By: Tawny Dovico
Early February brought with it bubbling excitement for Valentine’s Day. The notion of making letters and cards, sending them, and also receiving them in a reciprocal gesture of friendship and fun, inevitably fostered fertile ground for our organic discovery of the postal system.
While reading Ezra Jack Keats’ story, A Letter to Amy, students began to stir with ideas about family and friends that they’d want to write to. “I wanna write to Granddad in England,” Freddie said. “I’m going to write to Sheldon,” Maccabee added. “I’ll send my letter to my dogs, Monkey and Pepper!” Lauren exploded. “I’m mailing a whole package to Sonia in Texas,” Ella beamed.
For five weeks the students worked on drafting their letters through words, symbols, and pictures. Additional read aloud stories, a video presentation, discussions, peer feedback, and teacher conferences allowed the students to compose letters that were meaningful, thoughtful, and authentic.
The day of our field trip, March 29th, served as a culminating event that celebrated our hard work in Writers’ Workshop, as well as our coin investigation in our math unit on money. Our walking field trip landed us at a fairly quiet Fairfax post office. Knowing that they were no longer “just kindergarteners,” but genuine paying customers, the kids waited in line patiently for their turn to stand tip toe at the counter. Each student respectfully presented their money and selected a stamp that suited their fancy. Tristan thought carefully about the postage for his letter to Switzerland and Olivia beamed proudly when she found just the stamps for her Canada-bound letter to Papa Richard. Finally, each student ceremoniously hoisted their special letter into an indoor drop box or the shiny blue mailboxes outside.
Our field trip not only allowed us to connect with our local community, but also celebrated the writing journey that we have been on since September 2006. Visit our in-class Post Office center and enjoy browsing through copies of the letters that we joyfully sent.
