At W. Robert Paynter Elementary School in Baldwin Borough, second-graders Emily Jurczyk and Christopher Karpuszka were beaming, and not just with childhood joy.

The two 7-year-olds were learning to "beam" information to each other on hand-held computers used as learning tools in their classrooms.

Using a stylus, a special writing instrument, Christopher wrote a message on the screen he is learning to use as part of his language arts program.

"Dear Emily. What is your favorite color? From Christopher."

He hit a send button and the message ended up on Emily's screen.

Emily "beamed" back a reply, carefully forming her words on the tiny writing pad.

"Baby blu," she wrote.

Such is the world of 21st- century education, where young children are surfing the Internet before they learn to read.

"The buzz word for these kids is 'digital natives,' " said Kevin Conner, an instructor at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, explaining that the rest of us are called "digital immigrants" because we had to learn technology later in life, as though it were a second language.

Mr. Conner and Jana Baxter, coordinator of instructional media services for the Intermediate Unit, are training teachers and pupils in Paynter Elementary school to implement a Hands on Learning Program, which integrates hand-held computers into the basic curriculum at elementary schools.

She said the program was an offshoot of Technology Leadership Academies, which were sponsored by the state of Pennsylvania, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation several years ago.

In the first two waves of the Hands on Learning Program, more than 100 schools in Pennsylvania received grants to integrate hand-held computers into middle and secondary schools. In this third wave, more than 100 elementary schools received $10,000 grants from the Department of Education to buy hand-held computers, plus software and training for use in elementary education.

Ms. Baxter said Paynter Elementary was one of nine Allegheny County schools that received a grant.

She said other participating schools were Avonworth Elementary in the Avonworth School District, Moss Side Middle School in Gateway School District; Aiken Elementary in Keystone Oaks, Moon Area Middle School and Richard J. Hyde Elementary in Moon Area; Foster Elementary in Mt. Lebanon, Avalon Elementary in Northgate and Johnston Elementary in Wilkinburg.

"The purpose is to infuse technology for students into the classroom level," Ms. Baxter said.

In order to apply for Hands on Learning money, funded with state dollars, a school's principal must participate in one of the technology leadership academies, Ms. Baxter said.

At Paynter Elementary, four teachers, second-grade teachers Jodie Noel and Becky Myers, first-grade teacher Erin Cantwell and technology teacher Jennifer Petrilla, applied for a $10,000 grant last spring after learning about the program from their principal, Betty D. Taiclet.

The Baldwin-Whitehall School District contributed $2,500.

Through the program, the district got 34 hand-held computers, which are being used in first and second grades. About 67 children get a chance to work on the hand-helds, or palms, twice a week, improving their language skills.

"Technology is everywhere," Miss Petrilla said, explaining that the program helps level the playing field by placing technology in the hands of youngsters whose families don't have computers.

She said the young children were taught to handle the computers as though "this is your baby."

The Paynter teachers are using the hand-helds to teach language skills, including journal writing, and are experimenting with teaching math skills on them.

Mrs. Noel said the children were so enamored of the hand-helds that some asked for them when they wrote letters to Santa Claus.

The pupils are fascinated with how they can write something with the stylus and send it into someone else's computer.

They also learn to play games which teach them basic reading and writing skills.

"It is just fun,' said Sydney Yanchik, 7, a first-grader.

That's an attitude that makes Paynter Elementary teachers beam.