Santa's Little Helper

I have been trying to get back to writing my book that I started with NaNoWriMo since December, but have been swamped with life.  You may have seen that I finished writing the Sacrament meeting program, but at school I have had all five of my Junior English classes working as Santa's helpers by answering letters to classes from three different elementary schools.  While it may seem like they are doing all the work, I also wrote about 30 and proof read, typed up the personalized labels for the envelopes for each class, put them in bags with tags from Santa and just delivered them today.  Helping Santa isn't as easy as you might think and I'm very glad for all the hard work he does every year.

I really like this project because it gets the kids writing LOTS without them feeling like they are writing lots.  They have to identify with voice, use correct grammar, and practice significant creativity, especially for the younger children who can only write that they love Santa.  

How many classes did we write to you ask?  Sixteen.  I think the average number of students per class is 21.  We wrote about 335 letters in all.  The best part of this?  With the exception of the few that I wrote this morning, all the letters were completed in three school days, or eight class periods.  I think that is pretty impressive, lots of fun and really good writing practice.

Now, maybe I can get back to writing what I want to write :)