Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Teacher Letters

Tomorrow is the first day of school....for all 3 of my kiddos. Yes, even Greer. Reeves will be in second grade, Lucy will be in kindergarten (at the same school) and Greer will begin "Mothers Day Out" at our beloved preschool. Tomorrow I will have 4 hours sans children, and I am still working out how I will spend that time. Am I sad? To be honest....only a teensy bit. Does that make me a terrible mother? I sure hope not.

They are all soooo excited! I mean, they. can't. wait! How awesome is that?

I am ecstatic about what is in store for my children this year. I have never prayed it through like I have this year, and we have never been more ready to begin.....

More on that tomorrow....or the next day. I have some really awesome things I want to share.

What did I do today besides hang out at the pool with the rest of the neighborhood? This day before the first day of school?

I wrote letters to my children's teachers. I've never done it before, and I can't tell you how awesome it felt. I shared some of their strengths and weaknesses and made sure to tell their teachers that we had been praying for them all summer....that we would continue to pray for them as the school year rolls on. I wanted them to know Reeves and Lucy a little better and to know that Chris and I care. We're partners in this journey and I felt like I should share a little from our perspective.

I won't share everything I wrote. The letters are very personal to me. But, here is a little excerpt from each letter (and the pictures I included with them)....



"...Lucy loves to help, to be a leader, and to “do it herself.” She can be great with kids who need a little helper or who might be shy. She’ll talk your ears off and ask a million questions (but you already know that)! Please feel free to be firm with her concerning interrupting....I know you will be. She can’t wait to learn how to read and we have been working on some readers a little bit this summer. I am not super hung up on the academics....I know they’ll get there and that she is a smart girl. I just want her to love learning!


Lucy has a very sensitive side and sometimes I have a hard time pulling her worries out of her. She tends to “shut down” and become very quiet when something is bothering her. When she is good, she is great! She is so very excited about big school and she is looking forward to being your helper. I hope she doesn’t get too big for her britches though....I know you know exactly how to handle this type of little girl!..."


*Lucy has the same teacher that Reeves had for Kindergarten (Mrs. K), and she knows her pretty well already. She has 4 kids of her own and is a friend of mine. What an awesome blessing is that? Totally ordained (in my opinion)!




"....I wanted to share a little bit about Reeves so you can get to know him better. For the most part, he is a really great kid. Easy going, eager to please, and ready to learn. He has a pretty gentle spirit and is great at including kids who are younger/smaller than him. He can be kind of shy, but he loves deeply and has a sweet heart. He’s messy and full of energy. I tend to know exactly what he ate for lunch by looking at his shirt when he gets off the bus! You may have to give him gentle reminders to wash his hands!


Feel free to put him to work and to be firm if he is not listening/minding you. He tends to behave way better for his teachers than he does for us! He is so excited about your class and has several buddies to play with. We were thrilled about that!..."


*Reeves has a teacher that we don't know, but whom we have heard nothing but great things about. He seemed to love her when we met her at "meet the teacher" and we can't wait to see him grow this year.

If you have time to write your own teacher letter, I encourage you to do so. It was an awesome experience for me!

6 kind words:

C H R I S T I said...

I LOVE this idea! Gonna get to work right now! We start tomorrow too and I am ready to get back in the routine! Hope your babies have a GREAT first day of school!

Lana said...

What a great idea! I am a former classroom teacher and would have loved to receive a letter like that on the first day of school, esp. the part abour praying all summer! My DD starts school next year and I will have to make this part of our back to school tradition as well! :) Lana

Caitlin @ A Galway Girl (in Chicago) said...

As a soon-to-be teacher (one more year to go!!) I know your children's teachers will LOVE to receive these letters! What a great thing to do!

The Isom Family said...

What a great idea, I first read it last night after we finished getting ready for our first day of kindergarten. I got out my nice stationery and wrote our teacher a nice note telling her a little about my son.

Thanks for the great idea.

Erin said...

Great idea about writing a letter the the teacher! I am a teacher and I cannot tell you how helpful knowing a little more about my students would be!

Trina said...

A great idea. I had not thought of that! I did write Rayna's teacher a short letter at the end of the school year last year and that felt good too.