Students become pen pals with their teacher during COVID-19 break
When schools closed nearly a month ago because of the coronavirus pandemic, third grade teacher Eileen Seitz had an idea on how to stay connected with her students at Lincoln Elementary in Bethlehem.
She decided to write all 21 of her students letters that they would receive in the mail. And in the letters, Seitz included paper and a colorful stamped envelope with her address so the students could write back to her.
“I knew I wanted to brighten their days,” Seitz said. “Even as an adult, it’s exciting when you get a letter from someone.”
Since sending the letters about two weeks ago, Seitz has received 10 responses. In their own third grade, loopy handwriting with the occasional spelling and grammar errors that young children make, they shared with Seitz what they miss about school and how they’ve been spending their days since it closed on March 16.
“I have been haveing fun with my siblings. We have been watching movies and playing games,” one girl wrote. “I really miss seeing all my classmates. I also miss seeing you.”
“When I finish my homework, I can go outside to play basketball, socker ball, the trapaline, and rideing my bike,” one boy wrote. “And my dad gives me extra homework. I miss the classroom and I hope to see you soon.”
“I wish we could meet again sooner,” one student wrote. “I miss you very much.”
In a number of the letters, the children write about their thoughts on the coronavirus.
“I want the coronavirus to stop becauce peolle [people] are dieing from the coronavirus. I hate the coronavirus,” one wrote.
“I would create an invention to cure the coronavirus,” another penned. “I want to create that invention because it is hurting people. It would be helpful by it saving a lot of sick people.”
The exercise enabled the third graders to put into practice a lesson Seitz taught them earlier in the year about how to write a friendly letter. And while in-person contact isn’t safe right now, it’s OK to touch the mail. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, say there is very little risk of coronavirus spreading from products and packages.
Seitz’s third graders typically don’t receive much mail, except for birthday cards and the endof-year report card that is sent home. So it was a special treat to reach into their mailboxes and find a letter addressed to them.
“It made me feel really happy,” Max Mixtacki, 8, said in an interview.
The Bethlehem Area School District moved to remote learning after Seitz sent her letters, meaning Seitz and her students interact daily online for lessons. But the letters provide something that Google Classroom cannot, Seitz said.
“The letters remind the students of the relationship that they have with me, and their classroom and school,” she said.
In them, Seitz told the students that she’s been reading and going on walks during the closure and she encouraged them to tell her about their days.
For Abdiel Gandia Martir, 8, his response to Seitz was the first time he’d ever wrote a letter to someone. Seitz’s notes were filled with personal details, so for Abdiel, who loves to draw, she asked if he’s done any artwork while out of school.
He told her there was a “surprise” on the back of his letter. “You can coler the surprise,” he wrote. There, he had drawn a creature for Seitz to fill in with a crayon.
“It made me feel like excited to write a response back when I read the letter,” said Abdiel, who keeps Seitz’s letter in his bedroom to read whenever he misses his teacher.
In some of the letters, the students ask Seitz how she is coping with being away from school.
“How are you doing?” one wrote. “I hope all is well to you and your family.”
Raychell Rosario wrote that she has been doing the school work that Seitz assigned her students, and playing with her 15-year-old sister, Gabriella. The 8-year-old told Seitz how she was “player of the day” in a math program, although she wished she could do math in the classroom instead of online.
“Now enough talking about me. How are you doing?” she asked. “What have you been doing these past days? Anyways, I hope you’ve been doing OK.”
In an interview, Raychell said wanted to make sure Seitz knew her students care about her.
“I was thinking that since I would just be home and I wouldn’t be able to see my teacher really, I was just thinking that I could do a nice letter so then she knows she still has somebody and she can still, like, stay in contact with me and all the other people,” Raychell said.
Like other students, Raychell wrote how she felt about the coronavirus.
“I wish this coronavirus never exsited because right now we would be at school but no were at home,” she wrote in her letter.
Now out of school for almost a month, Raychell said that she still wishes coronavirus didn’t exist, but she understands why she can’t be in school.
“It’s dangerous because you really don’t know who has it,” she said.
Raychell has been spending a lot of her time coloring, she said, but she misses “seeing my friends and Ms. Seitz and probably recess.” She wrote her letter to Seitz on a Wednesday, which is when the class normally has music, one of her favorite classes.
Raychell knew it would put a smile on her teacher’s face, just as Seitz’s letter put one on hers.
“I had fun writing the letter because I kind of knew Ms. Seitz would love it because she’s, like, a really nice teacher,” Raychell said.