The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Pen Pal
Guidelines for the Activities

THERE’S ONE SURE-FIRE WAY for kids to make this great big world seem a little smaller: find themselves pen pals.

Pen pals bridge the gap of geography via good, old-fashioned snail mail. While pen pals share details of their days, each one might also learn about a faraway place or another culture.

A true lesson in diversity, everything about a pen pal’s correspondence initially seems different. Different paper, different envelopes, different stamps, different expressions, sometimes even a different language. But the more children write back and forth, the better they learn another important lesson. Among children, and people in general, there are far more similarities than differences. As pen pals become friends, they realize the distance between them is far less than they ever imagined. Which does indeed make it feel like a small world, after all.

MATERIALS

∗ paper or stationery

∗ pencil

∗ envelope

∗ stamp

HOW-TO

Encourage children to exchange letters with their pen pals on a regular basis—say, every month or so.

Variations

For Scribblers: Scribblers can start by exchanging mail with someone familiar, such as an out-of-town cousin or a grandparent.

For Spellers: Emerging writers will enjoy sending short notes and pictures to a long-distance friend.

For Storytellers: Storytellers can write all about their interests, and ask probing questions to find out what appeals to their pen pals.

For Scholars: Scholars can locate their pen pal’s neighborhood on a globe, a map, or via the World Wide Web to learn more information about them and figure out new questions to ask.