I am SO excited about this penpal exchange and I hope you are too!
Please note: If you didn’t fill out our Penpal Exchange form previously, I won’t be able to match you with a penpal–so sorry! But you can always put a post in the forum that you’re looking for one and see if you get any takers.
Please read all of the below carefully BEFORE peeking at the spreadsheet, as each step is important.
1. How to find your children’s penpals
The spreadsheet (link at the bottom of this page) is broken down by age.
Whether you have 1, 2, 3, or more children – look for your child’s name in their age group to find the penpal they have been matched with.
2. What to do after you locate your child
When you locate your child, go ahead and make a note of the name/address/other contact details for each of your children’s penpals.
After you have made note of their addresses, put an X in the very first column by your child’s/children’s names on the spreadsheet –the column that says “Mark X when seen.”
If you can tell that your child’s penpal hasn’t been “marked as seen” after one week (by July 1st), I’ve included mom email addresses so you can follow up with that person. Please email them directly and not me as I won’t be able to help with that aspect!
ALSO: Don’t make any other changes to the spreadsheet content!
3. When to send your letter
The first child listed in each penpal pair—the name above the other name, will send their letter FIRST. If this is your child, please aim to send this first letter by Wednesday, July 8th if at all possible.
IMPORTANT: After the first child in the pair has sent their letter, go back to the spreadsheet and in the second column called “Mark date when sent” by your child’s name, put the date that you sent your letter.
AFTER receiving the letter, the second child listed in each penpal pair on the spreadsheet will respond to the initial letter. Aim to do this within 1 week of receiving the letter if at all possible, which will enable both children to write and receive responses by the end of the summer.
IMPORTANT: After the second child has sent their response, go back to the spreadsheet and in the second column called “Mark date when sent” by your child’s name, put the date that you sent your response.
If you haven’t received a response or have any issues, I’ve included mom email addresses so you can follow up with that person. Please email them directly and not me as I won’t be able to help with that aspect!
And of course, if your children enjoy writing to each other, they can continue! But we are just committing to one letter per child for our club’s purposes.
4. What to include in your letter/card
If your child needs help to get their ideas flowing, here are a few possibilities:
- Tell about the members of your family.
- Where do you live and how long have you’ve lived there?
- What do you think is unique or special about living where you do?
- What are your favorite foods or traditional foods in that area?
- What’s the weather like where you live?
- What does school look like for you?
- What’s your favorite book?
- You could also include photographs or drawings!
A few more notes to keep in mind:
* I cannot change penpal assignments—so sorry! Unless I accidentally matched your child with their sibling, LOL, I won’t be able to make any changes. I did the best I could to organize them with the variety of ages and locations that we had submitted.
* Cards/letters should be sent in the name of the child.
* Write #readtheworld on your envelope so we know you are part of the group.
* You must send the same number of letters as children you registered. If you registered three children you’ll send three letters, and so on.
* I’m sure this goes without saying, but this list of addresses is for our penpal group only. No MLM/Business mailings, etc. Please help make this a success and have fun!