22 First Grade Pen Pals

We all know that I love the mail...I'm sure that you are all abundantly aware of that by this point.  I also tend to talk about the weather a lot when it is nice.  There is a perk to being in NC when the weather is nice as I can have the windows open in the house...this means that I can hear the mail truck coming from down the block.  While the thought of knowing that the mail is nearby is exciting...I shockingly do not jump up and go out and meet the truck...ask Alan...I really don't...I wait until it is a polite distance down the road and then promptly head out to see what surprises were left in the box.

About a month or so ago I received a package of letters from a classroom of first graders in Michigan.  My friend Tina (who is the art teacher at the school) had sent me a note and asked if I'd be a willing pen pal to 20+ first graders after they had seen my pictures from Chinese New Year in Singapore.  What better way to get a new group of people excited about the mail???  And seriously, it meant 20+ letters and a package in the mail for me...how could I say no?

The letters were wonderful.  Tina had the kids make them into cards so there was artwork on the cover of each.  The letters themselves were written on the lined paper you used when you were in elementary school.  They were obviously practicing their letter writing as they were all properly dated, had an appropriate header, and a very polite closing.  The best part of each letter was what they had written.  They asked a lot of questions but also told me about themselves in the way that only that age group can.  Now, I'm not around many kids these days so I was pretty impressed with the thought that went into the letters...the comments as well as their questions.  I had a blast reading through each of them.

What was far more fun was responding to each of the kids.  I spent a morning drafting letters to them making sure that I answered each of their questions.  It was interesting because I had to really think about the letters as I wrote them.  These kids were practicing letter writing so I wanted to be sure to use proper grammar and sentence structure (clearly not something I am worried about in my blog or when I just jot a card or note to a friend).  I also wanted to make sure I was using words that were part of their vocabulary.  I'm all for challenging kids so was less worried about it from that angle and more worried that I'd dumb it down for some reason. 

It was interesting...
These amazing letters that were part of a class project for them gave me a chance to look at things a little differently.  It has been a really long time since I've looked at anything through the eyes of a first grader.  What began as my just returning letters...seemingly a perk for me and my love of mail...ended up being so much more fun.  This is why I love the mail!