Dear Brother....

Caleb's second grade class, taught by the incredibly compassionate and organized teacher, Mrs. Lein (Mike and I cry at least once a month because she's written something kind on Caleb's papers), just did a unit on letter writing. Each student had to choose one person to write a letter to. They learned about addresses, salutations, proper comma placement and postage. I was at school the day the anxious, beaming second graders marched, single file, to the school mailbox and proudly inserted their first official piece of US Postal Service mail. I stood back and watched from a distance, knowing that, for Caleb, mailing the letter had a much more profound meaning.

Caleb chose to write his letter to his new brother. We brainstormed at home about what he might write and came up with a word bank to help him when he wrote in class.

This is what he came up with:

"Dear Brother,

How are you? I have a lot of cars!

You might be my brother.

Do monkeys steal your food?

You will have a great school to go to.

We will have cousins.

We have a class pet. He is a rat.

His name is Whiskers. :)

We have snow sometimes.

We have a dog. His name is Scout.

I have baseball, soccer.

We will have an awesome time.

Love,

Caleb

I feel like I must explain the comment about the monkeys. Each time I've traveled to Africa, I've seen monkeys in the trees in both suburban and rural communities. The little rascals are pests, known for stealing food off people's plates or fruit off counters in homes with doors left open. That's why Caleb asked that question.

Here's the picture he drew:



Caleb and his new brother are on the left and new brother with monkey is on the right.