PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. — Weeks after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced schools would close for the rest of the academic year, Hattie Stenger received a letter from her first grade teacher.
Inside the envelope was a letter written specifically to Hattie, with a pre-labeled envelope with a stamp already on it.
“Even though we were not expecting it, it doesn’t surprise me that [Hattie’s teacher], of all people, did this,” said Angie DalBello, Hattie’s mom.
Hattie is a first-grade student at Briarwood Elementary School in the Shawnee Mission School District. Her teacher is Emily Ruble, who had been teaching her students how to write before the coronavirus pandemic caused schools to close.
“We were writing invitation letters to their parents to come to our school and look at a project we had created,” Ruble said. “We were talking about capital letters, how to address an envelope, sign a letter, absolutely no idea this was going to lead to such a life lesson we could use during this time.”
Ruble said she decided that writing letters would present a new opportunity for students to learn even more.
“I hope they feel the joy that I know I feel when I get a letter," she said, "and that they understand it’s pretty simple and easy to give that joy to somebody else. Of course, I would love to see those commas and capital letters that I am getting back, but that’s not the important part right now. I want them to know that I love them, care about them and am still thinking about them.”
Several students wrote Ruble back. She said she plans to correspond with them through letters for the remainder of the year.
