builder

What is your opinion of these activities? Have you used them in a learning situation? In an actual classroom? Are there others that are better?