Writing Friendly Letters

1. Writing Friendly Letters

2. Friendly letters have five parts: • The Heading •  The Salutation (greeting) •  The Body  • The Closing • The Signature

3. Heading The Heading • The heading includes your address and the date. You do not always need your address. The heading goes on the top right corner. 508 Bluebird Street Clarksville, Ohio January 5, 2004

4. How would we write the address to Demarest Middle School?

5. How to write a heading: Name Street Town, State, Zip Code Date _______________________ Now, you write your address on your paper. Raise your hand when you are done and a teacher will check it.

6. Greeting The Salutation (greeting) • After the heading, skip a line and align to the left. Dear________.  The blank is for the name of the person you are writing.  After you write the person's name, put a comma ( , ) . 508 Bluebird Street Clarksville, Ohio January 5, 2004 Dear Susan,

7. Body The Body • The body of the letter is the information you are writing in your letter. Don’t forget to indent each paragraph. 508 Bluebird Street Clarksville, Ohio January 5, 2004 Dear Susan, I hope you will be able to come and visit next month. We are planning a special visit to the museum. My mom will call your mom later this week to make all arrangements. Be sure to bring your swimsuit when you come! We’re planning an afternoon trip to the lake.

8. Closing The Closing • After your body, skip a line and align to the right. In the closing, the first word is capitalized and you put a comma ( , ) after the last word.   Some examples of closings: Sincerely, Yours Truly, Love, Your Friend, From, 508 Bluebird Street Clarksville, Ohio January 5, 2004 Dear Susan, I hope you will be able to come and visit next month. We are planning a special visit to the museum. My mom will call your mom later this week to make all arrangements. Be sure to bring your swimsuit when you come! We’re planning an afternoon trip to the lake. Your friend,

9. Signature Your Signature • This is your name. It goes under the closing on the right side of the page. 508 Bluebird Street Clarksville, Ohio January 5, 2004 Dear Susan, I hope you will be able to come and visit next month. We are planning a special visit to the museum. My mom will call your mom later this week to make all arrangements. Be sure to bring your swimsuit when you come! We’re planning an afternoon trip to the lake. Your friend, Allison

10. The Body • opening sentence – introduce the reason for the friendly letter • middle sentences - information supporting the opening  stay focused • closing sentence – sum up the letter connecting to the opening sentence

14. Let’s Practice: 1. Go To: http://www.abcya.com/friendly_letter_maker.htm 2. Write aone paragraph letter to me, Mrs. Worgul, about the following topic: Write in detail about one thing you are thankful for. 3. Print out the letter.

15. Let’s Practice: This counts as a minor grade!! 1. Go To: http://www.abcya.com/friendly_letter_maker.htm • 2. Write aone paragraph friendly ;etter to me, Mrs. Worgul, about the following topic: • Write in detail about one thing you would change about this school if you could. • *punctuation, capitalization, grammar and sentences structure count! • Print out the letter when you are done.

16. ________________________________________________ • Now, practice addressing an envelope: • Use your address for the Return Address • Use the School address for ‘Your Friend’s Name’: • Demarest Middle School • 568 Piermont Road • Demarest, NJ 07627

17. Meet Lincoln Elementary School Demarest Fairview

18. Time to write a class letter: As a class, we will write a letter to the students in Mrs. Walker’s Language Arts class. Before we begin, what do we need to do?

19. Prewriting • What do you think is the best form of prewriting for this writing piece? Why? • Free write • Web • Outline • Box and bullets • Mapping • KWL

20. On your piece of paper, prewrite for 5 minutes on your own. Remember, write whatever comes to your mind. We don’t have to use everything you write.