Friendly Letters Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan
Grade/Subject: 3/4 ELA Unit: Friendly Letters Lesson Duration: 35 minutes a period (will take
up a few classes)
OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES
Overview of lesson: The students will be learning how to write friendly letters, in this case, to
Santa. The students will learn the five key components that a letter contains: the date, a
greeting, the body, the closing, and the name or signature. Once the students learn these five
components, as well as where to put them on the letter, they will start their rough copy to
Santa. When the students believe their rough copy is good, I will look over it, and if it is
mistake free, they will begin their final copy. Once this is finished, the students will mail their
letters to Santa.
General Learning Outcomes: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to
explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences.
Specific Learning Outcomes:

2.1 Use Strategies and Cues: Use Textual Cues
Grade 3
use headings, paragraphs, punctuation and quotation marks to assist with
constructing and confirming meaning
attend to and use knowledge of capitalization, commas in a series, question marks,
exclamation marks and quotation marks to read accurately, fluently and with
comprehension during oral and silent reading
Grade 4
Distinguish differences in the structural elements of texts, such as letters and
storybooks, to access and comprehend ideas and information
2.4 Create General Text: Generate Ideas
Grade 3
experiment with ways of generating and organizing ideas prior to creating oral, print
and other media texts
Grade 4
use a variety of strategies for generating and organizing ideas and experiences in oral,
print and other media texts
3.3 Organize, Record, Evaluate: Organize Information
Grade 3
organize ideas and information, using a variety of strategies, such as clustering,
categorizing and sequencing
Grade 4
organize oral, print and other media texts into sections that relate to and develop the topic
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Create a letter that includes a heading, body, and closing, as well as a date and name
2. Discover the art of letter writing
3. Learn what is important to include in a letter
Inquiry Question: What elements does a letter need to contain to be successful?
Guiding Questions: Why is writing the date important? Why should a letter contain an intro and a
conclusion? What does it offer?
ASSESSMENTS
Formative:
Observation/Anecdotal
Check-Ins
Rough copy of letters
Summative:
Final Product: Letter
LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED
Resource #1: https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Letter-to-Santa-Claus
MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT
* Letterheads
* Envelopes
* Colouring pencils
* Pencil and eraser
PROCEDURE
Introduction (3 min.):
Hook/Attention Grabber:
Ask the class if they have ever sent or received a letter before
o Some students may give examples
Introduce to the students that they will be writing letters in class.
o Have them guess who they might be writing letters to.
They will be following a five step rule that will be explained later
Transition to Body: Have the students ready to focus to complete instruction
Body (A weeks worth of classes):

Learning Activity #1:
Write numbers 1-5 on the board
Ask the students what a letter should contain
o This will be assessing any prior knowledge
They wrote persuasive letters in social, will the students remember what
needed to be included?
Write any of the answers on the board that are correct
Once the students are finished giving out answers, narrow in to what they provided
o Where does it go?
Example: If a student said to write the name of the person you are sending
your letter to, that would fall under their greeting
Write down on the board the five steps the students must fulfill in their letter (if the students did
not come up with the answers)
1. Date, 2. Greeting, 3. Body, 4. Closing, 5. Name/Signature
o The students will receive a copy of these steps so that they can keep them in their
binders
o They will also receive a sheet that will include statements and questions to ask Santa
Together as a class, go through each step
Ask the class, What is important about these steps? Why should they be included?
o For example, a letter should include an introduction so the person who receives it
knows its for them
Create a practice letter on the board so the students have a visual
Draw out the letter beside the steps on the board so the students can follow along
Together as a class, have the students give out answers as to how they should go about filling
out the practice letter on the board
If the students need another visual, pull up more examples on the projector
After the students fill-out the practice letter on the board together, they will be ready to start
their own letters
Hand-out a letter template for their rough copy
o This will not be their final product
Also hand-out the 5 Steps to Writing a Friendly Letter page and the Friendly Letter checklist
As the students get started, walk around and check-in on them to make sure they are doing
okay, as well as understanding the task
When the students complete their rough copy, it must be looked at by either myself or Ms.
Jensen
If there are errors, they must fix them before they can start their good copy
If their rough copy is good to go, they will be given a new letter template
o This template will look more official
When the students are finished their good copy of their letter, they will be given an envelope
If they would like, they can colour and decorate the envelope
On the envelopes, they need to write their name and Tilley School so Santa knows where to
deliver their letters
Closure (30 min.):
Consolidation/Assessment of Learning: The students will have a chance to mail their envelopes at the
post office. As a class, we will all walk down their together to mail them.
Throughout the lesson, did the students:
Follow directions
Understand the task
Reflection: Learning Activity #1 and #2:
The introduction to the topic worked well for the students; it got the students thinking about letters and
how they work.
-Students needed more room in their rough copies of their letters. Next time, find a template that has a
larger body for text.
-Continue to work on classroom management where all students are listening. Rather than trying to talk
over the students, gather their attention first before continuing.
-There was a good use of involving each student in the classroom for discussion. All group tables talked
and gave answers when questions were asked. The students seemed quite excited with the aspect of
the lesson.
The checklist that was given to the students could have been more thorough when explained. The
posing questions in their checklist needed more detail for their grade-level. Many students didnt even
read the checklist before they got started on their lesson. Next time, I will go over the whole checklist
with the class from start to finish to help guide them along the process.
-Delivering the envelopes to the post-office was fun for the students, and they really enjoyed the
experience. When crossing the road, myself and my TA reminded the students to look both ways and
put their hand out when crossing. This form of teaching involves safety for the students, while they are
still able to have fun delivering their letters.

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Lesson Plan

Specific Learning Outcomes:

Inquiry Question: What elements does a letter need to contain to be successful?

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

Resource #1: https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Letter-to-Santa-Claus

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Transition to Body: Have the students ready to focus to complete instruction

Body (A weeks worth of classes):

Closure (30 min.):

Learning Activity #3:

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