Dear 5th Graders,

At the end of the year I have my students write a letter to the incoming 5th graders. I ask them to talk about the experiences and opportunities that they will have, as well as to offer advice on how to be successful (aka Warnings). My students sealed off their letters and left our school forever today. As soon as they left, I sat down to read what they had written. Some of it made me laugh, other things brought me close to tears, but mostly it was a great culminating activity for the year.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. "Taker of Ms. Teach and bring her presents."

2. "Hey make sure you bring presents to her oright! (When did presents become such a big thing...I mean...not that I mind.) ;)

3. "You also haf to be quit and straight if you want to get a party." (I'm assuming he's talking about walking in a line in the hallway.)

4. "Watch out because when you do something that you not supposed to do she can make the scary face like other mean teachers."

5. "You need to watch Ms. Teach because she is not like the other teachers. She's the best but she get angry too when someone is not paying attention." (How is that not like other teachers?)

6. "This is my favorite shool year because Ms. Teach is the nice teacher ever but you have to not talk because you would get in trouble." (No wonder my room was so silent this year.) ;)