You've Got Mail

My students are starting to get really excited about the letters they wrote last week. One of our fifth grade Ohio LA Curriculum indicators is writing business letters, and my students wrote to Ohio colleges. This week they have been starting to receive replies, and they are lovin' it! Monday a girl receive a pennant from Columbus State (thanks Columbus State!). You know what she was most excited about, though? In the business letter they sent to her, they called her "Miss," and she just thought that was the best thing since sliced bread! Today, another girl received an envelope from The Ohio State University, Lima Campus. She acted just a tad disappointed because she did not get a pennant, but she did receive some very cool 6X8 color postcards promoting the university. I tried to play them up by saying she could send them to other people and write letters on them, but I don't think she was buying it. I am hanging on to the items the students get back until this spring so we can create an " I Can Go to College" wall to display everything. This will piggyback on our science and social studies teacher's unit about jobs, market society, and supply and demand.

This is when the students see the value of what they do in school; when they get something back from the "real world." This is authentic writing - it's what adults do in the course of going about their everyday lives. Now I just wish I could get them to realize that adults spend a lot of time waiting in line and that they don't push, chatter, kick, sing, whistle, or act silly while they are doing it . . . Sigh.
I am posting a picture of another dotee I made this weekend. My husband thinks it is ugly and a total waste of time, but I think it's rather attractive even if its face is lop-sided. I put a lot of work into embroidering the face and doing the beading and embellishment. Just in case you're not sure, it's a cat. Grin. I don't know what I made it for or what I'm going to do with it, but here it is.