Edmonds pen pals meet their mail matches

By Eric Stevick

Herald Writer

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — For months, they shared stories about their families and the events in their lives, using the centuries-old medium of pencil and paper for their dispatches.

The letters, written by third-graders in the Edmonds School District, touched on church, favorite books, younger siblings, pets, latte jingles and, as one boy wrote, "cool stuff like monster trucks, police, detectives, boats, military stuff and a lot more."

For teachers Catherine Barker and Sharon Fortin, letter writing need not be a lost art. To them, it is a wonderful chance to practice writing in a relevant and rewarding way.

Borrowing the idea from a colleague, Barker, from Cedar Way Elementary School in Mountlake Terrace, and Fortin, from the Maplewood Co-op, an Edmonds school temporarily located in Alderwood, infused several academic disciplines into their students’ correspondence.

They wanted to see the students graph information, learn geography and hone writing skills. Along the way, the students formed images of their newfound friends by words alone.

On Wednesday, they came face to face for the first time.

"The grins that they had when they first saw each other were just magical," Fortin said.

There was some suspense. The teachers required the students to ask their pen pals about identifying characteristics in their letters. Each class gathered information about their pen pal’s height, as measured by 2-centimeter cubes, along with eye color and hair color. Some students drew pictures about what their pen pals might look like. In some cases, the composites were remarkably accurate.

A few students on Wednesday tried to find their pen pals based solely on the physical characteristics they had compiled.

"She didn’t tell me she had curly hair," said Shelbey Sanford of Cedar Way as she surveyed pen pal Rachel Spence over a picnic sack lunch.

"She has such beautiful handwriting. It’s just perfect," said Rachel, who was anxious to meet a pen pal who had written about her fish, hamster and seven dogs.

Katie Hamburg of Maplewood became increasingly prolific in her letters to Abria Jones. Her last letter was six pages. She also made a concerted effort to give details about events in her life.

"It’s really boring to get a letter that’s all questions," she said.

Ginny Turner of Maplewood corresponded with Rachel Hoffman first, and later added a pen pal from New Zealand.

Students in the Cedar Way class also exchanged letters with students in Surrey, British Columbia, and the Asian country of Bhutan.

"We really wanted them to think globally," Barker said.

For Jake Lagucik of Maplewood and Michael O’Neill, the letters were a chance to console each other when their dogs died and to find several other parallels in their lives.

"It was just great to finally meet him," O’Neill said. "You really do feel like you know them."

You can call Herald Writer Eric Stevick at 425-339-3446 or send e-mail to stevick@heraldnet.com.