Mails for Kids

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before I became a work-at-home Mom, I worked as a classroom teacher for more than 10 years. I thought I’d grow old doing that but fate has a different path for me to follow. Majority of the 10 years I spent teaching was spent dealing with middle school students. But my most memorable, and maybe most fun year as a teacher happened when I spent a school year teaching grade 1 pupils. Yes, 6 – 7 years old students. At first, I didn’t think I would last a week with them but I did…for a year, well, school year. I had to totally revamp my teaching strategies because there is a big difference in approach when teaching grade 6 and grade 1. What may be fun for kids in grade 6 may not be as fun to the grade 1 kids.

To say that my one year experience with these little kids was exciting would be an understatement. It was beyond exciting because kids at that age are unpredictable. They also have a very short attention span as short as the attention span of, well, 6 year olds. My teaching strategy changed dramatically because of that because it takes so much more than stern looks to keep them focused in the lesson. Almost everything had to be hands on or nothing will be accomplished. I tried different activities to keep them interested in the lesson but the most fun activity I did with them was probably the ‘pen pals for kids’activity. It was an activity where my pupils exchanged correspondence with kids their age. The activity was coordinated with a friend who was teaching grade 1 in another school. The kids were so into the activity and they couldn’t wait to get their letter from their ‘pen pals’.

Since I am homeschooling the little one, I am thinking of doing something similar with her. It would be a good fit for her since she doesn’t get to meet as many friends compared to those in regular schools. But unlike when I was teaching, I don’t have any contact to coordinate with…until I came across Buddy Notes. It’s a website made for kids [and parents alike] who are finding ways to make mail for kids fun. One of the highlights of my little one’s day is our short trip to the mail box everyday. She always watches for the mail lady and I’ve seen how happy she is whenever she sees her name in the mail so I’m pretty sure that she will be thrilled once she gets a mail especially written for her.