Special Mail Delivery for Kent Primary First-Grade Students

A few days before the holiday break, Carmel High School AP Literature students paid a special holiday visit to Kent Primary School first-grade students in Lori Peck’s class. The two classes planned to spend the morning reading together, forming new connections and having fun.

The students were just settling in – not for a long winter’s nap, but rather story time with their new friends – when a call came over the loudspeaker from the Main Office. It was Mrs. Miller reporting that a package had just arrived for the first-grade classroom and needed to be picked up.

What was the package? A large sack of letters, one for each student, sent from the North Pole!

The excited young students opened their personalized Elf Mail envelopes to find special, decorated letters from North Pole elves – Peppermint Sparkle, Jingle McGingerbread, Jingle Toes and Candy Cane, just to name a few.

In a tradition that has spanned nearly 20 years, the letters from the North Pole come via a special stop in the AP Literature classrooms at the high school before being delivered to the first-grade students. Over the span of a few weeks, the high school students read, plan, write and design special packages of Elf Mail for Peck’s classroom. The letters wished happy holidays to the students and answered questions that they had asked in their own letters sent to the North Pole the month prior.

“I give out the assignment at the beginning of December, right about the time that my AP students start hearing back from their early-decision schools,” said AP Literature Teacher Denise Trach. “These high-achieving high school students are a bit stressed out with college applications and they have written so many essays, so this tradition is a great way for them to unwind.”

In the past, the Elf Mail letters were delivered to Peck’s classroom without the high school students visiting. But this year the opportunity arose for Trach's class to be present when their first-grade friends received the special Elf Mail delivery.

“The students in Mrs. Trach's class create such beautifully crafted letters for our students and make the season all the more magical for them, and for me too,” said teacher Lori Peck. “It brings such joy to see my students' faces light up when they read their very personalized letters."