Since this series began in January 2018 there have been over 1000 Posts from Your Archives where bloggers have taken the opportunity to share posts to a new audience… mine.
The topics have ranged from travel, childhood, recipes, history, family and the most recent series was #PotLuck where I shared a random selection of different topics. This series is along the same lines… but is a ‘Lucky Dip’
In this series I will be sharing posts from the half of 2022
It is an opportunity to showcase your writing skill to my readers and also to share on my social media. Which combined is around the 50,000 mark. If you are an author your books will be mentioned too, along with their buy links and your other social media contacts. You can find out how to participate at the end of the post.
Today Jennie Fitzkee shares the letter that she sent out to the parents of the children in her class, celebrating events and experiences that they have enjoyed and learned from during the year.. wonderful artwork too. Another post that illustrates how lucky we all would be to have had a teacher like Jennie.
The Final Letter
As soon as the school year is over and the dust has settled, my final letter to families is a reflection of the school year. It takes families through the highlights so they can relive those moments and classroom experiences with their child. Memories are important.
I am reliving those moments, too. My keepsakes include:
An American flag
A thank you note. The book and song is Abiyoyo.
A homemade work of art. I love the ILU (I love you) initials, along with the child’s initials.
Reflections on a Wonderful Year June, 2022
We hope you enjoyed your child’s year-end portfolio, as each one is a walk down memory lane for teachers. Wasn’t it just a few months ago that children were building an Atlas robot? Remember when we wore our pajamas to school and had a ‘Day in the Dark’? Remember our “Peter and the Wolf” play performance? Remember how we introduced music to inspire creativity for our Art Show? There are so many Aqua Room events and memories. The year has passed far too quickly.
What did your children embrace?
Building and Puzzles. From Duplos, to blocks, to Legos, children built incredible structures that were complex and thoughtfully planned. Puzzles were a choice activity every day, from floor puzzles to table puzzles.
Dinosaurs and Robots. As soon as children watched the Boston Dynamics robots, they were curious and engaged. First, they loved the song, then their engineering minds kicked in and they wanted to learn more. Dinosaurs have been a favorite all year.
Russia, France, and India. We traveled around the globe using our favorite Big Book Atlas. From learning about wolves and watching a live wolf cam, to singing the days of the week in French, to dressing in native Indian clothing and eating Indian food, and balancing peacock feathers, our experiences broadened our learning.
Pen-Pals. Reaching out to children around the world by making cards, and getting cards in return, was a big and exciting experience. Children wanted to write words and draw pictures. It was wonderful to make connections.
Writing Thank You Letters. We wrote nine letters over the course of the year. Nine! They were all on big chart paper and elaborately decorated. The heartfelt replies were an added bonus.
Play Performances. We enjoyed planning and performing “Peter and the Wolf”, “The Story of Little Babaji”, and “Goldilocks and the three Dinosaurs.” Children continued to act out the plays on their own, on the playground.
God Bless America. This has been the favorite song of the year. Children often sang it on their own. It was fitting that it had a grand finale, taping a video and sending it to the White House- fabulous.
Books and Stories, from picture books to chapter reading, to fact books. Our bookshelf is well-used, and as popular as our block shelf. Chapter reading is one of our favorite times of the day.
Mystery Readers. Children loved the surprise of a family member reading to us via Zoom. Thank you, Mystery Readers!
Signing-In. As the year progressed, children developed letter formation and motor skills, from writing large letters, to eventually making small and uniform letters. This became a popular daily routine.
Question of the Day. What started as a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question where children had to read a question and find their name stick, grew into a more complex activity. We learned how to tally vote, and we broadened our math skills- greater than/less than, identifying and then writing missing numbers, and also letters.
The Animal Game. This game became a fun, everyday activity at lunch. Teachers gave clues as to different animals, and children had to guess the animal. Following the Animal Game we always listened to a true Jennie Story.
Music and Movement. Singing and dancing along with the autoharp or the new, big technology screen has been so much fun all year. Children still want to sing the “Jack-O-Lantern” song, even though October was long ago. Most recently, they want to sing along with the Singing Sergeants, “God Bless the USA.” Yoga is so much fun, especially following along on the big screen.
Gloria, our beloved puppet, has been a constant presence of love and kindness for children. Gloria often teaches far more than we teachers can do. Recently other new friends have joined Gloria- Oscar the Otter, Elephant and Piggie, and the Pigeon and baby Duckling.
It has been a wonderful year with your children. We feel blessed. Thanks for all your support.
Jennie
©Jennie Fitzkee 2022
My thanks to Jennie for sharing this amazing example of why her children adore her and their parents are extremely grateful she is their teacher.
About Jennie Fitzikee
I have been teaching preschool for over thirty years. This is my passion. I believe that children have a voice, and that is the catalyst to enhance or even change the learning experience. Emergent curriculum opens young minds. It’s the little things that happen in the classroom that are most important and exciting. That’s what I write about. I am highlighted in the the new edition of Jim Trelease’s bestselling book, “The Read-Aloud Handbook” because of my reading to children. My class has designed quilts that hang as permanent displays at both the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, and the Fisher House at the Boston VA Hospital.
Connect to Jennie – Blog: Jennie Fitzkee – Facebook: Jennie Fitzkee – @jlfatgc
How to feature in the series?
- All I need you to do is give me permission to dive in to your archives and find two posts to share here on Smorgasbord. (sally.cronin@moyhill.com)
- Rather than a set topic, I will select posts at random of general interest across a number of subjects from the first six months of 2022. (it is helpful if you have a link to your archives in your sidebar by month)
- As I will be promoting your books as part of the post along with all your information and links so I will not be sharing direct marketing or self- promotional posts in the series.
- If you are an author I am sure you will have a page on your blog with the details, and an ‘about page’ with your profile and social media links (always a good idea anyway). I will get everything that I need.
- As a blogger I would assume that you have an ‘about page’ a profile photo and your links to social media.
- Copyright is yours and I will ©Your name on every post… and you will be named as the author in the URL and subject line.
- Previous participants are very welcome to take part again.
- Each post is reformatted for my blog and I don’t cut and paste, this means it might look different from your own post especially if you are using the block editor
- If I do share a post which contains mainly photographs I will share up to five and link back to the original post for people to view the rest.
N.B – To get the maximum benefit from your archive posts, the only thing I ask is that you respond to comments individually and share on your own social media.. thank you.
I’m so impressed with Jennie’s passion for her students!
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I know me too Sharon.. amazing.. hugsx
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Thank you, Sharon.
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What a lot of things to remember and look back on.
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Wonderful as do you Sue ♥
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Reblogged this on A Teacher's Reflections and commented:
What means the most to me is teaching young children. At the end of the school year I reflect on all the magic that happened, and write a letter to families. Thank you, Sally, for sharing that letter.
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My pleasure Jennie… I have been off gallivanting so only back now.. glad you caught the post…♥
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I did, and thank you so much! I hope the gallivanting was fun. 😀
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Thanks Jennie.. it was..♥
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A super post, Jennie. Thanks for sharing it, Sally.
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Thanks John..hugsx
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Thank you, John.
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We are big Jennie fans!
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That’s so nice, Jacqui. Thank you!
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I remember the original post. Such a delight and wonderful thing for Jennie to do for the families. They must adore it. Thanks for sharing, Sally.
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Many thanks, Diana!
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Thanks Diana.. could not resist ♥
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An excellent choice.
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♥
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I love this post. Both the students and their parents are so lucky to have Jennie in their court. xo
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Absolutely as are we to have in our court…♥
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Thank you, Darlene. Honestly, this was one of my favorite posts. I hope parents feel the same way.
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Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Thanks for sharing Jennie’s post Michael..hugsx
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Reading about Jennie’s work is always so funny, and most time very heart touching. Thanks for the repost, Sally! It made my day! xx Michael
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Thanks Michael.. I agree Jennie’s writing is heartwarming and with a wonderful sense of fun hugsx
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She is gold! There is nothing more heartwarming than a teacher with a passion for their work! 💕C
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Totally agree Cheryl.. ♥
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Thank you, Cheryl!
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what a wonderful way to wrap up the school year by creating a letter that should become a keepsake for every family. what a lucky group fo students to have had Jennie for the year!
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Yes on both counts Jim.. fabulous xx
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Thank you, Jim!
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👍
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As a parent, I would have been thrilled to receive such a letter!
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Absolutely Liz xx
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Thank you, Liz. I have often thought about being in the shoes of a parent. Like you, I wish I had received a letter, or any teacher communication. It makes a difference.
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You’re welcome, Jennie.
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🙂
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Amazing pick to share Sal. Jennie is one of a kind. The world could certainly use more Jennies. ❤
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Thank you, Debby! Sally picks well. 🙂 I feel lucky to have found my calling in this world.
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♥
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And the world is lucky you did ❤
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🥰
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With you all the way on that Debby.. a wonderful teacher and mentor to many ♥
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❤
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What a perfect post to sum up a year in Jennie’s classroom. The icing on the cake was I got to spend most of a school day with her class—one of the highlights of my year.
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I agree Pete and you are the envy of all her fans in the writing community xxx
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Thank you, Pete! Your visit was absolutely the highlight of my year (on top of being on the Kelly Clarkson Show.)
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Fantastic, Jennie – what an inspiring teacher you are xx
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I agree Toni ♥
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Thank you, Toni!
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Inspirational teacher. If it had not been for my English Lit/Lang master, I would never have dared write a word. He had no idea how he encouraged me. I am sure your pupils will go on to great things and one day look back and thank you.
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Thanks Jane and it sounds like you were very lucky with your teacher too…hugsx
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He was a former actor and we got to read some risky books, saw some fab movies and he encouraged me no end. He was instrumental in my receiving 2 school awards for Eng Lit and Lang and pointing me in the right direction. Mr. Royston Kilner rocked.
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That is wonderful Jane.. he certainly did rock ♥
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Yes, and he wore a cravat and had long hair! Parentals were outraged. xx
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Lol… my father was incensed by the long hair on men being a naval man.. not worth my life to bring one home with me..xx
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LOL I can imagine. I had one boyfriend who had a Beatle cut, not really long compared with hubster – and Dad opened the door to him one evening and took one look and said, ‘Hello sweetheart,’ and then shouted up the stairs to me, ‘Jane, Mary is here!.’ We didn’t date again, he was not impressed with the parental.
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Lol.. My father was not a fan of women drivers and one day we were following a car with a long haired driver and we were subjected to one of his tirades about women and they shouldn’t be on the road (I have to say that this was based on my mother the first time driving his precious car hitting the accelerator in first gear and shunting right into the rear of the garage!! Anyway he managed to overtake the offender only to find the driver was also heavily bearded… ‘long haired wonder’ was the only response lol.. ♥
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LOL love it. I can just imagine that. My late Nan (born 1887) used to wear ‘long distance’ glasses and she had a very long front garden. The bus stop was some distance from her garden fence but she used to sit and watch the comings and goings from her sitting room. She would often tell my mother that there was ‘another long-haired layabout at the stop who hadn’t washed his neck in weeks,’ standing at the stop. How she could see waht was under the long hair we never knew, but she was convinced that long haired louts never washed. lol
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lol preconceptions and prejudices are not a product of our modern society… xxx
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Oh no! My Nan was Southern Irish (Co Tipp) and was a gem with her sayings and observations. I often think of what she’d say in certain situations.
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My mother would definitely get the back up of te woke crowd..xxx
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LOL so would mine. She sometimes says what we are all thinking…
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♥♥
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That is so nice, Jane. Thank you! A teacher can truly make a difference.
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They can indeed.
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😀
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This beautiful letter, and the responses from the children, almost made me weep – the start in life that Jennie is giving them is incalculable. What a positive difference she’s making and her teaching methods are child-centred and fun. I agree with Debby – the world needs more Jennies. xx
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Thanks Alex and I wholeheartedly agree with you..♥♥
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Many, many thanks for your heartfelt words, Alex!
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Credit where it’s due, Jennie! x
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🥰
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This was a wonderful blog to pull from Jennie’s archives. I enjoyed seeing it again. Thanks, Sally!
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Thanks very much Jan, heartwarming..♥
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Thanks so much, Jan!
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What a lovely post. I enjoyed learning about Jennie’s class and their wonderful year. I hope this year is even better.
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I am sure it will be, Jennie will have another class of lucky students to inspire..hugsx
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