Sandy Hook Second Graders Meet

Danbury Pen Pals

 

By Tanjua Damon

Excitement and a bit of nervousness could be seen on the faces of second graders from Newtown and Danbury as they met for the first time in person May 19. The correspondence began in November and as the students found their pen pals it was like friendship at first sight.

The second graders from Sandy Hook corresponded with students from Roberts Avenue School and South Street School in Danbury. This is the second year for the pen pal program where students from both districts hope students learn from each other and see that the world is full of people, some similar and some different.

Sandy Hook teacher Gael Lynch enjoys the idea of students from nearby communities being able to communicate with each other and see the diversity among those who live in the United States.

“We can compare our two towns. We visit the center of town each year. Now this gives our students a chance to give others a flavor of what our town is about,” Ms Lynch said. “We don’t have as much diversity. It’s kind of like bringing the world to us.”

Roberts Avenue teacher Kirsten Lange also likes the idea of students seeing each other and noticing their similarities and differences as well as the opportunity for students to expand their writing skills.

“It just shows the students a whole new world. Some of the students have never left their neighborhoods,” Ms Lange said. “It gives them practice writing letters, which fits nicely with our curriculum.”

Caitlin FitzGerald and Carla Castro were all smiles as they sat in the classroom getting to know each other by filling out a getting-to-know-you sheet with questions about favorite subjects, food, holiday, drink, sport, and after-school activity.

“I think it’s really neat because you can get to know other kids from different schools and different towns,” Caitlin said.

“It’s exciting. Our teacher told us we were going to get to know about our pen pals and write to them,” Carla added.

The students had lunch together in the cafeteria. All the students enjoyed pizza and punch as well as cookies.

“I think it is absolutely wonderful to see the students interacting with each other,” Sandy Hook teacher Sally Calbo said. “You would have thought they were friends forever. It was really neat to see the smiles on their faces.”

Roberts Avenue teacher Kathy Hamilton explained that the Danbury students asked how many hours it was going to take to get to Newtown.

“The kids have been so excited. They have so much in common,” Ms Hamilton said. “When we said ‘Newtown’ they thought we were going really far.”

Ms Hamilton also found the program to be beneficial for the students’ educational experience with writing, editing, and publishing.

“It has a purpose. They know someone is going to be reading it,” Ms Hamilton said. “They don’t want to make mistakes. It’s meaningful.”

After lunch the students were able to play outside before the Danbury pen pals had to board the bus for the “long” trip home.