Summary of Lesson Plan:
In this lesson plan, students are scaffolded to identify the main features of a letter and then, plan to write their own letter based on the learning that has occurred. The students use criteria to develop their letter and learn the many reasons as to why we write letters. This lesson can be linked into your handwriting as well (either print or joined), and once the draft is complete, it could be typed up.
Australian Curriculum Links:
Year 2 English:
- Understand that spoken, visual and written forms of language are different modes of communication with different features and their use varies according to the audience, purpose,context and cultural background (ACELA1460)
- Understand that different types of texts have identifiable text structures and language features that help the text serve its purpose(ACELA1463)
- Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge oftext structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to theaudience and purpose (ACELY1671)
- Reread and edit text for spelling, sentence-boundary punctuation and text structure
- Write legibly and with growing fluency using unjoined upper case and lower case letters(ACELY1673)
Year 3 English:
- Understand how different types of texts vary in use of language choices, depending on their purpose and context (for example, tense and types of sentences) (ACELA1478)
- Understand that paragraphs are a key organisational feature of written texts(ACELA1479)
- Write using joined letters that are clearly formed and consistent in size (ACELY1684)
- Reread and edit texts for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and punctuation(ACELY1683)
- Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print,and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1682)
Previous Knowledge and Experience:
Students have previous knowledge of what a letter is, the structure of a letter, and they will be able to state the different components of a letter. Students have also heard sample letters being read to them.
Behavioral Objectives:
Pupils will be able to:
- Name the parts of a letter.
- Describe the parts of a letter.
- Using the knowledge they have gained, write a letter to a friend or family member.
Lesson Plan Sequence:
Introduction:
The lesson begins with the teacher asking the question, ‘What do you notice about the format of a letter?’ This question is asked as revision and re-connection to the previous lesson where the students were introduced to letter writing through the format; what is a letter, the structure of a letter, and the components of a letter.
Content:
At this point in the lesson, a sample lesson is read while the students follow and listen (Fig 1). A discussion ensues as the class is asked to identify the parts of the letter (Fig 2). At this point, the class is given an activity to work on in pairs (Fig 3).
After this exercise, the students brainstorm all the kinds of friendly letters they might write along with the different purposes for writing letters:
- To tell about a good book they have read
- To send news about themselves
- To share what they are learning
- To give news of an upcoming event
- To provide information about their hobbies
- To reveal something that happened in school
- To share something from home
- To ask questions
- To request something
Another activity comes into play here where students complete a letter-writing guide. This is a pre-writing and planning activity (Fig 4).
Closure:
At this juncture, a revision of the lesson is made. What is a letter? What are the components of a letter? What are the various descriptions of the parts of a letter? What are some purposes for writing a letter?
Evaluation:
The evaluation here will be for the class to write a letter to a friend. This evaluation can be done in class. However, having it done at home will ensure that the students take the time to write the letter and that they have taken into consideration what was done during the lesson.
Resources:
- Sample letters of letters to friends and family.
- Writing materials (pens/pencils and paper)
- Examples of words used to describe friends and family.
- Fig 1 – Sample Letter to Friend
- Fig 2 – Student Direction
- Sample Letter to Friend – Dear Andrea
- Fig 3 – Friendly letter partner activity
- Fig 4 – Letter Plan
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Feature Image Source: https://mypad.northampton.ac.uk/richardrosebangalore/files/2014/11/letter-writing-27xk4nb.jpg
