Write Around The World!

Funded Oct 15, 2017

All the students and staff at Miles Elementary School send you great appreciation for funding our pen pal program, Write Around the World! Your contribution made it possible for our students to exchange cards and their own drawings about things that are important to them with children in other continents. There were several teaching moments for our students in California as the environment and daily realities are very different from those in their pen pal's city. The students were very excited to learn things like how their pen pals live, what they do at school, special holidays, and who comprises their family and loved ones. Your donation is doing such an amazing job bringing together, not only children from different backgrounds, but also children with and without special needs.

In one Miles classroom, all the students that participated have Autism or Asperger's. A couple of the students are non-verbal, so drawing and writing on the postcards allowed them to share who their heroes are, like Peppa Pig. Additionally, some of the children in the countries we are writing to also have special needs, so your donation has a direct positive, global impact on so many amazing children. Another special moment we want to share took place when each student at Miles received their very first postcard from their new friend around the world. They were so excited to learn their name and read their message. The students began wondering about their pen pal right away- like what foods they eat and trying to guess whether their pen pal is a boy or a girl based on the name. They worked intently and with much enthusiasm to send a message and unique artwork in return. Still another special moment arose when one class was asked to take a group picture holding their cards. All the students, who are usually very active, listed to their class staff while they arranged students so that everyone could be seen in the photo and none of the postcards were blocked off! One student said he wanted to show them a dance move. While the photos were being taken, he said, " I'll show them the Dab," and came out doing the Dab in the picture.

We are hoping to continue sharing with our new friends around the world until the school year ends. As an expansion to sharing thru art and the themes of the postcards, we have started working on sharing a dance done by the Miles students with dances from their pen pals. We send you a wholehearted thank you for making a difference in bringing children together thru art.

Kindly,

The students, teachers, staff, and Ms. Liz”

With gratitude,

Ms. Liz