Writing letters might seem like a lost art. However, businesses still send out letters to patrons. In addition, a formal email has all of the same components of writing a letter. In addition, writing is an important skill across the board! Therefore, I like to teach writing a letter in elementary typically to my second graders.
Teach Writing a Letter by Starting with Structure
How a text is organized is the overall structure of the text. When I teach writing a letter in elementary, I start by explaining the three parts of a letter. So, we learn about the greeting, the body, and the closing. To teach this, I might have students stand up and touch their heads. Then, we touch our stomachs. Finally, we might touch our toes.
Teaching the Greeting
When I first teach the greeting, I compare it to saying “Hello” to someone in the hallway. You never want to just start writing. You have to greet the receiver of the letter first. When I teach writing, I tell students they need to be mindful of who they are talking to. For example, if you are writing to your friend, you could simply say “Dear Mary,” or whatever the person’s name is. If it’s more formal, they would need to address it in a more formal tone.
What Do You Want to Say?
After we have covered the greeting, we start to talk about what you might want to say. This can be a brainstorming activity. During the brainstorm, I try to steer students into some ideas like you might tell someone how you are doing or what plans you have. In addition, I always explain to them that they should ask how the other person is doing. When you teach writing a letter in elementary, you want to make sure there’s a dialogue between the sender and receiver. If there is, the students might get a letter back!
How to Wrap Your Letter Up
Once you have written your letter, you have to make sure you sign your name. When you teach writing a letter, you want to make sure you are very clear that the receiver really matters when it comes to the closing. If this is a formal letter, you would say “sincerely.” Whereas if this is a friendly letter, you might say “your friend.” Finally, if this is a letter to a family member, you might say “Love.” At the end of all of these the students would sign their names naturally.
Requirements of a Friendly Letter
Whenever I have my students do any type of writing, I always drive the idea that you need to make sure there is a finger space between each word. I also always go over the fundamentals of writing on a paper. For example, your line should always go to the margin. When we get to editing their friendly letters, I always write the correct form of a misspelled word over theirs. Then, they need to erase and retrace the word that I added. Some students get embarrassed by this. However, you have to teach the idea of revision being ok. Your first draft is never your last.
I love to teach writing a friendly letter to students. Even if it is going to be a lost art in a few years, knowing how to properly write to someone can be a skill they can take to the paper and online. So, teach your students to write a letter; you never know when they might need it.
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