BRISTOL — A classroom project at Bristol School will make for a warmer, fuzzier Christmas servicemen in Iraq and classmates at home.

Three third-graders at the school have parents serving in Iraq, a fourth a much-loved uncle. With so many students facing another holiday season with family in harm’s way, the three third-grade teachers decided to turn lessons in writing letters into a service project.

“It started as something small and turned into something really wonderful,” said teacher Maria Gillmore.

The students created Christmas cards and letters for each of the soldiers serving in the Army National Guard’s Kenosha-based Bravo Company of the 257th Brigade Support Battalion. Those soldiers include 1st Sgt. Rob Thomas, father of 9-year-old twins Emily and Grant, and Kevin Boyd, stepfather of Kaylee Bernardy and uncle of Kyler Chapman.

Along with letters — fitted into pop-up cards handmade by the kids — the soldiers will be receiving packages of gifts sent by family, friends and supporters from the school.

Sgt. Thomas will hand out the letters and the packages on Christmas Day in Iraq, planning on wearing a Santa hat his wife Kara sent along with the gifts.

Thomas, Boyd and Bravo Company are in the last months of their second tour in Iraq. The group was first deployed in 2005, their children beginning kindergarten while their fathers were away at the war.

They returned to Iraq last May, and are scheduled to come home in early 2010.

For Emily, Grant and Kaylee, the deployments have left them with memories of missed birthdays and holidays, and short conversations conducted over the Internet.

For Kyler it means missed opportunities to spend time with the uncle he has called Uncle Cow from the time he was so young he could not pronounce the name Kevin.

Having classmates who are sharing the experience of having family at war has been a comfort for the kids, said Kara Thomas.

“Emily was crying when she was writing her card, and Kaylee came over and said, ‘It’s all right; I cried last night too,” Kara Thomas said.

Thomas and Boyd have more ties to Bristol School. Thomas is the Cub Scout leader for the local troop — his wife is taking over in his absence — and Boyd’s mother-in-law Jean Koessel is the administrative secretary at the school. Both women got involved with the letter project, putting together the care packages for the troops.

For the third-graders, thinking about those soldiers with ties to their community and their classmates has given them a more personal view of the sacrifices made by the military.

“They were concerned about them,” Gillmore said. “They felt much better knowing that they were going to get something special on Christmas.”