Editor's Note: JBFC is building ties that span continents through our pen pal program. Hundreds of students from around the U.S. are paired up with students or whole classes at JBFC's Joseph & Mary School. Volunteer Coordinator, Diana Booren, shares some of the experiences of one pen pal partnership with Imagine Early Learning Center in New York City.
At JBFC even our youngest students are loving their cross-continental friendships through Pen Pals! This year, we’ve partnered with two classes at Imagine Early Learning Centers to do pen pals with some of our very youngest grades. The students have sent class letters back and forth sharing about their classrooms, their schools, and some of their favorite activities and foods. It’s evident how much the students love getting the pictures from their pen pals.
Imagine classes made an “All About Us” Book and every
student drew a picture or attached a photograph to a page. They included a class picture and different
chapters, including “Some of our Favorite Things.”
The books traveled from New York to Tulsa to Tanzania, and JBFC
students created their own. Our students also drew lots of
details about Tanzania and JBFC including a page showing their school, their
playground, and even the plants and trees that grow on our farm. 
The books traveled again from Tanzania back to the Imagine
classes so the students could see our JBFC chapters that were added to the
book.
Imagine students and JBFC students also read the same story,
The Lion and the Mouse. Soon the classes
will be exchanging a video, so the students can really get a sense of each
other’s schools and environments.
This has been such a fun partnership this year! We love helping our earliest students to gain
a global perspective and make friends around the world.
Guest Blogger Diana Booren is JBFC's Volunteer Coordinator. You can reach Diana at dbooren@jbfc-online.org.
