Hello, parents and guardians!
Writing is an important pillar in your child’s early literacy, but it can be challenging to come up with fun activities at home to practice with your child. Library Pen Pals is an opportunity to engage with your Grade 1 child in independent writing while also introducing them to the joy of sending and receiving letters to friends.
How to participate
- Print off our first letter to you and fill out the form on the back side with your child's name and mailing address. You can also pick up this form at any library location.
- Encourage your child to write a response to the letter on the other side of the form. This is a great opportunity to practice both penmanship and sentence structure.
- Drop off your letter and completed form at any library location. Be sure to ask for one of our special stamps for your letter before you put it in the library pen pals mailbox.
- In 2-4 weeks you will receive a response letter in the mail, including a new prompt for your next letter and some fun activities to do with your child.
- This back-and-forth exchange will last for five letters, after which your child will receive a certificate to celebrate their writing progress.
- Sign up soon. Space is limited.
We will not use your information for anything other than the sending and receiving of letters to and from your child for the Library Pen Pals program.
Why Grade 1?
Letter writing is a great way to practice writing for an intended audience and work on spelling, grammar, and penmanship. We have limited library pen pals to Grade 1 students as the Ontario Curriculum has specific expectations for students in this grade that align with the goals for this early literacy program. We want to be sure our participants are able to fully engage with the program!
