Dakota State University

College of Education
LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Name: Whitney Werdel

Grade Level: 3rd Grade
School: Dakota Prairie Elementary
Date: 4/16/18
Time: language

Reflection from prior lesson:

Who remembers hearing the letter we got in the mail from the 3rd graders in Omaha? (reread the
letter so we are all on the same page) since they asked us to write back with a response we are
going to begin those letters as well as the letters to each of the states you got to pick!

Before we start writing the letters I think we should do a few others things to get us completely
ready for this since there is a lot of other work that goes into writing a letter than you would
think!

Lesson Goal(s) / Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and
information clearly. To inform students on how to write a personal letter.

3.H.1.1 Demonstrate knowledge of the obstacles and successes of the early settlers and in
creating communities. To inform

3.G.2.1 Identify reasons why people move and how it affects their communities

Lesson Objectives: For students to be able to identify the 5 main parts of a personal letter
with 80% accuracy.

Materials Needed:
Smart board
Letter paper
pencils

Contextual Factors/ Learner Characteristics: there are 2 students on IEP that share
an aide to assist them during class time. Often, they leave to use a smaller room to
work on anything we would be doing. There is one student that utilizes title for reading.

A. The Lesson
1. Introduction (5 minutes)
 Initially on the smart board I am going to have a picture of a pony express
member:

What are you guys thinking when you see this picture?
Has anyone ever heard of the pony express?

Today we are going to be exploring how to write a personal letter! Way back
before we had computers, and cell phones that we can send messages instantly,
people had to use letters through the mail as a form of communication! These letters
would take anywhere from 7 days and 17 hours (the fastest piece recorded during the
pony express). The pony express was what they called the postal service when they
traveled by horse and carriage! They hand delivered mail and could be expected to ride
around 100 miles per day! Who would like to have a job like that where you would just
ride on a horse delivering mail over 100 miles per day? Of course, this wasn’t always
the safest job as some thieves wanted the mail on the pony express.
Now today with all of our modern technology we have the opportunity to
send and receive mail in as little as 2-3 days!
2. Content Delivery (22 minutes)
We are going to walk through how to write our very own letter!
Can anyone tell me how many parts of a letter you think there are?
(correct answer 5)
 Does anyone have a guess as to what the different parts are? (answer:
date, greeting, body, closing, and signature)
Where do you think the date would go? On your paper I want you to write
where you think it would go! (top right corner)
What do you think a greeting is? (a formal way to greet the letter recipient)
Where do you think the greeting is written? (Next line down from the date,
on the left)
Why do you think we use a greeting to start a letter?
Do you think we use the same greeting for everyone we are writing a letter
to?
What part do you think would come next? (the body of the letter!)
Does anyone have an idea of what the body of the letter would contain?
(the main parts of the letter, the main reasons they are sending it in the first place)
Who thinks they know the next part of a letter? (the closing)
Does anyone know what a closing in a letter is? (a sign off such as love,
sincerely, yours truly)
What do you think could be the last step of writing a letter? (signature)
On your extra paper I would like you to write a letter outline of the 5 main
parts of a letter so we can refer back to it when we go to write letters to the other third
grade classes!
What should we put in the top right corner? (the date!)
What goes on the paper next? (the greeting!)
What would you write down after that? (the body of the letter)
What would you put down after the body of the letter? (the closing)
And finally, what would we finish the letter with? (signature)

Now that we know how to write a letter we are also going to learn how to
address the envelope on a letter!
Does anyone know what we could put on the envelope so the person we
are sending it to gets it? (the address, their name)
Does anyone know how many lines we use when addressing an
envelope? (3-4 total)
The first letter is going to have the name of the person or place we are
sending the letter to)
If we are sending it to say a school classroom we would write out the
specific place, followed by the school name!
Does anyone know what would come after that? (the street address)
What do you think could go on the last line? (city, state, and zip code)
With a showing of hands who knows what a zip code is? (a 5 digit code
that tells where the city is located)
So we don’t forget it lets turn the piece of paper over and write down what
our address here at school is! (Miss Herman’s Third grade class, Dakota Prairie
Elementary, 111 26th Street South, Brookings, SD 57006)

3. Closure (3 minutes)
 To finish the day we are going to be filling out an informational sheet that we will
sue in the body of our letters over the next few days! Does anyone have any questions regarding
how to write a letter or how to address an envelope?
B. Assessments Used
Formative- Thumbs up, Thumbs down

C. Differentiated Instruction

Remediation—For those struggling with the main parts of a letter, I will have them
make another practice letter.

Enrichment—Have students actually write a letter in their notes instead of just the
outline of a personal letter

Language Support—I will assist students who are in need of help with spelling different
words as we write out the outline.

D. Resources

“The great mail race”

History facts about the Pony Express: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/back0304.cfm

Writing a letter- Day 2

Reflection from prior lesson:

Who can tell me what the 5 parts of a personal letter were? (date, greeting, body,
closing, and signature).
Can anyone tell me what we were learning about on how to label an envelope?
(address)

Lesson Goal(s) / Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1.I
Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2.B
Use commas in addresses.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2.A
Capitalize appropriate words in titles.

3.H.2.3
Analyze a community’s culture and history

Lesson Objectives:
After learning about how to write a personal letter, students will be able to produce a letter with
the 5 parts that make up a personal letter.

Materials Needed:
Practice paper
Nice writing paper
Envelope
Facts sheet
Pencil
Eraser

Contextual Factors/ Learner Characteristics:

A.The Lesson
1. Introduction (2 minutes):
We are going to continue working on how to write a personal letter! Can I have a
few people come and write the main parts of a letter on the board! (5 main parts of a
personal letter)

2. Content Delivery (8 minutes):

Was there anyone that still had questions about how to put their addresses on
the envelope?
 We are going to put the address to our states on the envelopes! With the given
addresses we are going to copy what I have provided, since each you have different
addresses for each of the different states, we are going to go line by line but this is
really going to be an individual project!
Before we start where at on the envelope do you think we should write the
address for the schools we are sending the letter to? (put the top of the address in the
middle of the envelope)
Where do you think we should put our address on the envelope? (top left corner)
Why do you think we need to put our address on the envelope? (so if we get the
wrong address they will know where the letter goes back to! *another name is return
address)
We are going to do this part together, start writing our address in the corner (Miss
Herman’s Third Grade class, Dakota Prairie Elementary, 111 26th Street south,
Brookings, SD 57006)
What do you think all of the parts of an address represent? (street, city, state, zip
code- specific place, no two the same)

3. Work time (15 minutes):

Now using the information sheets, we filled out yesterday we are going to draft
our two letters that we are going to be sending to the other states!
On your draft paper, start by writing your letter outline and you may add anything
from your information sheet! Be sure to add your first name so they know who is writing
to them!

4. Closure (2 minutes):
Now that we have practiced writing our letters and have wrote them out on nice paper,
they are ready to be sent through the pony express! Right? Oh no that’s right we have the U.S.
post service now don’t we!? I would like everyone to go ahead and “mail” your letters into the
language bin and we will get them sent out to your schools!

B. Assessments Used
Formative- thumbs up “yes I totally go this”, Thumbs in the middle “I still have a few
questions” or thumbs down “I have no idea please reteach”.
Summative- the first draft of the letter, final letter and addressed envelope

C. Differentiated Instruction

Remediation—For those who still need help with writing the letters, I will help them
individually or have another student who understands the lesson, work with them

Enrichment—Have students help teach other students who are not quite understanding
it

Language Support—N/A
D. Resources

“The Great Mail Race”

Writing a letter- day 3

Reflection from prior lesson:

Who can tell me what the 5 parts of a personal letter were? (date, greeting, body,
closing, and signature).
Can anyone tell me what we were learning about on how to label an envelope?
(address)

Lesson Goal(s) / Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.1.I
Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2.B
Use commas in addresses.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2.A
Capitalize appropriate words in titles.

3.H.2.3
Analyze a community’s culture and history

Lesson Objectives:
After learning about how to write a personal letter, students will be able to produce a letter with
the 5 parts that make up a personal letter.

Materials Needed:
Nice writing paper
Envelope
Facts sheet
Pencil
Eraser

Contextual Factors/ Learner Characteristics:

The students sometimes have a hard time staying focused on the task at hand depending o who
they are seated next to. I do have to repeat the directions often.
A.The Lesson
1. Introduction (1 minute):
We are going to continue working on how to write a personal letter, so we can
get them sent out to the other schools!

2. Content Delivery (4 minutes):

Was there anyone that still had questions about how to put their addresses on
the envelope?
 We are going to write our letters today! Everyone will write out 2 letters, one
going to each of your states.
Everyone will need their questionnaires that you filled out on Tuesday!

3. Work time (23 minutes):

Now using the information sheets, we filled out Tuesday we are going to write our
two letters that we are going to be sending to the other states!
On your paper, start by writing your date and greeting. You may add anything
from your information sheet! Be sure to add your first name so they know who is writing
to them!
On here you will also be writing 3-4 facts from your questionnaire.
After you finish writing your body of the letter don’t forget the closing and the
signature!
Once you are finished with the first one you can move on to writing your second
one!
Make sure you are using your nicest handwriting!
Once you are finished with the letters bring them to me and I will proof read what
you have and approve, or have you redo some parts!
Once your letter has been approved we will be able to put them in our envelopes
and get them sent!
Remember this is an individual task and our voices should be off!

4. Closure (2 minutes):
Now that we have practiced writing our letters and have wrote them out on nice paper,
they are ready to be sent through the pony express! Right? Oh no that’s right we have the U.S.
post service now don’t we!? I would like everyone to go ahead and “mail” your letters into the
language bin and we will get them sent out to your schools!

B. Assessments Used
Formative- thumbs up “yes I totally go this”, Thumbs in the middle “I still have a few
questions” or thumbs down “I have no idea please reteach”.
Summative- the first draft of the letter, final letter and addressed envelope

C. Differentiated Instruction

Remediation—For those who still need help with writing the letters, I will help them
individually or have another student who understands the lesson, work with them

Enrichment—Have students help teach other students who are not quite understanding
it

Language Support—N/A

D. Resources
“The Great Mail Race”