thank you

Here are our final letters to our pen pals. Thank you!

they're real people!

Along with the books (see below), I had one last surprise for my students. During the last week of school, we were going to meet some of our pen pals! Unfortunately none of them were able to visit us in person, but thanks to technology, we were able to FaceTime with about half of them and put a face to a name (and see that I was not writing all the letters!). The students would constantly ask me about their pen pals so it was funny to see how shy they got once they actually had the chance to talk to them. While written correspondence is a special way of communicating, the visual aspect of videochatting really gave a true picture of everyone's personalities and enthusiasm. I hope our pen pals had as much fun as we did! The kids kept asking if we could call back.

special delivery

The school year is coming to an end, and so must the pencil pal project. The past few months have been heartwarming for me both as a teacher and friend, and I am so thankful for everyone involved. In addition to helping my students' reading and writing skills, our pencil pals have taught us about new places, occupations, animals, etc. And despite all of the differences between us, whether they be location, age, or dessert preference, we have been able to develop some pretty sweet friendships.

Our pen pals were thoughtful enough to send the students off with some summer reading. A few picked their favorite books from childhood; others picked ones based on the student's interests. Each one was perfect, and I've never seen my students so eager to read! I even saw one of them taking his book with him to recess. Every child deserves a good book, and our pen pals made that happen. Thank you for your generosity!