Letters to teachers

[Sherlee]

We will be going to WDW in February and I would like to send a letter to DD's first grade teacher soon after the Holiday break. If anyone has any suggestions on how to word such a letter I would appreciate it. She has quite an "old school" teacher and I am not looking forward to her reaction. Thank You!

 

[catwho]

Here's the synopsis of the letter I sent to my girls' teachers last year:

Dear Mrs. M,

The week of February 2nd-9th our family will be going on its annual trip to Disney World. Although this will take away from the class instruction time, we feel strongly that our children will be enriched by our adventure. While at Disney, we expect to encounter people from various countries, including (but not limited to) Mexico, Canada, The United Kingdom, China, Africa, Asia, Japan, France, Norway, Morroco, and Germany (did I get all the World Showcase countries? LOL!) As well, our children will be able to learn about American history through many venues at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. They will learn about dinosaurs, animals from various countries, and science, communication, ecology and physics. Although this is a vacation and relaxing time, my husband and I believe that lessons can be learned at any location and at any time. Even in play can children learn.

I would like to work with you on preparing the children for their missed days of school by eithe rworking ahead, taking work with us, or having alternate assignments such as journalling their trip, sending postcards to the class and sharing pictures of their trip in a presentation for the class (this has won over many a teacher!!)

Sincerely,
E and M's Mom

BTW, I never had any problems with doing this and we did it every year. Just remember to be proactive and don't ask for permission. YOu don't need your child's teacher's permission to take a family vacation (and despite what some people think, there is not a district in this country that can enforce this - you just have to know what hoops to jump through!)

LMK if you need any more information on preparing to work with your child's teacher!


50 more days!!

 

[Crow]

This is great, I've already printed it for further use, thank you so much for taking the time to do this!! I was terrified at the prospect!!

 

[Sherlee]

Yes, thank you very much! That is an excellent letter.

 

[RumpleMom]

Your letter is well done. You might want to add a little more about spending family time together. Also a small gift when you return, along with a letter thanking the teacher for her/his extra time and attention to your child's assignments is a good idea.

 

[*Robin*]

This is a really good idea, and I like your addition RumpleMom, I would have brought a gft anyway, but the point of extra family time is a wonderful addition!

 

[catwho]

I did. I just forgot to include it here. Working from memory! LOL! My dh works in catastrophe services and can't take vacation during the hurricane season. I point this out to the teachers that this is our one opportunity for our familiy to vacation together. We almost lost our vacation this week because the company decided to do a server upgrade that week. Dh kindly pointed out that he wouldn't be there as he would be on vacation and they could put it off for a week or so until he got back. He said it was a brief moment of panic though!


48 more days!

 

[Kallison]

First of all don't be apologetic for taking a family trip. In 1st grade you will have no problem catching up with the work. My letter would just say - We will be taking a family trip to Disney World. I would appreciate any schoolwork in advance of our trip or suggestions what we should review while we are gone. You really don't need to go into a long explanation. Either the teacher is going to be ok with family trips or they or not and no amount of explaining the educational value of WDW is going to change her mind. At our schools the teachers have always been fine with it, even in the older grades.

 

[catwho]

That's not always the case. And a teacher that is not over fond of students taking vacation during the school year may be more willing to work with parents on keeping the student caught up than a teacher who thinks that you are running off to an amusement park all week and doing nothing but ride after ride after ride. My dd's K/1st teacher (same teacher both grades) didn't realize that Disney had more than Dumbo rides to offer. She had never been and when we came back and shared everything we had seen and done, she was much more willing the next year to excuse any missed work in lieu of dd keeping a journal of her trip and sending the class a post card. Seriously, all work was excused!!! Same thing happened with her 2nd grade teacher. We explained what we hoped to see and do and she too excused dd from doing any of the written work or making up any tests while she was gone. Of course it helped that dd is a straight A student as well. My younger dd's teacher doesn't have any problems either with us going. (I'm homeschooling my oldest this year - so no problem with that teacher )

There are some teachers where it won't matter in the least what you say. They are still going to grumble about the child missing school. It doesn't hurt though to let them know both why your family needs a vacation and what you hope to see/experience while there.


45 more days!

 

[ksdave]

We are planning to pull our kids for several days when we go again. The only issue we will have is not with the teachers or the missed work (like catwho, both my kids are straight A students), but with my daughter's Middle School principal. This woman has somehow been allowed to make a rule that any time a student misses from school that is not due to either a documented illness or a death in the family must be made up through detention. My wife and I feel this is a ridiculous rule, especially since our DD has never received a grade below A- in seven years of school. But, try as we might, we have been unable to convinve this woman to change her rule for the case of a trip. We even told her we would have our daughter do some of the educational backstage tours and stuff at WDW, but she still refuses to allow a change. We have been tempted to go to the school board with this, or even go see an attorney to see if this rule is legal, but we're afraid she'll just take it out on our kids somehow.
What do you all think of this woman's iron rule? Is it legal? Is it FAIR??

 

[melk]

ksdave,
I don't know if that principal's rule is legal, but it definitely is NOT fair!! I would have a real problem with this woman if my children attended that school.

 

[*Robin*]

ksDave, why don't you find your school boards email address and send a friendly note asking polietly about the rule. Or go directly over the principals head...whomever that would be, and see if you can do something there.

That seems a bit outrageous!!

Good luck!!

 

[addieh]

My Dh works in the district office. I would write a polite email to the super intendent of the district, explaining your situation.

If that does not work send one to the school board. It would be helpful if you explained why you must travel durring the school year - work, etc.
(Try to not mention low park attendance lol !! )

 

[catwho]

ksdave, my dh says to take your hand spread your fingers. Put your thumb on your nose wiggle your fingers while blowing a rasberry at the same time!

My recommendation is that of the others, write a letter to the higher ups! Get a letter from your *child's teacher* that she has no problem with the trip and feel that your child will benefit from the trip or that your child won't have a problem keeping/catching up. Let the district see that *the teacher* doesn't have a problem and that is where it should matter. If you have a good (or decent) student who isn't floundering and you work with your kids to keep them up with their class, then there should be no reason at all for the rule. If your child changes classes during the day (which is common in the middle school setting) then have each of the teachers write a note. The more the better!!

What a frustrating situation!

44 more days!!

 

[mikek]

i'd be careful about asking the teacher for a letter. Make sure you dont put her/him in a spot.

You'd basically be asking her to put in writing that she thinks her boss has a stupid rule. It's possible to write it and say that little johny is examplary, etc. But if the teacher is new and still not tenured, it might just be enough to piss of some pyscho who makes these type rules in the first place- meaning no job for the teacher next year.

 

[Blondie]

I just want to say thank you for your letter!

I plan on using it for our upcoming trip at the end of January.

I swore up and down that I'd never take them out of school again due to the large workload sent along to be done before they returned.

But an opportunity presented itself that I have a very hard time refusing!

 

[tjmw2727]

I found that it was easy to over anticipate the negative response. I wrote a simple letter stating where we were going, why and how many days dd would be missing. I asked what I needed to do and what dd needed to do. Her teacher was great - the letter was enough for the attendence requirement and she gave dd her "seat work" to do on the trip. Handouts and busy work - gave her the practice spelling test as the real one and sent her journal home for one sentence every day. Dd was relieived as she didn't want to fall behind and school work was taken care of. As a side note we took lots of pictures and some covered school projects such as St. Nicolas in Germany and the manatees at the living seas! We also got extra dream catcher's and the spelling of all the "dream"s in each language for the kids to do at school.

Its so important to have family time - have a blast and your kids will do well.
TJ

 

[D L and K's Mom]

O.K , here is a teachers view on the subject...I am a 1st grade teacher (best job in the world). I have no problem with a child taking a family vacation. I try to send along some busy work with the child (things they can easily do on the plane, etc.) I make photocopys of any "Bookwork" they will need so they DO NOT have to cart books on the trip. What I usually do is ask the parents to do what they can with the child and what they can't get to I ask that they complete on the weekend when they return. I try to incorporate the trip into what they will be missing....Soc. Studies. write a paragraph on your favorite "country" you visited in EPCOT, etc. I have to say 1st grade is a very, very important year in school, BUT, a week can be made up quite rapidly if parents are willing to help. I think it is nice to have your child send a postcard (let them write it) to the class. You will probably arrive before the postcard does, but it is fun for the child to "Show and Tell" about the trip when they return. Please make sure you give your child's teacher a few weeks notice so they can get things ready for your trip. I have to admit I am guilty of taking a few extra days after a school vacation for my own Disney Adventure and have encountered some negative responses from DD's teacher. I feel it is very important to have family time, nothing is as important as family time! Have a great time!!(I am typing this with one hand, sorry for all the typos etc)

 

[zippehsmom]

I applaud those of you who do take the time out to send notes to teachers and ask for makeup work.

As a 2nd/3rd grade teacher I have seen students miss a week or two with not one word from parents. When I would call to inquire why the child was not in school. Someone would tell me "Oh, they're on vacation." or the child would tell me when they returned.


On the other hand I think that people should not get angry with administrators and teachers who disagree with children being pulled out of school for family vacations. Yes, I do think that family vacations are extremely important. However, in todays age, we the public place a lot of pressure on school districts to perform (i.e. standardized tests, etc..). So sometimes administrators and teachers are under a lot of pressure to cover a lot in a specified period of time.

I know that for those that have children that get A's that a week missed is not a problem, but with a child that is having difficulty it may cause problems.

Most importantly I think that as parents we know our kids and know what they can handle, so we should be able to judge whether they can handle it or not.

Hey, I just wish that I could take advantage of off peak season sometimes. I guess a teacher missing a whole week is not good

zippehsmom

 

[dennis99ss]

Dear Teacher:

Johnny has had a feaver for the past week. He is now better. That sun burn is due to the sun lamp treatment he was prescribed. We played make believe when he was sick. Hence, here is a souvenier from our imaginary trip.

Love,

Parent.


I kind of like this letter better.