When a student is moving away, she will be sure and tell you before it is her last day. I could always sense the angst of a student who was acclimated to our classroom when she thought about starting over in a new place where she knew no one. One thing I implemented that seemed to be very appreciated was to have all of the students write letters to a new student in her new class and I would write a letter to the teacher. We would be sure to include all of the positive attributes about that child, including what extra curricular activities she enjoyed. I would tell the teacher that the child was helpful, trustworthy, and kind. The children typically included details like she is a wicked chess player or she should be on your quiz bowl team. I always included my email so if the new teacher needed to reach out to me, I could help her. More often than not, the child took the large envelope full of letters to the new teacher on her first day at her new school. It was like having all her classmates with her when she entered a brand new school. The new students all got a piece of unexpected mail. The teacher would sometimes send an email about the delay in transferring school records but often she would respond that she loved the idea and wanted to send her moving students off with a stack of letters, too! I always read what the children wrote to prevent anyone from being sarcastic or thinking they were funny. I never sealed up the envelope because I imagined the child reading all the letters over and over during the move until she took the envelope to school on her first day. It was a small gesture for us but a huge comfort to that one child.