Little Green Pen Pals Project
We invite our Gr. 1 to 4 Little Green Thumbs classrooms to take part in Little Green Pen Pals, which engages students in cultural exchange, inquiry-based learning and literacy, as well as opportunities to build friendships across Canada!
What is Little Green Pen Pals?
We want to match your LGT classroom with a LGT pen pal classroom located elsewhere in Canada! This cross-curricular, inquiry-based project started as a seed of an idea involving classrooms in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. Two classes matched up as pen pals, and did not know where in Canada their “pals” were located. Each class then took on the task of discovering where their pen pals were located– in what province and what city! To do this, students had to communicate information about their home province, city and school, and had the opportunity to learn about another part of Canada, too! Apply by November 23, 2018 to join the 2019 Little Green Pen Pals!
Correspond by using:
- Hand-written letters and/or drawings from your entire class or individual students
- Emails
- Photos
- Videos
- Skype sessions
What do you do?
- First, students create clues about their home province by researching relevant facts about its history and culture. Because internet searching can be a big task for younger students, lessons can be taught focusing on ‘key-word’ searching using kid-friendly websites (Kidrex is a good one), reading websites for information and taking notes.
- After students pinpoint their pen pals’ home province, now they must figure out the city. Your students must learn about their hometown in the process too. This could involve more research, brainstorming or a trip to city hall!
- Next, students discover more about each other by engaging in authentic communication with their pen pals about their lives and LGT gardens.
Timeline
- Enroll (by November 23, 2018). Let us know you want to participate by filling out the 3 minute sign-up form below.
- Connect (by December 10, 2018). We will send you more guidance for the project, along with a connection between you and your pen pal.
- Discover (January to June 2019). Let the learning begin!
Are you as excited as we are?
Fill out the short sign-up below by November 23, 2019 to join the full. You will be notified by December 10th with your teacher match, sample timelines, powerpoint presentation for your students and examples of pen-pal communication.
** This opportunity is only open to teachers registered with the Little Green Thumbs program **
