Letter writing

Teaching Pre K-8, Aug/Sep 2001 by Manning, Maryann

"Snail mail" is hardly obsolete, so here are hints for teaching the basics of letter writing.

A couple of decades ago when computers began showing up in our homes and schools, some futurists said that writing and reading were going to become obsolete skills. In this decade, some grammarians worry about the demise of writing skills because writers are ignoring rules when writing e-mails. These pronouncements struck fear into the hearts of book lovers everywhere.

I'm optimistic, however, about the quality and quantity of student writing since we have developed better ways to teach writing. Students are writing every hour as a natural part of all areas of the curriculum.

Letter writing is an important part of our history. Family heritage is enriched by letters in old trunks as ancestors' voices come to life. Letters written by early European settlers and letters written throughout the world help to constitute and reveal our history.

There are many reasons to write letters in the classroom, including saying thank you to in-class guests, expressing get-well wishes and seeking information on topics we're studying. The letters we use in our instruction should be real letters that have been received, will be sent, or have been published.

Rationale: The ability to communicate through letter writing develops as students mature as writers. Letter writing provides an authentic purpose for writing because the audience is real.

Lesson: Introductory statements to facilitate the discussion of letter writing may include the following points:

(Primary students)

* Many people write often to others.

* Letters should sound like you are speaking to the person to whom you're writing.

* Letters to people you know are often friendly letters.

* People write letters throughout their lives.

* There is a correct and an incorrect way to write letters.

(Intermediate and middle school students)

* There are important style differences between informal and formal written communication.

* A business letter has six parts: heading, inside address, salutation, body, closing and signature.

* Three of the major types of business letters are letters to request or order something, to adjust an unsatisfactory situation or to apply for something.

* The writer of a business letter cannot be careless.

* Software programs often help standardize the style (block or semi-- block) of business letters.

Demonstrations with texts

1 Share well-written letters of different types. Use transparencies of these letters to compare the appearance, form, organization of the text, tone and mechanics (capitalization, punctuation and spelling).

2 Read aloud books such as The Jolly Postman Or, Other People's Letters by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (Little, Brown, 1986). Many pieces of children's literature are based upon letters the characters have written. Stringbean 's Trip to the Shining Sea by Vera B. Williams and Jennifer Williams (Morrow, 1999) is a collection of postcards sent by siblings while on a trip. Who could forget the importance of the letters found in Patricia MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall (HarperCollins, 1987)? Through brief letters the characters reveal their personalities to each other and the reader. In The Gardener by David Small and Sarah Stewart (Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997), the story completely unfolds in the letters which a young girl living in the city writes to her family back home.

Demonstrations by the teacher

1 Share letters that you've written and received. Draft different types of actual letters on transparencies and think aloud about the reason for writing and the content of the letter. Discuss how writing business letters follows the same writing process of drafting and revising before sending (publishing).

2 Write on a transparency a fan letter to an author about the students' enjoyment of a book or write a letter to a local politician complimenting him/her on the position taken on an issue.

3 Look at different types of stationery and compare choices for friendly and business letters. Follow the discussion of stationery with a demonstration of how to fold a letter and how to address an envelope.

4 Brainstorm different closings for personal letters. Ask students to think of closings that express fondness.

Demonstrations by students

1 Ask students to write different types of letters and share them in pairs. Try to have the students write real letters they will send, rather than artificial ones that will never be read outside the classroom.

Facilitating social interaction

1 Suggest that students work in pairs for the revision process of writing letters. Ask students to make their own checklist for evaluating the parts of business letters.

2 Provide copies of well-written and poorly-written letters. Ask students to study the good examples before identifying problems in the poor examples.

Increasing the use of letter writing

Consider using weekly letters home as part of your home-school connection. Each student's letter can be sent home with a parent letter from the teacher. A blank sheet of paper is also included so parents can respond. This system helps parents to gain valuable insights into the life of the classroom from both the child's and the teacher's perspective.