"Aloha", Hoosier! A Pen-Pal Activity in the Third Grade

Ray, a preservice teacher in Indiana, and Maxine, a 35-year teaching veteran in Hawai'i, set up a pen-pal program for the third grade students in their respective classrooms, 4,000 miles apart. This pen-pal program, used in conjunction with children's literature and community and technolog...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial studies and the young learner Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 12 - 14
Main Authors Callahan, Raymond, Chan, Kam Chi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published National Council for the Social Studies 2007
Subjects
Elementary School Teachers
Grade 3
Hawaii
Indiana
Intercultural Communication
Learning Activities
Letters (Correspondence)
Multicultural Education
Preservice Teachers
Social Studies
Teacher Collaboration
Teaching Methods
Indiana
Hawaii
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Summary:Ray, a preservice teacher in Indiana, and Maxine, a 35-year teaching veteran in Hawai'i, set up a pen-pal program for the third grade students in their respective classrooms, 4,000 miles apart. This pen-pal program, used in conjunction with children's literature and community and technology resources, brought about memorable learning experiences. In this article, the authors focus on Ray's perspective, how he used pen-pal communications to enhance his third grade students' understanding of the concept of community, and to deepen their appreciation of community resources. The authors give a brief overview of Ray's experiences of setting-up the pen-pal program. They present three pen-pal communications that Ray used to make the study of community exciting and meaningful to young learners. These are: (1) culture boxes; (2) letters and more questions; and (3) postcards, and gratitude. They also present some concluding remarks on the use of pen-pal communications in an elementary setting. (Contains 9 notes.)
ISSN:1056-0300