At 4-5 years of age, young children are in a critical period of emotional and social development. They also begin to show more independence and self-awareness. At the same time, they are curious to explore the world and make new friends.
Children are growing up in an ever-changing environment. With the development of science and technology, letters are not popular nowadays, the keyboard instead of the pen, the electronic screen instead of the letter paper, the timecost of people’s connection has become lower and lower, you can hear the voice of distant relatives and friends always as long as you have a smartphone. The culture of letter writing has a long history in China, so we decided to let the children experience the charm of “slow” during an important growth stage.
As the year 2023 draws to a close, K2’s little lions pick up their pen to write their first letter and make their first pen pal: the K2 children from Canadian International School Kunshan in Jiangsu Province.
Ms. Moore show the lions about the names, photos and school environment of the students in the other school. Then the lions chose one of them as a pen pal according to their own preferences. As Christmas approached, the little Lions decided to make their first letter a Christmas card.
Ms. Moore taught the little lions to write words on the cards: Dear Friend, Merry Christmas! Sign off their names at the end of the letter. Although the writing are crooked and not good-looking enough, their emotions are the most sincere.
The second step, teachers prepared a lot of holiday themed stickers for the little lions, so that they could use their imagination to decorate their Christmas cards. Their cute little hands tried to tear apart the adhesive of the sticker many times, but did not succeed, some children continued to try, some little lions were a little hasty. Teachers did not help them to tear immediately , but patiently guide them to find ways to do it. It’s better to teach people to fish.
At the end, children attach the recipient’s information: address, name, and done! The little lions carefully and solemnly handed their letters to the postman, we can see excitement and anticipation from their eyes .
Finally, on Monday this week, the little lions received the first reply that had flown more than 1,900 kilometers from their pen pals. They warmed the hearts of the children in this winter . They opened the envelopes very carefully, and refuse others touch it, for fear of accidentally tearing the small pen pals’ letters. If the parents were there, I believe they would see themselves from their childhood.
The little lions looked at their postcard for a while before they began to communicate with each other, and even some made a story for the sticker on the cards. If they could not read the words, they ran to ask Ms. Moore:” what is written on it?” Children’s thirst for knowledge becomes more intense in specific situations.
This is the first time that the little lions try to write letters to people they have never met, which is a chance for them to explore the world， establish different emotional connections, and expand the circle of friends. This memory may be hidden in the depths of mind, but it will be good at their growth. it may suddenly emerge in the future when they are a grown-up, and at some point, become a smile.
We will know more and learn more words to share our stories and feelings.
Although we are in different cities, with different languages and cultures, but we will embrace each other and make progress together.
