Correspondence: Friendly Letters

1. Correspondence: Friendly Letters Megan Adams & Jamie Eunice ECED 4300 B Dr. Tonja Root Spring 2007 Fourth Grade

2. Megan AdamsECED 4300 BDr. Tonja RootSpring 2007 • Fourth Grade • Correspondence: Friendly Letters • Pre-writing/Drafting

3. Form of Writing: Friendly Letter • Less formal than a business letter • Used to communicate with people you already know • Can be used when writing with pen and paper or in email format

4. Form of Writing: Friendly Letter, Cont’d. • Can be used for several purposes: pen pal letters, thank you notes, invitations, requests, and keeping in touch with friends and relatives • Has a certain structure; includes heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature • PS, or postscript, is optional

5. Stage of Writing: Pre-Writing/Drafting • first stage • “getting ready to write” • 70% of writing done in this stage • Brainstorming is an activity you can do to help choose a topic: make a list of ideas and pick one • Decide on a purpose—to inform, entertain, persuade, etc. • Consider audience—classmates, friends, self, family, adults

6. Stage of Writing:Pre-Writing/Drafting, Cont’d. • Graphic organizers are used to organize ideas during pre-writing * In this case, pre-writing and drafting are combined because many students tend to write complete sentences in their graphic organizers. We will continue with revising instead of using a separate drafting stage.

7. Trade book: Schanzer, R. (1997). How we crossed the west: The adventures of Lewis and Clark. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society • Pages 2 and 3: • Letters from Lewis and Clark show all the components of friendly-letter structure. Although the wording is more formal than students are used to, the letters are great examples of what a friendly letter should look like.

8. Practice Activity: Pre-writing/Drafting • On the board, write the names of each section of the friendly letter. • Have students volunteer suggestions for each section. Use the current date. • Under the Body, have students give ideas or short sentences about information to be included in the letter. • Pick several students to sign their names at the bottom to show signature. • Discuss Post Script briefly.

9. Jamie EuniceECED 4300 BDr. Tonja RootSpring 2007 • Fourth Grade • Correspondence: Friendly Letters • Revising

10. Form of Writing: Friendly Letter • Less formal than a business letter • Used to communicate with people you already know • Can be used when writing with pen and paper or in email format

11. Form of Writing: Friendly Letter, Cont’d. • Can be used for several purposes: pen pal letters, thank you notes, invitations, requests, and keeping in touch with friends and relatives • Has a certain structure; includes heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature • PS, or postscript, is optional

12. Stage of Writing: Revising • Clarify and refine ideas by adding, deleting, substituting, and rearranging • Waiting a few days before rereading helps with spotting areas to revise

13. Stage of Writing: Revising, Cont’d. • Make notes next to thoughts and ideas about which you are unsure • Share revisions with other people for feedback • Do not fix spelling and grammatical errors

14. Trade Book: James, E. and Barkin, C. (1993) Sincerely yours: How to write great letters. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company • Chapter 1: Personal Letters • Chapter 1 covers friendly letters from invitations to letters of condolence and every topic in between.

15. Practice Activity: Revising • Use Friendly Letter graphic organizer in Microsoft Word. Copy heading, date, and greeting into template. • Revise Letter on the board by expanding notes into longer, more complex sentences and thoughts.

16. Practice Activity: Revising, Cont’d. • Transfer revisions into Microsoft Word. Ignore spelling and grammar. • Leave an idea out during revision and guide students in including it as a Post Script. • Fill in closing and discuss how the signature would be included (print and sign).