Some of our Waccamaw teachers sent letters home to parents to involve them from the start of the school year. We wanted our parents to share their feelings, thoughts, and concerns about their child and hopes for the coming school year. Not all responded and some did not respond the way we would have liked. But most were positive and helpful. We wanted to use these letters to find out what their child was interested in so we could better motivate them and have books for them to enjoy. We wanted to know their special talents for classroom projects. We have children who take art, dance and are in plays. We can use this information when giving examples for ways children can respond to books they have read. We also wanted to find out what the parents wanted. Once we received parent letters (about half), we read them and wrote the parents a short response. Some teachers visited Barnes and Nobles to purchase books for the children's varied interests. We were able to get a new student to open up and share more when we brought up things we knew about her. One child that struggles to read in class loves to read at home! From the letter, we knew that she was not discouraged and that we needed to keep up her interest in reading by finding books on her level based on her interests. Sending the letter was worthwhile, and we will do it again next year. Reading those letters just made you tingle inside, feeling the pride most parents had for their child. The parents also had positive things to say about the teachers, which we may not have heard without this letter!
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