Candice Manuel ELED 641 April 19, 2015 Easing the Transition to Middle School 5 th Grade Pen Pals

During my first week in the 5 th grade classroom it was brought to my attention that it was time to begin preparing all of the 5 th grade students for middle school. Choosing courses and instruments, learning how to unlock a lock, preparing for D.A.R.E. graduation, and other lessons and events that help prepare 5 th graders are prevalent this time of year. I want to ease the transition into middle school by connecting students with students in another school before the transition where there will be many new people. Implementing pen pals was in the classroom a way to integrate a resource to help strengthen school programs, student learning and development (Epstein, 2004). I began to think about the previous school I was at and the small population of students. There is only one fifth grade class. The students have been together since Kindergarten (students may know other children from participating in extra curricula's). I asked my cooperating teacher at my current school and the fifth grade teacher at my previous school if I could establish pen pal relationships between the two classes. Both teachers believed creating new relationships prior to the transition to middle school would be a great idea. Overview

Implementing pen pals into the classroom has been easy and a challenge at the same time. Collaborating with both teachers has been wonderful and they are both open to ideas and are willing to help me with anything. I suggested that each class will write every other week so students have time to complete their letters. With the fifth grade being so busy at my school and Student Interest Surveys missing from the other school the start date was slightly delayed. I began by giving all of the students a “Student Interest Survey.” Once all of the surveys were completed I paired students together by what types of extra curricular activities they were interested in, foods, places they want to visit, what they want to be when they grow up etc. Some students were difficult to match with another student because of their unique personalities and interests. Most all of the students were excited to receive their pen pals. I found the students who have difficulty completing work took pride in writing to their pen pal and were 100% engaged. My hope for the students who are apprehensive about writing is once their pen pal writes back to them the task of writing a letter will become easier and fun. Project Description

 Social Skills  Helps create empathy and mutual concern as 5 th grade students enter the adolescent stage. Students in the adolescent stage can sometimes become egocentric. Students need to ask their pen pals questions and not focus on only themselves.  Helps the process of finding common bonds with another student  Guides introverted students to collect their thoughts and write them down without hesitation  Patience  Waiting for a response from a pen pal helps to develop the ability to wait for gratification. Receiving letters from pen pals can take a week or longer in some cases. Receiving a letter delays gratification of something positive. (Fraser-Thill) Reasons to Integrate Pen Pals in a 5th Grade Classroom

 Perspective Talking  Students are able to learn other perspectives of students who are not in their school and support each other with transitioning into middle school.  Writing Skills  Many 5 th grade students have access to cell phones and instant messaging applications. When the students use these devices to have conversations they neglect the use of punctuation, capitalization, proper sentence structure, and use acronyms as “LOL,” “S.A” instead of “Essay.”  Provides authentic literacy practice (McMahan & Tracy, 2014) (Fraser-Thill) Reasons to Implement Pen Pals in a 5th Grade Classroom Cont’d.

 Students need to be eased into the middle school transition  Reduces student concerns and eases the transition to middle school before meeting new people from several different elementary schools  Creates new positive peer relationships  New type of academic rigor (Niesen & Wise, 2004)  Builds a supportive school community to respect all learners  The community not only means the neighborhoods and people where the students are located, but neighborhoods and people outside of the students everyday lives  All communities influence students learning and development (Epstein, 2004) (National Education Association, 2011) Benefits of Pen Pals

These two students were parried together based on their interests in Xbox and Minecraft. I also thought about how the student from the other school wrote about his goal to make new friends and my students social behaviors during school. Pairing Students Together

I paired these two students together because of their interests in horses, drawing, and chorus. I added one other student to this pair because there is still one Student Interest Survey missing from the other school. Once I receive the survey I will pair the other student with her own pen pal. Although they did love working together writing to the student at the other school. Pairing Students Together Cont’d.

This student has showed a passion for writing to a real person and created a well written letter. Typically encouraging this student to complete work is a challenge because he is not interested in the content. The Writing Stage

The Writing Stage Cont’d. The two students paired with one from the other school collaborated well together to create a well written letter. Although the students were not given their own pen pal the embraced the situation and are eager to learn about another student they will meet in middle school.

References Epstein, J. (2004) School, Family, and community partnerships. Educational Leadership, Retrieved from Fraser-Thill, R. Benefits of having a pen pal: Having a pen pal can promote healthy development. About Parenting. Retrieved April 12, McMahan, R., Tracy, K. (2014). What will sixth grade be like? A pen pal project to ease the transition to middle school. Reading Matters Teaching Matters. Retrieved April 10, Like.pdf Like.pdf National Education Foundation. (2011). Family-school-community partnerships 2.0 collaborative strategies to advance student learning. Priority Schools Campaign. Retrieved April 10, 2015, from Niesen, V., Wise, P. (2004). Transition from elementary to middle school: Strategies for educators. National Association of School Psychologists. Retrieved April 10,