Matthew Crews &Megan KarelDr. Tonja Root, ECED4300C

Fall 2008

First Grade LevelFriendly Letters

GPS and PLOMatthew CrewsFriendly Letters PrewritingGPS: ELA2W1 The student demonstrates

competency in the writing process. The student

e. Begins to use appropriate formatting conventions for letter writing (e.g., date, salutation, body, closing).

PLO: The students will demonstrate their understanding of friendly letters in the prewriting stage by correctly filling out a graphic organizer.

Form Of WritingFriendly letters are not something that you will only see in school. We can write and receive friendly letters to and from our parents, friends, and neighbors.

Friendly letters are short notes or letters that have a main point and not a lot of detail.

Stage of WritingWe are going to focus on the

prewriting stage while writing our friendly letters.

In prewriting we are developing our ideas and thoughts about what we want to say in our letters.

One way we can collect our thoughts is by using a graphic organizer. This is a piece of paper that organizes our thoughts and ideas. An example of a graphic organizer can be found on the next slide.

Graphic OrganizerName_______________________________________Date__________________________ Grade________

Whom are you

writing?___________________________________________________________________

What will you say to your

friend?________________________________________________________________

Why are you sending this

letter?________________________________________________________________________________

What response are you looking

for?________________________________________________________________________________

Name_______________________________________Date__________________________ Grade________

Whom are you

Writing to?My best

friend Charlie

What will you say to your

friend?I like to hang out

We are best friends

It is okay to argue sometimes

Why are you sending this

letter?To be nice

Tell my friend thanks

What response are you looking

for?I hope he tells me that he likes me

too

APA: Crews, M (2008). Graphic Organizer. Valdosta, Georgia

Mr. Crews' graphic organizer for his friendly letter.

Practice ActivityOn the Dry Erase Board, I will draw

a graphic organizer of my own much like the one we have used previously.

Next, as a whole group, we will decide to whom we will write, and the things we will say in the letter.

Point out to students that we are not writing in complete sentences, but short phrases.

Assessment ActivityFor the assessment activity, I will have the students complete their own graphic organizer much like I have on the slide before.

I will be looking for short simple phrases, a main idea, and the receiver of the letter.

Also, all boxes must be completed.

GPS and PLO Megan Karel GPS: ELA2W1 The student demonstrates

competency in the writing process. The studente. Begins to use appropriate formatting

conventions for letter writing (e.g., date, salutation, body, closing).

PLO: The student will use his/her prewriting graphic organizer to create a draft of a friendly letter.

Form of WritingFriendly letters are not something

that you will only see in school (ex. notes to friends).

We write and receive friendly letters to our parents, friends, and neighbors.

Friendly letters are short notes or letters that have a main point and not a lot of detail.

They are meant to say “hello”, or tell a quick point.

Stage of WritingDrafting: Teacher will explain that

drafting involves several items. First, Drafting uses the graphic

organizer from Prewriting as a guide. Secondly, Drafting uses complete

sentences. Additionally, students should include a

date, salutation, body, closing sentences. However, students should only focus on

content, not spelling or punctuation.

Drafting Graphic OrganizerJanuary 10, 2008

Dear Ms. Principal,I am writing to tell you about some of the exciting

things that are going on in our classroom. The students are working hard on their animal picture books. They have a lot of details and really great drawings. Last week we made snow cones with real snow and maple syrup! Soon a visitor is coming to our class to tell us all about life in Japan. Now you can see why I am so excited about our class.

Sincerely, Mr. Goodteacher

Retrieved December 11, 2008, from www.free-reading.net Web site: http://www.free-reading.net/images/8/8b/FreeReading_LetterSample.pdf

Practice ActivityTeacher will use Mr. Crews’ completed graphic

organizer which tells about hanging out with his friend, Charlie.

Teacher will model examples of each requirement of the Drafting process. These include:

complete sentencesdatesalutationbodyclosing sentence

While modeling with examples one at a time, teacher will be prompting students for their own ideas for examples. Teacher will write examples on the Dry Erase Board.

Assessment ActivityTeacher will assess students by his/her

completion of the graphic organizer for Drafting with his/her individual work.

This Includes: complete sentencesdatesalutationbodyclosing sentence