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Students Participate In Valentines Day Letter Exchange

Fletcher Elementary School students paint and write Valentines letters to students across the country. P-J photos by Jordan W. Patterson

Exposure to communities outside the city of Jamestown is typically limited for elementary students. However, a recent Valentines Day-themed exchange connected Fletcher Elementary School students to others across the country.

At Fletcher, Kara Benson and Jayne Marsh, kindergarten teachers, signed up for a collaborative program that involves more than 500 other school across the country. On Tuesday, students in both classes were designing valentines with finger paint that outlined a heart. Additionally, each class wrote a letter that will be sent to 24 other schools that are participating. In the letters, students described their respective climates, favorite foods, favorite subjects and favorite books to the other classes.

Benson and Marsh believe the students have begun to truly grasp the idea that the world is bigger than Jamestown.

“The kids don’t get the opportunities to sometimes travel or to see other places so with this they can experience what other children are doing in schools (in other states),” Marsh said.

Christi Thebeau, a first-grade teacher from Southern Missouri, started the exchange, curating interest since the first year that saw 100 participating classes. Last year, there were 198 classes that exchanged letters.

More than 500 schools are participating in this program to link students together in dozens of different states.

The groups are comprised of 21 to 25 classes, who send valentines and letters to the other classes in their group.

Benson and Marsh agreed that at the kindergarten level, students don’t necessarily learn a lot about geography or other states. Both classes recently finished a climate section of their curriculum which complemented the current project.

After corresponding with another school, students will then mark on a map of the U.S. where their letters are being sent in order to better understand the scope of the project.

Benson’s class received a letter from New Jersey while Marsh’s class received one from Texas on Tuesday.

“They’re pretty excited,” Benson said.

The goal is to have all letters sent and received by Feb. 14.

“They can at least see that there are other states and know that kids are doing similar things to what we’re doing from farther away,” Benson added.

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