4th grade has just wrapped up a week of friendly letter writing, and it was a huge success! It's always so hard to get upper grades excited about writing assignments and projects, but my class talked about this assignment all week long! The lessons fit perfectly in a one-week time frame, and we managed to tie it into our Reading block as well.
It took us about two weeks to read Dear Mr. Henshaw. I love this book because 1) It's written in the point of view of a student's letters to his favorite author. 2) It talks about struggles that a lot of older kids can relate to. Two thumbs up here!
We started our friendly letter projects the last week of reading this book. We were out of school on Monday for President's Day, so I had to condense the writing process a little bit. I almost wish it hadn't been a short week so we could take more time on this (what teacher EVER says that??).
Tuesday -
We started with identifying parts of a friendly letter. I wrote an example letter and used sticky notes to write the parts to be identified. I had students come up and place the sticky notes next to each part. We did one at a time and talked about the purpose for each part of the letter. Then, I explained their project and answered what seemed like 423 questions.
Here were the guidelines:
1. You could write to anybody in the world! Actor/actress, singer/band, athlete, author, company/store, family member, friend...a never-ending list. This perked their ears up and got them really interested.
2. We would be using the writing process in class to complete the assignment.
3. They had to get their parent's permission before they were allowed to send out the letter. This was to keep the line of communication open between school and home and give the parents a heads-up that their child will be trying to contact a stranger by letter. CLICK HERE to download the letter I sent home to the parents to sign and return. (Apologies for the generic font-Google Docs needs some cuter fonts, amiright??)
4. Let's get as many replies as we can!! Ask your recipient to write back or even send an autographed picture!
After we talked about the project, they brainstormed a list of people to send their letter to and attached it to the parent permission slip to send home.
Wednesday - We wrote rough drafts on notebook paper. It was the quietest writing class in the history of 4th grade because they were so excited and a little nervous to write to their famous person, ha!
Thursday - Editing day! They traded papers with a friend to edit, and then I had to read it before they were able to start their final drafts. I usually don't edit their work, but I wanted to makes sure we weren't sending nonsense out into the world, ha! I also used THIS quick and easy assessment about parts of a friendly letter. I only used the labeling part, not the writing part.
Friday- I gave each student an envelope and together we wrote the return address (our school address). Then they finished their final drafts. I printed THIS writing paper for their final drafts. Then, I used THIS quick and easy rubric to grade their final drafts and called them up one at a time to stuff, address, and stamp their envelopes. They had to find the address on their own at home AND have the signed permission slip from Tuesday before I gave them a stamp (precious money, there). If they didn't have one of those things, I let them stuff the envelope, and I put it aside until they can bring in what they are missing.
Final draft! (Paper found here)
Rubric (found here)
We have some ready to go! I hope we get a lot of responses and even some pictures or goodies sent back to us in the next couple of weeks. Until then, we have some anxious and excited 4th graders :)
If you have any questions, you can email me at cecilclassroomcreations@gmail.com, or find me on Instagram @cecilclassroomcreations or Facebook at Mrs. Cecil's Classroom & Creations.
I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!
Emily Cecil
