I love Letter People

I have found that when I talk about my job with other people, it tends to bring out a lot of memories... memories of kindergarten days past. And from those memories, I sometimes get some of my best ideas. This is because I figure that anyone that has hung onto a memory for twenty-five years just to tell me how much they loved the letter of the day must certainly have a pretty good idea of what works. So, as a result of this, I have begun doing a visiting letter of the day. Each day, at a random time during the day, there will be a knock on the door. And from that knock, I will go to see who it is... finding nothing but a construction paper letter. I then take the letter and ham it up for all its worth. I pretend that the letter talks to me (I hold the letter close to my ear for that part) and then share what the letter has said with the class. Each letter comes with a particular characteristic or problem, such as letter A that always says "AAAH Choo," (she needed a tissue when she came in) or letter B that loves buttons so much that he kisses all of the buttons he sees.
Well, this little idea that I got from a friend has been a hit.

Each day, the children come in talking about what letter will be visiting that day, wondering who it will be and when they will be coming. "Miss Parrish, is letter D coming to visit today?"
" I don't know, but I hope so."
"I think it's letter D."

They also feel like these letters are like real people. After the letter has come, they wave hello to the letter when they walk past, and ask it questions. They also ask me questions about the letters and how they're feeling, "Miss Parrish, is Miss A feeling better? Does she still have a cold?"
"I'm sorry to say that she's not feeling that well still. She is still sneezing."
"Tell her I hope she gets better."

Or when we went to an activity outside, a child asked, "But Miss Parrish, isn't Mr. B going to be coming with us?"

It's really quite charming, and hilarious in the same breath.