As my students in cycle 2 & 3 were beginning to write on their own in English, I decided that it would be a fun and meaningful project if they had a penpal!

 

Many of them were insecure about their writing therefore I found students who wrote similar to them so that they would feel more confident as they exchanged letters. We then began our correspondance with students who were in French as a Second Language in Manitoba. They had to practise their French writing while we had to practise our English for C3. 

 

As you can tell, students in grades 4, 5, & 6 were extremely excited about sending their letters. The best part was learning our penpal's name considering most of them were extremely English (Rider, Riley, Parker, Chase). Students thought their names were so different!

 

A month later we received a response! Students bragged about their penpal and many even said they would be friends with them if they attended the same school. 

 

We continue to write to one another & have built quite a strong relationship with all our new friends from Swan River!