Our class is participating in a Post Card exchange. Not only are we going to mail out a post card to each state participating, we are each going to write a personal narrative sharing an experience growing up or living in our state. I haven't decided whether we will include these stories in our post card mailings, but I did learn from experience that writing letters to others (such as pen pals) is exciting for students and increases their motivation to write their best! The best handwriting I have seen all year was when students wrote to pen pals in another state.