Showing posts with label Pen Pals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pen Pals. Show all posts

New Year Resolutions, Pen Pals and MORE!

Day 2 back to work is complete and I have to say- we are having a great week so far! Today we were able to complete our New Year Resolution Writing and Craftivity. 

The kids had a great time with this activity. First we discussed what a resolution was. Then we made a chart of resolution ideas for school AND for home.
Nothing fancy this time around. My on-the-spot drawings have a lot to be desired-BLAH. But, you get the idea. 
After our class discussion, my kiddos completed their own bubble maps of their resolution ideas.
Then, they wrote about one school and one home resolution they wanted to achieve this year.They had to include details about how they were going to accomplish their resolution too. Here is our finished New Year Board:
After I take down this bulletin board, I am going to bind all the kids' resolution writings together into a class book. At the end of school year, we will revisit their writings and see if any of them were able to achieve their goals. I guess you could think of it as a mini time capsule project. 

Today we also got a very exciting delivery to our classroom. Right before school was out, an awesome package arrived from our pen pals!!! The kids were so happy to hear from them. Look what was inside the box....
Halloween ghost letters, Thanksgiving letters and turkey lollipops and holiday mail!!! The kids were thrilled!


And finally, I want to give a shout out to my own kid. I am so proud of my third grader. He started school yesterday and was given a book report mobile project to be completed by next week. Over winter break, he read a biography of Jackie Robinson. He came home from school and wanted to get started on the mobile right away. The teacher's directions for the project were to have parents help their child complete the mobile. However, I have to say, my son did this on his own. The ideas are all his! I helped him draw the shapes and we had fun picking out different fonts for his facts! I think he did an incredible job!
I just needed to brag a little about my own kid! I would be thrilled as a teacher to have one of my students turn in a project like this. 






Pen Pals and August Currently

I remember as a little kid, having a pen pal that lived in New Jersey. We wrote letters and sent pictures to one another for a couple of years. I would get so excited when the mailman would deliver her letters.   Last year I paired up with my son's second grade teacher, at another school, so the kids could have pen pals and practice their letter writing. The kids LOVED it and could not get the letters back fast enough! We sent pictures and little gifts to the class when we delivered the letters.So, when I saw this opportunity pop up for my class, I had to jump on it! I am SO excited to be joining Kelley at the Teacher Idea Factory for her pen pal pairing! She has been kind enough to let everyone who is interested, sign up by Sunday, August 12th, and then she will pair you up with another class for the year. Click on the picture below to take you to her post about signing up.



The brilliant Kelley has also created an awesome Pen Pal packet with ideas on how to get started writing letters and some great ideas to keep it fun for the kids. The packet is on sale at her TpT store through the weekend. I am grabbing my copy today!

 I am linking up with Farley at Oh! Boy Fourth Grade for this month's currently. I hear it is:

Have a great weekend everyone! I will be posting classroom pictures next week!