Saturday, December 4, 2010

Letters to Santa

This past week we had some 8th grade students come into the classroom and help us write letters to Santa. I somewhat remember what it was like to believe in Santa but it is very easy to forget how big of a deal it really is and how careful you have to be when you are talking to the kids about it.

Before we started writing I asked my kiddos to think about what they were going to ask for and I also told them they had to ask for something for at least one other person. I had several students raise their hands and thinking they were going to tell me who they were going to include in their letter I started calling on them. They had no such concerns other than how their letter was going to get to Santa, how he would know who it was from, if they would get all of the things they asked for, and if it would get to him in time for Christmas. I had not thought of answering any of these questions ahead of time and was not sure how to respond. We are displaying the letters in the hallway and the students are very concerned that Santa will not see their letters.

That same day the students were being very talkative and just to see how they would respond I told them that Santa was watching and that they should follow the rules. You could have heard a pin drop in the classroom after that. Witnessing that makes me wish that Santa would come visit every month!!