Thankful Thursday

Today I’d like to give thanks this cute little Christmas idea!

I always have my students write letters to Santa. One of my favorite things to do when my students write letters is to have Santa respond!

After my kiddos write their letters, I take them home and read through them all. I enlist the help of my sister and together we write the responses to each student. We have to make sure our handwriting is pretty similar. I like to personalize the letters by making sure I respond to what my students have written about in their letters. My sister and I place each letter in its own individual envelope and we write the student’s name on the envelope.

Now here’s the fun part…I get a large manila envelope and write my school’s address on it and, of course, the North Pole’s address. Then, I take all of the letters and place them into a large manila envelope. I sprinkle the inside of the filled envelope with water. I seal the envelope then sprinkle the outside of the envelope with water. I place the large envelope in the freezer overnight.

By the way…I usually do all this the night before our class Christmas party. The next morning, when I get to school, I take the envelope and place it into the freezer that’s in our teacher lounge. I ask our office manager to help me with the execution of the letter delivery. We devise a plan for her to call my classroom on the loud speaker and say that we have a special delivery that’s VERY COLD.

I usually have her call in the middle of our party. I send two students (usually my non-Santa believers) to get the package. It’s cold and wet and they return to the classroom so excited! We open the package and I call out each student’s name as I pull out the envelope. The looks on their faces are priceless!

They open the letters and read with excitement!!!!

I have had parents tell me that it’s the best Christmas memory their children have had. It’s really heart warming.

Just make sure you get every student’s letter written! You wouldn’t want to leave anyone out!

I hope you can use this idea in your classroom!

Link up and share what you’re thankful for!