[LIT] Happy New Year!

[skosmoski at aol.com]

Bill--
Happy New Year!
I tend to celebrate new Year sometime near the beginning of 
August--but....

Some of my favorite new Year Activities come from Barry Lane. My 
favorite: Letters to my Class, a combination reading/writing lesson, is 
detailed on his website (He celebrates New Year in August, too!):
http://www.discover-writing.com/aug-sept-2000.html

In Letters to My Class, I took some time the last day of vacation to 
write a letter to my class. I detailed all of my holiday fun, movies I 
saw, books I read, but also what my reflection on our progress as a 
class was from August until December and where I thought we needed to 
go in order for me to be ready to send them on in May. I personalized 
them a bit--so each class got a variation on the theme. Their job the 
first day was to read my letter and respond--point for point. It made 
for a quiet transition into the New Year and the following discussion 
was rich!

Mary Anne
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