The idea that just because we like soccer doesn’t mean we can’t be friends with Grayson who likes to play rugby. Differences are what makes friendships dynamic and even though they require more work at times they are worth it in the end.
During this process, we wrote to a school in Greece to see if they would be interested in becoming our friends using something we read about it in our reading time called Pen Pals. We wrote to 5 schools and we were excited when we got a reply from Pinewood International school in Thessalonikis, Greece.
Pinewood School, Greece
We found a year 3 class with similar numbers and we spent weeks learning how to write letters, practising by writing letters to our parents for our student-led conferences.
Hunter: Making friends from other places is not like making friends at school, you can't just go play with them.
Amelia: You have to ask questions and answer their questions to find out more information so you can talk to them to get to know them.
Patrick: Greece is a nice hot place and writing to my penpal can help me ask questions that i wanted to know about Greece from last year.
We had to ask questions, as well as provide some information about ourselves so the person who got our letter would be able to start to get to know us.
Finally, the day arrived after drafting, editing and publishing our letters they were in Whaea Angel’s trusty hands. The holidays came and went and we were eagerly waiting for their letters.
Introduction Letter
We had to introduce ourselves, and ask questions, this was tricky as we didn’t have any names or friends yet, the letters were going to Pinewood where their year 3 class teacher would match our letters with children in her class.
On Tuesday Whaea Angel received the pot of gold the letters arrived and boy were they filled with some also answers and questions of their own.
Micah: My penpal wants to know if it is illegal to walk around in bare feet in NZ?
Levi: My penpal wants to know what games I like to play, I wonder if he plays fortnite?
Anna: My penpal wants to know what I like to do?
Amaya: My penpal pointed out I didn’t tell them if I was a girl or a boy, better get onto that.
Tessa: Do we have any 2 story classrooms? Was one of the questions my penpal asked. I wonder what type of school their looks like?
Grayson 2nd reply
Grayson 2nd reply
Maxwell 2nd reply
Tessa 2nd reply
Tessa 2nd reply
Tessa 2nd reply
Zoe 2nd reply
Curriculum Links: Social Science, Literacy, Geography.
Key Competencies: Relating to Others, Using Language Texts and Symbols, Managing Self, Thinking and Participating and Contributing.
