Why letters?

Just like with narrative and persuasive writing tasks, you can work on good word choice, capitalization, punctuation, sentence variety, and details when writing letters to people.  Letter writing also has these advantages…

• Your students can get a reply, which they’ll love!
• Letters can be taken from a plan to a finished product quickly.
• You can work on appropriateness of topics and the format of a letter.

Who should they write to?

• Family and Friends – Keep family members and friends in the know.  Students can write about family outings, school topics, or activities.
• Veterans – Let our veterans know that their sacrifices are appreciated.  Help your students write letters to veterans thanking them for their service to our country.  You can then deliver or mail them to a local veteran’s group.
• Troops - Write letters and send them to our troops.  There are great organizations such as A Million Thanks that mail the letters to our troops.  Their website has instructions and guidelines, a list of drop-off locations,  and an address to send the letters to if there isn’t a drop-off location near you.
• Santa – Make sure your students’ letters to Santa (or the elves and reindeer) are in tip top shape by working on them during therapy sessions.  Remind the students to use complete sentences and descriptive words to tell Santa what they’d like this year.  It’s always fun reading what the students have to say to the jolly old elf!

Please share any other suggestions you have with us by leaving a comment.

Creativity disclaimer
First off, I must give credit where credit is due.  This wonderful activity is used by the teachers in my sons’ school to improve the details in their students’ writing.  I loved it so much that I had to share it with you.

The set up
Find pictures of three or four dogs that look different from each other and display them.  An easy way to do this is to find a calendar with pictures of dogs and take a few of the pages out.  (These can often be found on sale during the second half of the year or at a “dollar store” at the beginning of the year.)  Have a blank piece of paper and pencil available for each student.

Let the describing begin
Start out by discussing the dogs and what they look like.  Have the students describe the color, size, ears, nose, etc. of each dog.  You may want to write the words that they come up with next to the dog’s picture.

Tell them that the sad news is that their dogs have wondered off in the neighborhood and they need help finding them.  They each need to make a “Lost Dog” sign describing what their dog looks like so that their neighbors will know which dog belongs to them.  When they are finished, have the children read their descriptions to the group.  The group then guesses which dog belongs to that owner.

Believe it or not, there is a simple way to add some spice to your students’ papers.  With a bit of variety and details, even the most basic paper can come to life.  Teach these techniques prior to planning and writing papers or as you proofread a paper together.

Stop the “then, then, then” train:
The first transition word students tend to add to their papers is “then”.  But when each paragraph is so weighted down with “then”, it gets to be a drag.  So, give them some substitutes, such as…

• After that
• Next
• Following that

By simply using these words instead of “then”, the paper will instantly have some variety and interest.

Details:
Have students add words, phrases, or sentences that answer the following questions…

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?  How many?  For how long?

For example, if the student wrote, “We went to New York.”  Have him answer these questions to expand on the first, basic sentence.

• Who did you go with?  Who did you go see?
• What did you do there?  What did you see?  What did you eat?
• Where in New York did you go?  Where did you stay?
• When did you go?
• Why did you go there?
• How did you get there?  How long did you stay?

With so many details, the reader will get a much clearer picture of what the writer is trying to express.  What a difference some details can make!

You can even make reminder notes for students to stick to their desks or inside their notebook, like these cards.  Print them on standard business cards or on regular paper and cut them apart.