Kelloggsville — Second-grader Remington Cover carefully wrote out his thank-you note until he came to a word he was unsure how to spell.
He reached for an orange sticky note and made his best guess at spelling the word “you’re.” Then he took the note to his teacher to check the spelling.
“Well, you are close,” said second-grade teacher Ashley McKeeby, noting he was a letter off. After checking which word Remington needed — “your” or “you’re” — she wrote the correct word on the sticky note.
Every Tuesday and Thursday since November, McKeeby’s class has written a thank-you note to either a Southeast Kelloggsville staff member or a Kelloggsville administrator.
McKeeby explained that having students attempt to spell words they’re unsure of helps them develop stronger spelling skills.
The process also helps students learn about and show gratitude to the people who work in their school community.
“The students get to know staff they may see but might not interact with,” she said, adding that they discuss what the person does and how their work connects to the class.
The idea came about seven years ago, McKeeby said, when one of her classes had misbehaved during one of their specials.
“I had them write an apology note for their behavior,” she recalled. “I saw how they took ownership of their work (by) writing the note, and how they really wanted to make the letter ‘perfect.’”
McKeeby saw an opportunity to focus on the students’ writing skills in a different way, by putting a positive spin on writing via the thank-you notes.
She found that students became much more engaged in their writing and were more willing to try to spell words on their own, which she thinks is because students enjoy writing the notes.
Wheel of Thank-yous
First it was teachers who received the notes, but the project soon grew to include every Southeast Kelloggsville staff member — support staff, playground recess aides, bus drivers, food service workers, secretaries and the principal — along with administrators such as Superintendent Jim Alston.
McKeeby placed all the names, including her own, on a virtual spinner that randomly selects to whom the students will write.
As it spun recently, there was a lot of excitement among the second-graders, who shouted out names they hoped the spinner will land on, and let out a cheer when it came to rest on special education teacher Grace Troyer.
This is because the class knows her, Zamora Carter explained to a visitor.
“(Troyer) comes into our classroom with her students Jack and Leona. We also had a bubble party with her.”
McKeeby asked students what words they might use in their thank-you notes. As students suggested words such as “friends,” “happy” and “thankful,” she wrote them on the board so they could use the list as a reference when writing their notes.
Second-graders spent about the next 20 minutes quietly working on their notes, which included a short message and a drawing.
Josie Hamming said she was excited that Troyer had been married in January.
“It’s not like someone gets married every day. That is special,” Josie said as she showed in her note that she wished Troyer a happy wedding day.
Remington also commented on Troyer’s wedding day in his thank-you note: “I hope you have a great wedding and I hope you’re having a great day.”
Troyer said she was pleasantly surprised by the letters when she returned to school, adding that they “really brightened my day,” especially since the note-writers took care to include her students in the thank-you notes.
“It was also great to see that every student’s note was written by themselves,” she said, “whether they wrote the same thing as a peer in the classroom or not, they were still personalized by each student.”
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