RE: Letter to a teacher [1 Attachment]

[Guest guest]

These are great ideas/resources…Can you share the other letters

you mentioned.

From: sList [mailto:sList ] On Behalf Of austintandt@...

Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 5:54

PM

To: sList

Subject: Re: Letter

to a teacher [1 Attachment]

Natural Learning Concepts has one called 15 Things About

Me.

I attached a copy of it....

It is a good start... I also write a letter

with more detail and describe where he was at the end of the school year and

what he did over the summer and where he is now.

And, this year, I'm starting out the year

with a gift card for the teacher to purchase some supplies for her classroom,

just to help her smile at my son a little bit more....

I also have a couple of other papers I give

throughout the year. One is called " The Least Dangerous Assumption,

A Challenge to Create a New Paradigm. " The other is The Sixth Sense

II by Carol Gray. The Least Dangerous Assumption is how not to

assume that because a child has a specific label/diagnosis, he/she cannot meet

certain expectations, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Sixth Sense II

is for Peer Sensitivity. The teacher and perhaps a counselor conduct the

activities in the child's mainstream classroom.

Last year, I tried to encourage

the general ed. teacher to have a Marble Jar but she didn't do it.

I'll try again this year too. From Jed Baker's class wide incentive

program. A Marble Jar is a jar placed at the front of the classroom and

the kids earn marbles by demonstrating 3 behaviors: include others

who appear left out, stand up for others who are teased and offer help to

others (upset, hurt, need help with work or need encouragement). When the

marble jar is full (typically 50-100 marbles or tokens), the whole class gets a

reward. No marbles are ever removed for negative behavior; only

earned for positive, pro-social, helpful and kind behavior. This is a

great idea and is greatly underutilized. Once the kids start seeing

marbles/tokens in the jar, they all get into it and it fosters kindness

throughout their small community. They can earn free time (not great for

" our " kids), a pizza party, no homework night, whatever they

would work for.

This same concept can be replicated

throughout the entire school.

From: Hawk

Sent: Friday,

August 13, 2010 4:18 PM

To: sList

Subject:

Letter to a teacher

Does anyone have the format for a letter to a teacher at the beginning of the

year to tell about your child?