NEWS
Passing the torch! CHS teacher, students help connect pint-sized AL pen pals
April 7, 2011 — When a seven-year-old Megan
Arnold posted her first letter to a pen pal in 1984, she probably
believed that
letter would lead to a lifelong friendship. Most pen pals do. What's
remarkable about her pen pal story, however, is that not only have
the two stayed in contact over twenty-five years and become close
friends, Megan Arnold and her Minnesota friend, Lisa Teachout, are
now forging a stronger bond with the help of a new generation of pen
pals.
Ms. Arnold has joined forces with Mrs. Hansen's first grade class at Abram Lansing to launch a pen pal project that will connect the students to the first grade classmates of Lisa Teachout's daughter, who also happens to be named Megan. Megan Teachout and her classmates attend Forest Elementary School in North Crystal, Minnesota.
To kick off the project, Ms. Arnold and 10 of her senior Creative Writing/Detective Fiction students spent two hours this week with Mrs. Hansen and her students preparing to send their first batch of letters. Ms. Arnold first shared the joy of "snail mail" with the students, telling them how much fun it was to trade stories with her friend from the Midwest and how she would always look forward to seeing a letter in her mailbox from Lisa. She also shared souvenirs and photos from a trip she made to Minnesota last year to meet the friend she had only known through correspondence.
After listening to Ms. Arnold and studying a map to see the distance between New York and Minnesota, the first grade got to work on drafting their first letters, with the help of the high school students who offered ideas on what to write, described what the parts of a letter should be, and provided help with penmanship.
In May, the high school seniors and the first graders will reunite to do something few pen pals, including Megan and Lisa, probably ever dreamed of in 1984: they plan to videoconference with their pen pals via Skype.
