Friendly Letter Writing Unit
GRADE LEVEL: 5th Grade
DATE and TIME ALLOTMENT: April 9, 11 and 30, 1 hour each day
SUBJECT AREA(S): Language Arts: Friendly Letter Writing
GOALS (in relation to MA ELA Curriculum
Frameworks)
- Students will write with a
clear focus, coherent organization, and sufficient detail. (Composition Strand, Standard 19:Writing)
- Students will organize ideas in
writing in a way that makes sense for their purpose. (Composition Strand, Standard 23: Organizing Ideas in Writing)
- Students will demonstrate
improvement in organization, content, paragraph development, level of
detail, style, tone, and word choice (diction) in their compositions after
revising them. (Composition Strand,
Standard 21: Revising)
- Write formal letters to
correspondents such as authors, newspapers, businesses, or government
officials (19.18)
WHERETO
E- Equip,
Experience, and Explore
·
By
looking at problems within their own community they will explore and experience
it in a new way
H-Hook and Hold
·
Before
writing, students will brainstorm the meaning of social change and as a class
we will come up with a definition and examples.
R-Rethink and
Revise
·
Students
will revise their drafts and make sure their solution is appropriate to their
problem.
T-Tailored
·
Students
are able to pick their own problem within their community that is meaningful to
them.
WHEELOCK COLLEGE TEACHING STANDARDS
- Observe and listen to children
as they work, learn, and play in a variety of settings to gain insights
into what their students know, how they think, what they value, who they
are, where they come from, and what motivates them. WCS2
- Educators should be adept at
using and teaching the fundamentals of the English Language Arts. They
should model effective use of English, including its syntax and lexicon,
history and varieties, literary and oral traditions, and written composing
process. WCS3
UNDERSTANDING
Facet 1: Explanation and Bloom’s
Taxonomy: Knowledge-Students will
be able to explain and recognize the parts of a friendly letter.
Facet 2: Interpretation and
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Comprehension- Students will be able to
understand and describe several instances of social change within history.
Facet 4: Perspective and Bloom’s
Taxonomy: Evaluation- Students
will be able to apply their knowledge of
what social change is to finding a meaningful problem within their own
community to write about.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
- How can I advocate for change?
- What are ways I can impact my
community?
- What needs to be changed in my
community?
- What is a friendly letter?
ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
- Class
Discussion. I
plan on beginning the lesson by asking the students what they believe
social change is and developing a definition so everyone has an
understanding of the concept.
- Past
Lessons. I
will focus first on the peaceful ways Martin Luther King advocated for
social change and how it is possible for the students to use these methods
because they have already learned this information during the school year.
OBJECTIVES
1. Students will write with a clear focus, coherent
organization, and sufficient detail.
Students will identify a problem and write
a friendly letter to advocate for change. They will describe their problem
using a specific location and other details as well as formulate a solution to
their problem.
I know the parts of
a friendly letter.
I can identify a
problem and generate a solution.
2. Students
will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, paragraph development,
level of detail, style, tone, and word choice (diction) in their compositions
after revising them.
Students will begin with a
template and be able to peer edit their drafts to create a final draft that
shows improvement from their earlier draft(s).
I know how to re-read and edit my own paper, and my peers.
3. Write formal letters to
correspondents such as authors, newspapers, businesses, or government officials
Student’s final drafts of their friendly
letters will be given to their State Senator or State Representative.
I know who my State Senator and State Representative are.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
- For ELL students: They will
have a friendly letter template and rubric translated into Spanish with
instructions.
- For students who need more
assistance I will have friendly letter templates for them to brainstorm on
and use as a rough draft.
- Students can also request to
look back at the PowerPoint for directions if necessary.
ASSESSMENT
- I will know if my objectives
have been achieved by the final copies of the friendly letters.
- See attached rubric for
assessing student work.
- I will be looking to see if
students meet the criteria in the rubric.
- They should be able to have a
clear introduction that describes who they are and relates to their
problem. Their second paragraph should clearly state their problem with an
exact location and description. Their third paragraph should have a
plausible solution that is clearly described.
IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES
Materials:
- The Progressive Movement:
Advocating Social Change By: Tim McNeese
- Black Ants and Buddhists By: Mary
Cowhey
- PowerPoint
- Computer
- Whiteboard
- Markers
- Rubric
- Friendly Letter Template
(Spanish and English)
- Chart Paper
Procedure:
Wednesday, April 4
- The classroom teacher will
introduce the topic on so that over the weekend students can look around
their neighborhoods for things they would like to see change in. (5 min)
- Teacher will lead a class discussion on what could be a possible
thing changed in their neighborhood.
Monday, April 9
- Teacher will begin the lesson
by having a conversation with the students about what they believe social
change is.
- The teacher will then ask what
students remember about Martin Luther King Jr. and how he advocated social
change through peaceful ways. (5-7
min)
- Teacher will then share another
example from The Progressive Movement: Advocating Social Change to
show how people have created social change movements throughout history,
focusing primarily on the Women’s Sufferage Movement. (7-10 min)
- Teacher will share the example
from Black Ants and Buddhists when a student from Mary Cowhey’s
class wrote a letter to the Mayor about removing a shopping cart from a
stream. Teacher will have a conversation with the class about how writing
a letter can be an effective way to create change within their
communities. (7-10 min)
- Teacher will have class
generate a list of changes they would like to make in their community on
the chart paper for future reference later on so that everyone has a
meaningful topic to write about. (15 min)
- Teacher will introduce the
Friendly Letter Template and explain all parts of a Friendly Letter:
address, salutation, three body paragraphs (background, problem, solution),
and conclusion. (20 min)
- Students will begin drafting
Friendly Letters and if time allows begin editing process. (Time that is
left)
Wednesday, April 11
- Teacher will reintroduce topic
by asking what they remember about Representative Jeff Sanchez and Senator
Sonia Chang-Diaz (Classroom teacher will have had a lesson on this
information on the previous day, Tuesday, April 10) (5-7 min)
- Students will continue the
editing process and finish letters for Representative Jeff Sanchez and
Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz. (45 min)
Monday, April 30
- Representative Jeff Sanchez and
Senator Chang-Diaz will visit the fifth grade to talk about their
backgrounds, how they became a State Representative and State Senator, and
any current projects they is working on in the student’s district. They
will receive the student’s letter and answer their questions. (1 hour)
