Letters to First Dog Inspire First Graders
Plenty of people write to the President, his wife and children, but one Harker Gr. 1 class is writing to Bo, the first dog. Students in Rita Stone’s Gr. 1 homeroom combined current events, social studies, creative writing and character development into letters to the newest resident of the White House.
“Before we wrote, I made sure the students knew who our president is, where he and his family live,” said Stone. “Then, talking about such a famous four-footed member of the first family really captured their interest,” she added. “I used the interest to work in a lesson on correctly writing a letter, and, wow, did the class get into it!”
In their letters, many of the students wanted to know Bo’s favorite food or toy. Julia wanted to know what kind of tricks he could do, Sofia wrote that Bo is cool and Nilisha asked him how he likes living in the White House. They were all impressed that he got to ride aboard Air Force One! The students also thought it was great that the President himself takes a turn at walking, and cleaning up after, Bo.
“Pictures decorated the cards,” said Stone. “We are going to mail them to the White House. I don’t know if there will be an answer on Bo’s behalf, but we had fun with the project, anyway.”