Each student and teacher at Ellison has a pen-pal from Uganda! Ellison students began writing letters last spring. When some of our Ellison teachers visited Uganda to deliver books this summer they also hand delivered our letters. The Ugandan kids were ecstatic to receive letters from their American friends. I've been told that they carried their letters with them everywhere and cherished everything about them!
Mrs. Siela gifted each Ellison classroom with pictures of our Ugandan pen-pal class. It is neat to look at that picture and see what school is like for our friends at New Times School in Uganda. Even more exciting Mrs. Siela delivered pen-pal letters back to us! It was eye opening to read what our Ugandan friends had to say about themselves and life in Uganda. We learned quite a bit about the culture differences between America and Uganda. Have your child share some culture differences they learned about with you! It was sad to see that several of our Ugandan friends have MUCH less than us, but encouraging to see that they are still able to thrive in many ways. The school our Ugandan pen-pals attend, New Times School, is a huge blessing to our pen-pals. It is a private school and many children only attend because they are sponsored by American families (most right here in St. Joe!). If you are interested in learning more about how you can sponsor some of our Ugandan pen-pals please follow the link below.
http://rescuedreaders.org/make-a-connection-make-a-difference/contributors/
After spending a couple days discussing culture differences and learning about our Ugandan pen-pals we got to write them back! We also took pictures of ourselves with the pen-pal letters we received to include with the letters we are sending. :) Our letters will be on their way to Uganda shortly as they travel with a U.S. friend who spends several months in Uganda each year.
If you haven't already heard about the cool video we watched on the first day of school, ask your child about it. The video highlights the journey of the books Ellison sent to our friends at New Times School. We got to see many of our Ugandan friends as well as their parents and teachers in the video. We also got to hear and see a beautiful thank you from the school's head master, Grace. Check out this short, heart warming video that we watched the first day of school.
Also, look for your child's letter from their Ugandan pen-pal in their bag tonight! And check out the pictures we sent by following the "McDowell Pics" link on our class webpage.
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