Newsletter – Welcome December – November 28, 2025

I’m sharing this image of a towel, here, because I thought it might be a great classroom activity to have the students write their names, using their very best handwriting, to make a large ornament for a class keepsake. You could also use it to create a classroom holiday stationery. Each student could be responsible for writing a holiday-themed friendly letter on the back for school personnel.

As an educator, I really tried to come up with meaningful purposes for my students to engage in writing with authentic audiences. This could be a meaningful writing project to wrap up the final week before holiday break.
You’d write the names of your school community, one for each student in your class. I’d print the list for the whole class to read along with you and ask a student to volunteer to write to one person until every name has been accounted for. You will need to keep track of who is writing to whom, so jot the students’ names next to the staff members’ names.

This is the perfect time to offer tips for writing a meaningful friendly letter. Remind your writers to share a specific, meaningful memory and to write with a personal touch. Encourage them to express their sincere care for the person, and they can even encourage the staff member to write them back.

Because this is meant to be meaningful for the recipient, this is the perfect time to address a first draft (or a “sloppy copy”) to organize our thoughts and then a final draft to make needed changes. Though some work can be done using less tidy handwriting and not-so-organized thinking, we want to encourage our students to consider how to make a “keepsake” that just might be treasured for years to come.

Please note that in the image above, below the ornament made with names, the words The Williams is written. Please acknowledge with your students that this is a common error and share with them how to pluralize names.

What should have been written is The Williamses.

Please write all your students’ pluralized names for all to see. For the first handful of students’ names, you demonstrate how to do it. Then, for the next handful of students, have the kids work together to determine how to pluralize them with your guidance. Then, have the kids try some on their own and check them together.

• For most names, we simply add an s.

Smith becomes Smiths

• When names end with y, we simply add an s. (We do not change the y to an i and add e-s.)

Kennedy becomes Kennedys

• For names ending with s, z, c-h, s-h or x (representing their expected sounds) we add an e-s.

Williams becomes Williamses (also Finches, Walshes, Rodriguezes)

• No apostrophes are to be used.