Friendly Letter Writing: Thank You Letter

Grade Level: First

Subject: Language Arts, Writing
Teacher: Lindsay Wong
Lesson Date: March 22, 2016

Overview:
In previous lessons, students have written friendly letters without much emphasis on the parts of a
letter. Now we are combining our prior experience with information about the parts of a friendly letter,
gained during this lesson, to complete a proper thank you letter to a teacher.

AZCCS Standards
AZ.1.W.4. With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and
organization are appropriate to task and purpose: Produce functional writing (e.g. friendly letters) in
which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

Time
50-60 minutes

Materials
Students:

Thank You Letter Writing Paper

1 Letter part per student (for use during group work)
1 Letter Template poster board per group

Teacher:
Giant thank you letter from my teacher
Friendly Letter Parts Anchor Chart
Spanish/English vocabulary (ELL support) to display on SmartBoard during independent work

Lesson Objectives
Content Objectives
1. Students will be able to identify the parts of a friendly letter.
2. Students will be able to compose a properly formatted thank you letter in writing.
Language Objectives
1. Students will use vocabulary words to describe the parts of a friendly letter.
2. Students will discuss the parts of a letter in small groups in order to compose a sample letter.
3. Students will use complete sentences when composing their own thank you letter.

Key Vocabulary
Friendly letter: a pleasant written correspondence to somebody you know.
Heading: this is where you write the date at the top right hand side of the letter
Greeting: This is where you write dear__ or hello. This can be formal or informal, but always ends
with a comma.
Body: This is where you write your message. In this case, thank you for___.
Closing: This is where you write your goodbyes. It always ends with a comma.
Signature: This is where you sign your name.

Lesson Sequence
Anticipatory Set/Prior Knowledge Review:

Teacher asks students:

o Who has ever sent or received a letter?
o Teacher will remind students of the letters they recently wrote to the leprechauns.
o Has anybody ever sent or received a thank you letter?
Teacher will explain, I sent a letter to a teacher of mine to thank her. And she sent ME back a
thank you letter, thanking me. Shes so silly, she sent me a giant thank you. Here it is.
Teacher will read the sample thank you letter.
Teacher will explain that not only did my teacher feel great when she received my thank you,
but I felt great when I received her thank you. Thank you notes are so kind!

Instruction

Teacher will explain that friendly letters or thank you letters have five parts.
Teacher will introduce each part of the friendly letter, the vocabulary associated with it
(heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature).
Teacher will then point out each part in my teachers thank you letter.

Formative Assessment

Teacher will call on students randomly to have them read a specific part of the letter. For
example, can you read the greeting for me?
Teacher will ask the whole group to raise their hand if they know other examples of each part of
the friendly letter. For example, other than saying Dear _____, can I say it in a different way?

Application

Students will return to their table groups to work as a group in completing a pre-written thank
you letter. Students will each be responsible for placing at least one part of the letter in the
appropriate place on the template.
Student groups will present their completed letters with the class.

Independent Practice

Students will return to their seats to independently write a thank you letter to a teacher on the
writing paper provided.

Closure

Volunteer readers will share their letters with the whole group.

Teacher will ask students to recite the five parts of a friendly letter, pointing to their body
parts in correspondence to letter parts (like anchor chart).

Assessment

Assessment will be in the form of teacher observation, in part, reviewing answers to questions
during whole group and small group work.
Teacher will also assess each students final writing product (a thank you letter to a teacher)
looking for fulfillment of criteria on provided checklist.

Accommodations

ELL support is provided in the form of illustrations/visuals and large letter models.
Vocabulary terms are provided in both English and Spanish.
Teacher will assist lower level groups with guiding questions, if needed, while they complete
their writing.

Extensions

Students completing their thank you letter can challenge their brains, i.e. complete an
extension, by writing (on a separate piece of paper) an alternative way to write their heading,
greeting, and closing.

Anchor Chart
(Including velcro titles on either side of the chart so teacher can remove and have
chosen students place in appropriate spot to check for comprehension)

Friendly Letter Writing Paper Template

Examples of Thank you Letter Poster Boards with Velcro Letter Parts
for group work