Pen pals meet face-to-face

December 20, 2019

Grandville third graders met their pen pals at a celebration at Grand View Elementary at the end of the Global Read Aloud

Every fall since 2010, students from around the world read the same book as part of the Global Read Aloud. This year, to tie in with the annual event, south elementary librarian Sarah McGillicuddy decided it would be fun for each third grade student to be paired with another pen pal in the district, and write about the book to each other.

“After brainstorming a bit, we thought it would be fun to do a get together at the end, so the students could meet their pen pals.” McGillicuddy said.

More than 300 students were involved from Grand View, South, Central, Cummings, East and Century Park elementary buildings. This year, students read “Stella Diaz Has Something to Say” during library time.

“The story of Stella Diaz is about a girl who struggles with fitting in and finding her voice and confidence, something that I think we can all relate to on some level,” McGillicuddy said. “It is always great when students can see themselves in the stories they are reading.”

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Hannah Lentz

A 2017 graduate of Grand Valley State University and a lifelong teacher’s kid, Hannah Lentz has worked as a journalist in and outside the Grand Rapids area for more than five years. After serving as editor-in-chief at the GVSU student newspaper, Hannah interned at the Leelanau Enterprise where she learned a lot about community journalism. In addition to her work for School News Network, Hannah has worked as a freelance blogger in the furniture industry, focusing on design trends, and as a social media manager for World Medical Relief in Detroit.