This is a simple writing lesson I made for the beginning of the year.

The students think of 3 goals for the year and then write the letter using the worksheet.

For new classes, I usually start off with introductions/get to know each other surveys.  For returning students, however, this may well be the way to go this week. 

Thanks for sharing. 

I was thinking about doing something sort of similar for my new 6th and 5th graders but I wanted to focus my questions on the content they will study throughout the year. I made a "test" with questions covering each chapter of the book (Cheonjae book 2) that I am thinking about giving them the second or third lesson. I don't expect them to be able to answer all (or any) of the questions since they will not have been taught it yet but I wanted to do it so that at the end of the year I can give them the same test and then compare their answers. That way they can see how much they learned. Is this a bad idea? Will it freak them out to be given a "test" over content that hasn't been covered yet? How could I explain this in a very non-threatening way?