To foster an interest in learning about people and places. To provide an opportunity for language experiences using the computer as a tool. Basic familiarity with the computer keyboard. It's exciting for them to sign their own letters, send them off, and then get replies from their penpals. You can establish penpal correspondence with classes of teachers you know or with grandparents.
Grandparents love to receive letters from and love to write to children.
If you use grandparents, be on the alert for those children who do not have grandparents to be their penpals so that you can employ parents or others to substitute for grandparents. Of course, most kindergartners and first graders do not have all the skills for letter writing. See the lesson Sentence Banners for directions on using this idea. Discuss with students things they would like to tell their penpals about themselves and things they would like to know about their penpals. Some sentences will have blanks so that the students can fill in personal information.