Tellis helps students in the Willow School
Daily Living Skills class open
letters from their pen pals.
Tellis helps students in the
Willow School Daily Living
Skills class open their
individual letters from their
pen pals. (Marilyn Thomas/
H-F Chronicle)
helps Liam Svec fill his
plate with foods from
around the world at the
Daily Living Skills holiday
luncheon. (Marilyn
Thomas/H-F Chronicle)
One school made Christmas ornaments for each of the 12 students in the Willow program. Another made bracelets with beads that spelled out the Willow students’ names. Others sent individual letters for each student. Still others composed classroom letters talking about the important things they did in their classroom and for the holiday season.
gives teacher Kendra
Duncan a hug as she
reads his letter for a
pen pal.
Willow students celebrated news from their new friends as part of a luncheon that focused on holiday traditions around the world that they’d been studying. The teacher and classroom assistants – Kim Burkman, Rhunaviah Allen, Emily Schroeder and Jesica-Lyn Tellis – made and served hot chocolate and tamales from Mexico, rice pudding from Sweden, jelly donuts and latkes from Israel and for Hanukkah, and cookies from the United States.
shows Willow students
the special handmade
ornaments sent by pen
pals in South Carolina.
(Marilyn Thomas/H-F
Chronicle)
Duncan used the new technology (Facebook) to reach other special education teachers about being pen pals.
Daily Living Skills signed
the group letter they sent
to their pen pals across
the country. (Marilyn
Thomas/H-F Chronicle)
Their DLS classroom gives them the chance to learn at their own pace. All materials meet state standards. While some students may only be able to write one or two words, others were able to develop sentences, Duncan explained.