COEUR d'ALENE - Children sitting in a classroom at Ramsey Magnet School of Science and their first-grade counterparts at Gayhead Elementary School in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., shared a lesson today - at the same time.

The 2,100-mile gap between the two schools was bridged by the Idaho Education Network, the state's high-speed broadband service that connects all of Idaho's public high schools, colleges and universities.

Using video conferencing equipment, the Ramsey students and their teacher interacted with the students in New York, answering questions and playing games.

"Name that Seuss!" shouted the East Coast kiddos, after one of them read a few lines from a Dr. Seuss book.

The Idaho children's reply: "The Lorax!" elicited simultaneous applause in the Ramsey classroom and in Gayhead Elementary classroom, about 70 miles north of New York City.

Ramsey teacher Casey Campbell said it's hard for youngsters that age to imagine a world beyond their school and their neighborhood.

"It was exciting prepping them for this, teaching them things about New York, and telling them that there are kids just like them over there and then watching them talk to those kids," Campbell said.

Since 2011, the year the Idaho Education Network was first able to connect every public school district in the state, the technology has been used primarily in high schools. A push to expand network usage into elementary schools began last year.

Last spring, Ramsey and Hayden Meadows Elementary, another Coeur d'Alene public school, were each awarded a grant from the Idaho Education Network Awards Program. Each school received teleconferencing equipment worth about $12,500 per unit. The EXCEL Foundation, a private nonprofit which provides grants for Coeur d'Alene teachers, gave each school $6,000 to fund virtual field trips.

"Ramsey's focus has been primarily on science," said Principal Anna Wilson.

Ramsey students have visited a natural history museum in Denver to study fossils. They've "spent time" on a cotton farm, and more.

Kids at Hayden Meadows have taken virtual trips with explorers. They've "visited" the Columbia Gorge Discovery Museum in The Dalles, Ore., and have interacted with authors of books they are reading.

"Teachers at our two schools have connected through the system and had their children share math strategies with each other. The ideas are really limitless," stated Wilson, and Hayden Meadows Principal Lisa Pica, in a message to The Press.