Pen Pals

Earlier this year, a fellow teacher asked if I wanted to be pen pals with his class.  I thought this would be a fun and great way to teach my students how to write letters.  We have written back and forth 3 or 4 times each and the students just can't get enough of it.  

We are writing to another first grade class, which helps the students relate easily.  There are often times that students write about something I have no clue about, but they always know what the student is referencing.  Thank goodness!  This is one of the many reasons I love writing these letters.  It is ALL about the students!  They write what they want and often add their own opinions about the topic!  I love seeing this side of my students!

Of course, I need to relate this back to the standards in some regard, so my main goal with these letters is working on conventions.  My students now know what a comma and question mark is.  In every letter, they must start with a greeting followed by a comma.  At first, they would write a period because that is what was most natural to them.  Now, I often catch them using commas in other writing assignments.  Granted they are not always used properly, but at least they are trying!!  

As for question marks, well, they knew what they were, but never really appropriately used them.  I would say that now most students use them correctly at least 75% of the time or at least can recognize when they should have used one before I ask them to check it.

All and all, I am loving this project and plan to continue and start earlier in the school year next time!  I can't explain how much this has motivated my students!!

Here are some sample letters from a while back!

Dear Jessica, I like to read books.  My favorite book is Magic Tree House.  Did you do Jump Rope for Heart?  Do you have a dog?  From, Aspen

Dear Aleah, No, I don't have an iPod.  I like dogs.  What is your favorite movie?  My favorite movie is Sponge Bob.  Your friend, Mya

Dear Jonathon:  I used to have a dog.  Her name was Dolly.  I do not like rain.  What do you do when you are sad?  Your friend, Damian

State Testing

Our school started our state testing this week.  Although testing does not take place in my classroom, we are all very aware that testing has begun.  A few weeks back, I read a post somewhere (can't find it now), about how the primary students who are not testing provide the intermediate students with a small note on each of their testing days.  I thought this would be fun for my students to do with our 5th grade reading buddies.  Since I couldn't find my original source, I decided to create my own.  Here is what I came up with...

My students were so excited to complete this project!  They surprised me with their good wishes for their reading buddies.  I just assumed they would write something like 'good luck' or 'do your best.'  Instead, here are a few messages my students will be delivering tomorrow morning...

I still haven't come up with the second card we will use, but on their final day of testing my students will deliver a card with the saying "Yay! You are O"fish"ally done!"  I will attached yummy swedish fish to this tag.  I sure hope this will inspire these kids to work hard and relax during their testing!!!

Colleen