Wiley Elementary kindergarten teacher Amy Allen and her students sing a song about peanut butter to students in Seoul, South Korea, in this May 13 photo during a Skype session in Hutchinson. Allen’s cousin’s son, Eric Mudd, is a teacher in Seoul.

Hutchinson ? With the click of a button, Amy Allen’s kindergarten class at Wiley Elementary was on a field trip halfway around the globe.

And those same students found themselves glancing at students who sat in their classroom 14 hours ahead of Wiley. The kindergartners waved to third-graders from a rural school outside Seoul, South Korea, before lining up to sing a song about peanut butter.

Across the globe, the South Korean students listened intently and tried to imitate the actions as they listened to the song. Though it was 7 p.m. in Hutchinson, the South Korean students were in the middle of their morning music class.

“That was perfect for us because then we could sing,” Allen said. “Any time we can sing, we’re doing great.”

Allen used the computer video program Skype to reach her cousin’s son’s classroom.

Eric Mudd is teaching English to the South Korean students and thought talking to students in America would be a great way to help them learn.

Students on both sides are learning new forms of English. The South Korean children are learning how to speak English; the students at Wiley are learning how to write.

Allen’s class wrote letters to Mudd’s students. Then they decided it would be good for the students to see each other via Skype.

Allen admits she’s a novice at the program.

“I’ve Skyped one person down the hall,” she said. “I haven’t ever Skyped before.”

She didn’t have to worry — the interaction went off without a glitch.

Mudd’s students sang the Hokey Pokey, which helps them associate words with different parts of their bodies. The Wiley students laughed as they watched their foreign peers.

Afterward, Mudd showed the Wiley students the letters they wrote to the South Korean students.

It was proof that the snail-mail letters actually made it to their destination.

“That was something I didn’t expect him to do,” Allen said. “That was great.”

Since writing to the South Korean students, the kindergartners are able to locate the country on a map. They have enjoyed the experience.

“When Horace raised his hand and said, ‘Mrs. Allen, that was awesome,’ that’s what I thought,” she said.

Allen’s students were also excited to hear that Mudd won a tug-of-war contest that he had told them about.

Allen hopes to use the program to take her students and others at Wiley on “field trips” to different countries. She has contacts in Singapore, Australia, Czechoslovakia and possibly soon in Iraq.

She wants to do “Where in the World is Wiley Raccoon” and keep a map of places the students have Skyped.

“This was a great experiment,” she said. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”