What is a student of the week letter
A student of the week letter is a gesture of encouragement for children. This is a letter given in recognition of the student’s academic prowess, team work, diligence and physical acumen, among other things. Being a coveted symbolic shield, students vie for this recognition. But sometimes there is more to it. It goes beyond encouragement. It serves as a pick-myself-up sign for the student.
How to write it
The selection of a student for each week lies with the teacher. It could be a random selection of kids or based on their birthdays. Either way, make sure that every kid gets their chance to be a top student of the week. Begin by congratulating the child and the parent in your letter. Continue to explain why the child is special. Conclude with how the class would be spending the week.
There are always reasons to celebrate any child. Establish each reason to laud each child. Every child deserves it.
Tips for teachers
- Be encouraging: Kids do not have it easy these days. Recognize their efforts and the path they took while they walked towards it. Kids will appreciate you knowing each of their steps.
- Count their victories: Explicitly count and describe each of the student’s triumphs. Even the small ones. Nothing can substitute a teacher nodding at a kid’s efforts.
- Trace a path to go further: Studies have revealed that gifted kids find it harder to pull themselves out of failure. As you pat their backs for their success, a small note to remind them that they can always get back to a good place can prove useful.
- Time to see their missteps: Do not hold back form mentioning their not-so-good moments. This way, kids will realize that celebration is not only for the successful.
Tips for parents
- Be uninhibitedly proud: There are not many instances in life when you can tell your children how proud you are of them. Seize this opportunity to write to your kids how you would want your parents to write to you.
- Compliment: Nothing can beat praise from a parent. Use your position as a parent to the fullest when you put pen to paper. Only you know your child’s complete story. Do not shy away from mentioning it.
- Acknowledge all factors: This is also a time to keep in mind your kid’s siblings or any other detail as you see fit. Anything at all that you know to have contributed to your child’s success.
- Balance praise and caution: Do not hold back the praise, only cautiously insert a small note to rein in the excess expectation of life. Know that you are writing a piece of beautiful history for your child. Keep it beautiful and memorable.
Sample letters from teachers to students
1. Sometimes all you have to do is encourage your student to be their best. He/ she is probably well on the path to success and all you need to do is acknowledge it. Use this opportunity to ask the kid about himself/ herself. The following sample shows you how.
Dear (Kid’s name)
Congratulations!!!!
You are selected to be the student of the week for (the week by date)!
This is your week to shine and shimmer and glow and glimmer. You have displayed great positivity in class all year. Your enthusiasm to learn drives your friends to do better. I appreciate your team skills and your involvement in your friends’ learning.
I recognize that you have learned many new things very quickly in the last few weeks. You have also helped your friends with their writing and reading activities. You have helped your team in crafties after finishing your task. I value your helping nature and your ability to identify with your friends.
We would like you to talk about yourself in class. Please make a list of all the things that you like to do. Everyone in class would like to try your hobbies and interests. You can lead your friends in the activities you choose for one period each day.
We are excited to spend this week celebrating you and your talents. Your friends and I are looking forward to getting to know you better. Hope you have a blast this week!
2. The other way to let your student know they are the best is to choose one activity each day of the week. That will allow you to truly celebrate the child. The activities are also a way to let other children get to know the student of the week.
Dear (Kid’s name)
Congratulations on being selected the top student of the week!! You are simply the best!
Your friends and I would like to celebrate you for the whole week. I am waiting to listen to your ideas to spend this week. You can present a few ideas on how to spend time this week to the class.
Here is how we would like to hang out in class.
Monday: Bring your favorite toy or action figure to class. Tell us your first memory of the toy and why you like it so much. Does your toy have friends? Bring them to class too! We would like to meet them all.
Tuesday: Make a poster about anything you like! Pick your own special topic and tell your friends why you like it. Bring photos, magazine pictures and anything else like ribbons or glitter. You can put them together to make an awesome poster, just the way you like it.
Wednesday: Best book day! Bring your most-loved book to class. We shall read it to your friends and see what they think. You can ask the class how they feel about it. May be your friends will get their new favorite book!
Thursday: Group game day. Make up your own new game to teach your friends. Try to involve all your friends in an activity of your choice. You can explain to your friends why you chose the game and why you like it.
Friday: Snack day!! The best day of the week. Bring your favorite eatable to class to share with your friends. Ask your parents for the recipe and tell us what the snack is made of. You can share the origin of the dish and why you like it so much.
Congratulations again and let the fun begin!
Sample letters from parents to children
1. Pull all the stops and write from your heart. Tell your kid how proud you are of him/ her. Here is a sample of how you can tell your kid that they are the best. Feel free to tailor it to fit your child better.
My dear (Your kid’s name)
I am very proud of you. Congratulations on being selected the student of the week. I am sure that this will be an awesome week for you.
I know you have earned your place to be the student of the week. You are exceptionally kind to your friends and have a heart of gold. You also have scored well in all your tests in the past month. It is great to know you are performing well in all your activities in school.
The greatest gift you give to the world is to be yourself. Know that there is no one else like you and that you are perfect just the way you are. You are a spot of sunlight. You light up any room you enter.
I hope you continue to be the good boy/ girl that you are now for time to come. You fill me with great joy and delight.
Lots of love
Mom/ Dad
Sample letters from teachers to parents
1. Be as appreciative of the parent as you are of the child. Keep in mind that the parents also contribute to the success of the child. It may not be obvious, but they have groomed the child to be polite and keep close tabs on their child’s behavior. Here is a sample of a letter that you can modify to suit your needs.
Dear (Parent’s name)
Congratulations!!
Your child (child’s name) has been selected to be the student of the week for the week (the date). We will find ways all week to celebrate him/ her.
He/ she has been kind to their friends. He/ she helped their peers in their tasks. (Kid’s name) has scored an A on all the tests given last week. This is to let you know I acknowledge your contributions to the growth of your child. I also witnessed him/ her break up a fight among his/ her friends. I realize that it a reflection of the environment that you create for them at your home. I cannot stress enough about how deep your involvement runs.
We have plans for different activities all week in class. We also would like (child’s name) to make a set of cards to express himself/ herself. Feel free to let (child’s name) create as many as he/ she wants. The idea is that (child’s name) will tell us more about himself/ herself through the visual aid of cards. Any hobbies, favorite characters, favorite books or cartoons can be written on the cards.
I look forward to getting to know (child’s name) better in the course of this week. Hope to hear from you after the week to know how it went down with him/ her.
2. You can let the parents know what to expect for the whole week. Invite them in celebrating their kids at school. The parents will appreciate being in the loop on this matter.
Dear (Parent’s name)
Congratulations!!
I would like to let you know (child’s name) is selected to be the student of the week for the week (dates). He/ she was selected by his/ her friends unanimously. We are all cheering for him/ her to be the best he/ she can be. I invite you to join in the celebrations that week.
Here’s a list of how we plan the celebrations for the whole week. Please feel free to add any of your own ideas into the mix.
Monday: Send his/ her favorite toy or action figure to class. We would like to know more about (child’s name) through his/ her toy. Please send a toy that fits in the backpack. We hope the toy is not fragile or expensive.
Tuesday: It is the ‘make a poster’ day. Please help (child’s name) pick out a topic he/ she loves. He/ she will be given a whole period to make a poster about it. Send him/ her with implements like pictures, captions, ribbons and coloring articles as needed.
Wednesday: The best book day. We encourage children to read to enhance their imagination. Please send (child’s name)’s most-loved book. He/ she will read it aloud to the whole class and ask his/ her friends what they think about it. Any light book would do.
Thursday: The group game day. Considering that (child’s name) loves to play, I am fairly certain that this will be his/ her favorite day. Please help (child’s name) to develop a game to share with his/ her class. Any verbal activity would do. We can also accommodate any light activities in class. We hope that it can be done within one period.
Friday: The much-awaited snack day. Please send (child’s name)’s favorite snack to class. Everyone would like to taste the dish. We hope that all his/ her friends can get a bite. Please try to avoid any eatable that gets messy. Ideally, anything that fits into their hand and is not soggy would do. We are looking forward to having a ball in class all week. Please revert to me in case any clarification is needed. Here’s to (child’s name)’s bright future!
