What would you do for a co-op class entiled Letter Writing/Pen Pals for ages 8-11?

[Sherri in MI]

I've been asked to teach it for co-op next year and I have no idea what to do. We meet Sept - March, approximately 2x per month for a total of 14 class sessions. Each class period is 60 minutes.

 

Any ideas or suggestions?

[Erica in OR]

Oh, my. That's a heck of a lot of time/sessions for what appears to me to be a simple activity. I guess I'd start with the usual review of the parts of a letter (Rod & Staff has good, clear lessons on this). Work on a way to identify and connect with new pen pals. Then maybe spend time each session writing letters and having students make brief public speaking presentations on what they've heard from their pen pals. Do a map with pins to show the location of each pen pal. Make cards to send to pen pals for holidays?

 

Erica in OR

[MommiNEnd]

Do card making for special occasions.Card making could easily eat up a whole hour. If you made 2 -3 cards with them, they could give one to their pen pal and give the others to their friends or family.

[Chris in VA]

Seriously? What an odd co-op class. Could you cut it down to one semester?

I'd be tempted to make it into some sort of geography-based class, but it kinda takes the fun out of pen pal-ing to have to make it into a class.

[mom31257]

60 minutes seems like a long time for that type of activity and that age group. Here is what I would do:

 

September: Letter formats and how to address envelopes; personal letters one week and business letters the next

Personal lesson: reasons to write personal letters; see if you can find some copies of letters by famous people

Business lesson: reasons to write business letters; bring in examples

Game Idea: break up into groups and give each group a "letter puzzle" where they have to put little cards with letter parts in the right spot

 

October: Practice writing letters of each kind (again one day personal, one day business); work in groups to write a letter together to an imaginary person and

business that they create, including the reason for the letter; have them pick one type and write a real letter

 

 

November: Make Thanksgiving cards for extended family, make "I am thankful for you" cards for parents, have them put the reasons why & thankful card to God

if it is a religious co-op

 

December: Learn about pen pals and what's appropriate to write to them (work on finding pen pals before now)

 

Make Christmas cards for family and for a local nursing home/assisted living place; have them deliver; give kids their pen pal information and have

them start writing

 

January: Teach about writing thank you notes; write thank you notes for Christmas presents (have kids bring list with them of what they received)

 

Teach about Letters to the Editor; bring in examples; have kids brainstorm ideas that they could write about to an editor; work in groups to create letters

to actually send

 

February: Make Valentine cards for friends and family; give an update on pen pal writing and how it's going

 

Review personal/business letter writing; do a review game of some kind and have them write another letter do a type different than in the Fall

(cover some instruction on speaking in public for the next lesson)

 

 

 

March: Prepare a speech at home to tell about their pen pal experiences and present them in class

 

Last week: have a party and have the kids write notes to each other saying how they enjoyed being in class together.

[mom31257]

I just realized I would probably move the pen pal lessons up to earlier in the year, so I'd switch something around. I probably wouldn't start off with it still, though, because they need to learn how to write a letter first.

[katilac]

Maybe you could read some famous and/or historical letters?

 

Would they be opposed to adding some topics reflective of the 21st century? :laugh:

 

For example, etiquette for texting and emails, how to make electronic communication more meaningful, and so on.

 

If it needs to be strictly paper-and-pen, perhaps you could let the kids try out fountain pens and sealing wax.

[lanabug]

What about writing a letter "to" a famous historical person or a fictional character? They could even have the "recipient" of the letter write one back.

 

Write letters/send care packages to military overseas?

 

How about writing postcards for an imaginary trip? Each student could pick a trip and write several postcards about the things they "saw" on their trip.

 

If it's a religious co-op, how about having them write a new letter (pretend to be Paul, etc.) to the 1st century Christians, or what would an apostle write to today's churches?

 

Lana

[Erica in OR]

Write letters/send care packages to military overseas?

 

 

Love this idea—adds a service learning element to it.

 

Erica in OR

[Sherri in MI]

Oh, my. That's a heck of a lot of time/sessions for what appears to me to be a simple activity. I guess I'd start with the usual review of the parts of a letter (Rod & Staff has good, clear lessons on this). Work on a way to identify and connect with new pen pals. Then maybe spend time each session writing letters and having students make brief public speaking presentations on what they've heard from their pen pals. Do a map with pins to show the location of each pen pal. Make cards to send to pen pals for holidays?

 

Erica in OR

 

 

Erica,

 

Which grade Rod & Staff do you recommend? We did R&S through 5th grade only & I don't still have that book.

[moonlight]

Write a letter to their favorite author?

[unsinkable]

Write a letter to their favorite author?

 

Piggybacking off of this:

 

You could find a read aloud that involves letter writing to read for the first 10 minutes or so every class.

[moonlight]

How about Dear Mr. Henshaw?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Henshaw-Avon-Camelot-Books/dp/0380709589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371065834&sr=8-1&keywords=dear+mr.+henshaw

[Erica in OR]

 

Erica,

 

Which grade Rod & Staff do you recommend? We did R&S through 5th grade only & I don't still have that book.

 

 

Guess it depends what age group you have. I paged through two of ours today and they both had friendly letter lessons, including the third grade book. You could just as easily find lessons on the internet I suppose. I wouldn't get the books just for that.

 

Erica in OR

[Sherri in MI]

Write a letter to their favorite author?

 

What a great idea! I love it!

 

Piggybacking off of this:

 

You could find a read aloud that involves letter writing to read for the first 10 minutes or so every class.

 

I might incorporate this, if we have time. I have a feeling I will be helping them alot, since the age range starts at age 8. So I might not have a lot of time.

 

 

Guess it depends what age group you have. I paged through two of ours today and they both had friendly letter lessons, including the third grade book. You could just as easily find lessons on the internet I suppose. I wouldn't get the books just for that.

 

Erica in OR

 

Thanks for looking Erica. I was planning on looking on the internet.

 

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone! I should have the class planned out in a week or two.

[shanvan]

I would be sure to read some of the letter Beatrix Potter and CS Lewis wrote to children. I taught a unit on letter writing years ago and we read quite a few letters from famous authors to children. I used a compilation, but I can't remember the title.

 

ETA: On the historical/crafty side, I'd look into ways that letters were folded and how every single part of the paper was written on. Then I'd probably explore the use of wax seals.