Pen Pal Recap!

I don't know about you, but ever since state testing (which happens to be the last time I wrote a post), things have been SO hectic on my end. It's crazy to think that we're finally in the LAST month of school. In NYC, the last day of school for students is June 24th. Between upcoming PD's and end of the year trips, I probably only have a few sessions left. So anyhow, here I am...finally having a chance to post!

I just wanted to share some feedback about the pen pal program that Kim (Activity Tailor) and I were able to team up and put together. She wrote a review based on feedback we recieved from SLP's who participated, so make sure to check out her post here. It was so nice looking through the survey and see what worked vs. what didn't. Overall, I'd say that it was success! Just as Kim mentioned, it was wonderful to see pictures of kids writing letters to their pen pals. My kids were matched with two students from Illinois and I have to say, it was a perfect match! When I first introduced the idea of a "Pen Pal" they had NO idea what it was (and even said "isn't that what e-mail is for?!"). Once they recieved the first letter, they realized how much they had in common and really enjoyed receiving/sending the letters. I was able to target social scripts with my student who has pragmatic goals, and written language skills with another.

my kiddos writing their letters.

As most people suggested in the survey, I agree that it would be great if the program started in September. This way, matches have more then enough time time to send and receive letters. With my matches, we only had a chance to receive/send two letters each. A lot had to do with testing, spring break, and the end of the school year. It was still an amazing experience for my kids (and I'm not going to lie, I loved getting letters in my mailbox haha).

Alina P. sent a picture of her student writing to a pen pal from Alaska (HOW COOL?!). I can't wait for Kim and I to get this going earlier in the year!! I will definitely try to get more students involved and look forward to more SLP's signing up. What do you think, would you be interested for next year?