I cannot believe we are nearing the end of the year! If your school is on a similar calendar, we are in the midst of teacher appreciation week, which is one of the best school weeks of the year.
I love that it gives my kids (and me!) a chance to reflect on the work and dedication the teachers have put in to making it a year full of excitement and learning. We always get the teachers some sort of "end of the year" gift, but I also have my kids write a thank you note telling their teachers what meant most to them throughout the year. It's interesting that we usually get a thank you note in return for the gift, but the most heartfelt thanks is always for the sweet note one of my boys' wrote.
Writing a sincere note of gratitude can be difficult for littles, so I like to give my kids prompts whenever we write thank you notes for any occasion. For teacher appreciation week, I give them each a thank you note and put a piece of paper in the center of the table with fill-in options for them. Depending on their age, I usually have them choose 3-4 sentences to complete (or you can complete it for them if they are not old enough to write). My 11 year old now takes an idea or two of mine and then writes his own note.
Here is the prompt we will use this year. Lots of options for different kids and different teachers.
I love how this breaks down the task and makes it much more doable. It also limits the amount of, "How do I spell this?" questions and fits of frustration about not knowing what to write, but it still allows them the freedom to express their real feelings to their teacher in their own words. You can customize the the questions to work for your own kids and for specific teachers. Hope it makes the note writing a little easier this year!
Labels: parenting, school
