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Learning how to write that special letter
First graders Dijamanta Ansolou (left) and Adriana Dobrzycki address envelopes to Santa in the North Pole as part of a letter writing exercise at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011. | Ryan Pagelow~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 13, 2012 10:30AM
In an era when old-fashioned letter writing on paper is a dying art, at least it still survives around the holidays.
Each year before winter break, first-graders at Union Ridge School in Harwood Heights learn how to write a letter by writing one to Santa Claus. They even address it to his workshop in the North Pole.
The first-graders are matched up with eighth-graders to help them with the format of writing a letter, as well as spelling and grammar.
A week later the first-graders and eighth-graders meet again to read Santa’s response to the letters.
It reinforces letter writing skills for the first-graders and is a mentoring experience for the eighth-graders, said Lisa DeLeonardis, a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher.
“They love it,” she said.
