Summer Communication with Students

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” 

-Mother Teresa

The last day of school can be bittersweet saying goodbye to your class.  Thinking about how you have seen them almost every day since September and now it will be months before you see them again...Even that depends on if they will stop in to say hello or perhaps they have moved on to a new school.  My solution to this: continue the conversation!  I like to write postcards to my students a few weeks into summer asking how summer is going, telling them a little bit about what I have been up to, and then ask them to reply!  Now, I can't say that all my students jump on the opportunity to write to their teacher over the summer, but for the few that DO respond, it really puts a smile on my face :)  I also like to think that receiving a postcard in the mail from their teacher puts a genuine smile upon their face!

This summer though, I have a new challenge for my students that I discussed with them at the end of the school year.  Instead of waiting for them to write me via snail mail, I asked them to continue to post on their KidBlog from home and that I would reply!  So far, we have been out of school for 16 days and I have had 3 students post/comment on our class blog page. Again, this isn't a lot, but it makes me smile and makes me think that I taught them a "life-skill" that they are choosing to do OUTSIDE of school.  

Well I am off to mail my postcards, how will you continue the conversation with students over the summer?