#4111. friendly letter writing

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Feb 7 15:17:03 PST 2008 by Lisa M. Dix (lisadix@pickens.k12.sc.us).
Liberty Elementary School, Liberty, SC 29657
Materials Required: flipcharts on Promethean Board, file folders, writing paper, envelopes
Activity Time: 40 minutes
Concepts Taught: parts of a friendly letter

Design a flipchart on Activstudio Promethean software. The teacher expalins the parts of a friendly letter. The date must begin with a capital letter and have a comma between the day and year. The greeting must begin with a capitla letter and have a comma after the persons name. the body of the letter tells the news. The closing begins with a capital letter and ends with a comma. The signature is where the writer signs his name. Show a flipchart with a sample letter written. Have the students come and highlight the parts of the letter. Have the students circle the uppercase letters and commas. Pass each student a file folder taped along the sides. The student decorates his "mailbox" and tapes it to the edge of his desk. The student is assigned a clasmate to write a friendly letter to. The student must use all the parts of a friendly letter in his writing. The student "mails" his letter to the post office. The teacher has a cardboard box covered with blue paper to resemble a US mailbox. The teacher reads the letters and checks for all the friendly letter components and then "delivers" the letter to the appropriate student. The students enjoy receiving mail while the teacher gets the opportunity to check for understanding. Writing a friendly letter to a classmate of choice can be assigned as a workstaion or writing center. This is a nice lesson to do around Valentine's Day as cards and letters are very popular at this time. Leave the "mailboxes" up for the month. Continue to monitor friendly letter components.