The local Kiwanis gave each student in the fifth grade class a Webster's Dictionary for Students which, surprisingly enough, gets used. After three years, I have finally wised up and will no longer spell words for my students. They can slaughter the English language with ole Webster.
So, of course, the friendly letter followed shortly. Expository writing, the friendly letter, is an Arizona writing standard anyway. So, I set my class to writing their thank you's. I put a very clear sample on the board which only a third of the class ignored. Most of the thank you's were standard, yet sweet. Lots of "I really like...," and "Thank you for.... One student wrote, "I use it alot in class. Can you send us more stuff?" The latter sentence was nixed.
One student's really stood out. A lot. Little Mickey (name changed to protect the ...)is a very low reader and writer. Her letter started with the same, "Thank you for the dictionarys. They are so usefull. I can find exciting words like intoxication and menstruation in it."
I could feel my mouth hanging open. Trying very, very hard not to laugh, I furiously erased those exciting words she found. I don't know whether she was pulling my leg or not, but she professed innocence of their meaning. I explained to her, in the hall, that "intoxication" means drunk, and I just blew off "menstruation". She can find out the wonder and beauty of being a woman some other day. I just told her that none of the Kiwanis would be interested in reading either word, and let's go find some different ones.
Yikes. I would never have sent letters out without reading them first, but I still shudder.
Oh, and her two new words were "quadrilateral" and "zoology".
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