A Lesson on Letter Writing – Topics Related to Students’ Community

Title – A lesson on letter writing
By – Christine Silvestri
Subject – Language Arts, Social Studies
Grade Level – 3-4
Instructional Plan #6

Title: Community Letter

Grade Level: Third

Organization: Individual, Small group

Objectives:

The children will be able to:

• Enhance listening skills during a read-aloud.
• Enhance writing skills by writing skills by a letter to a character in a related literature source about people, places, and things within their community.
• Participate in small group discussion by orally presenting their letter to the people in their group.

Materials:

• Book: My New York
• Final Draft Stationary
• Pencil and Paper

Procedure:

Into/Motivation:

1. Read My New York. (A girl named Becky writes a letter to her friend, telling her all favorite places in her community.)
2. Discuss with the children that they are going to write a letter to Becky about all their favorite places in their community. Write their responses on the board.

Developmental Activities:

1. Pass out paper (used for rough draft).
2. Explain and model how to write a letter on he board.
3. Have the children write a rough draft of their letter, using the ideas listed on the board.
4. Have students swap letters with a partner and proofread each other’s letters.
5. Pass out final draft stationary.
6. Have the children rewrite their revised letters.

Closure:

1. Divide children into groups of four and read their letter to one another.
2. Display letters on unit bulletin board.

Adaptations:

Inclusion students will work with teacher on letter and revision process.

Evaluation:

Student:

• Did students participate in discussion?
• Did they work well with each other during the revision process and group share?
• Review letters. Check for grammatical and spelling mistakes and for proper sentence structure.

Teacher:

• Were all the children listening during the read-a-loud?
• Did I effectively model the letter writing process?

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