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Letter Writing for Thanksgiving

marleeyunger
Oct 7, 2015
3 min read

Cycle Level: 1

It's Thanksgiving week and what better way to show our friends why we are thankful for them than writing them a personalized letter?

The Complete Lesson Plan

Introduction:

I will ask students to sit on the carpet and facing the rocking chair.

I will then show students the book, Don’t Need Friends, and ask them for predictions.

I will read the book to the class, while stopping to explain difficult words.

After we have finished reading the book, I will ask students questions pertaining to what makes a good friend. As students respond, I will record their answers on the whiteboard.

I will say something like:

What is something you look for in a friend?

How do you want your friends to treat you?

How are you a good friend?

Development:

After we have discussed friendship, I will switch topics and discuss letter writing. I will tell students to keep these thoughts in mind because we will be going back to it later.

I will start another discussion on letter writing.

I will say something like:

Have you ever seen a letter before?

What did you notice about it?

I will then show students the different components of a letter. I will explain it in terms of a person. I will explain that letter must have:

A greeting (the head)
A body (the heart)
A closing statement (the foot)
A sign off (the writer’s name) (the sole)

As Thanksgiving is approaching, it is important for us to give thanks to our friends and family.

I will ask students what holiday is coming up. Hopefully, they will say Thanksgiving and I will briefly explain that it is a time to tell our friends and family how grateful they are to us. I will also explain that we will go into more detail about Thanksgiving during the week.

Tasks:

I will tell students that in honour of Thanksgiving, we will be writing letters to a friend in the class. I will show them the template using the camera to project it onto the Smartboard. We will go through it as a class and make an example, starting with the prewriting tool.

Prewriting Tool

Student will create a list of good qualities of their friend they are writing a letter to.
Students will write a memory or something special about their friend they are writing the letter for.
Students will write proper sentences combining both of the categories above.

Letter to a Friend

Students will be given a classmates name at random to write a letter to.
Students will use the prewriting paper to gather their ideas.
After students have gathered their thoughts, they will be given the formal letter template to write their letter.

Closure:

At the end of this lesson, students have produced a formal letter to show a classmate how grateful they are. The teacher will read over all of the students’ letters and place them in the appropriate envelope. We will deliver our letters on Friday.

Assessment:

Did students properly communicate ideas to the class?
Did students properly use the prewriting sheet?
Were students neat in their formal letter?

Adaptations and Modifications

The second grade students performing at a below grade one letter will have a scribe. They are great at coming up with ideas, but will have someone (aid or teacher) fill out their prewriting sheet. They will be responsible for writing the final copy with help.

The grade one students are strong enough to complete this assignment properly, but they will be allowed to have more aid than the second grade students.

Subject Competency:

English Language Arts

Competency 2: To write self-expressive, narrative, and information-based texts

To follow a process when writing
Students will be required to write a proper body of a letter.

Competency 4: To use language to communicate and learn.

To use language to communicate information, experiences, and point of view.
Students will be communicating with peers and me during the discussion parts.
To use language (talk) for learning and thinking.
As students share thoughts and ideas, they will be broadening their knowledge.

Personal Development: Moral Education

Competency 1: To understand life situations with a view to constructing a moral frame of reference.

To analyze, in own environment, life situations and related guidelines of actions.
Students will begin to understand why we should be grateful of friends.

Cross Curricular Competencies: