Six years.
For six years, I held onto the letters. And let me tell you, I have grumbled about it.
In June 2016, my Humanities teaching partner convinced me we should have our 6th graders write letters to their future selves that we would mail the year they graduated from high school. I was all in. Over the next six years, I repeated the task with four other classes – all but the COVID years.
Last week, I dropped that first batch in the red tub for District mail. This morning, this message was sent to our school:
It was the best gift to receive on the first day of teacher appreciation week.
booksandbassets 
I used to do this with my eighth graders, and while I never heard from parents, the number of times I’ve heard from the kids—kids who had not had the easiest time of it, especially, and from whom I hadn’t heard a peep since graduation—oh my gosh, joy. I love this and am so glad you got validation and deserved kudos!
I remember writing mine! I have already forgotten the (presumably) unfathomably mind-boggling genius things I wrote, but I hope I’ll receive it in high school!
What a great ting to do and I can imagine the smile on your face as you read this,
Nothing beats appreciation in written form! Kudos to you for doing this.