What happens when second graders and high schoolers become pen pals for an entire school year? Pure magic.
Mrs. Mast’s Orchard View second graders and Dr. Keller’s CHS Honors Pre-AP English 1 students spent the year exchanging letters, sharing their worlds, and building real friendships across the district. The second graders wrote about their monarch butterfly study and a field trip to a basketball game. The 9th graders shared life as students, musicians, and athletes. Every time a new batch of letters arrived, both classrooms lit up.
One second grader requested an origami spider — and her pen pal folded one and sent it right along. Another student shared his love of unicorns, and his pen pal filled the next letter with so many unicorns it made his whole day.
The year wrapped up with a meet-up at Orchard View and a trip to the zoo, where students worked together to observe animals, collect data, and write stories side by side.
“We couldn’t even stop talking,” said Chaitra, a 2nd-grade student, about her pen pal, Gabi
“It was the best day of my life,” said Miles, another 2nd-grade student.
One student even asked his pen pal if he could come over to play the next day, and if they could go fishing together sometime.
Beyond the writing skills both groups strengthened, these students will carry something even bigger with them: the memory of the year they made a brand-new friend.
