I have 5 Proven Letter Writing Activities that boost student engagement and hit the mark with second and third-grade writing standards!
Are you an elementary teacher who wants to teach your students letter writing skills through engaging activities that will promote the love of writing? Yes, producing students that write letters on their own!
The Background
I’ve taught second through fourth grades for the last twenty-some years. Throughout this time, I’ve enjoyed teaching writing the most. So I’m constantly looking for creative ways to foster the love of writing within my students.
I’m sure you feel the same way if you’re reading this post.
Something I’ve learned throughout this time is that students have a voice and want to use it. They need a little support and encouragement in using their writing voice. But once they have it, there’s no limit!
Yes, that’s teacher heaven right there.
Every Teacher Everywhere
One way I support and encourage student writing is through Friendly Letter Writing Activities. The following activities are a mixture of whole-class instruction, small group collaboration, and peer discussions.
The activities will skyrocket your student’s desire to write in no time at all.
The search is over. Here’s a new and creative way to boost your writing lessons with an old-school tradition.
Friendly Letter Writing Workspace
Before introducing any of the Letter Writing Activities, I set the stage. It’s just a little touch of anticipation that motivates students to participate in writing instruction.
I also suggest setting up a Letter Writing Center with all the bells and whistles. I include a mailbox, stationary, stamps, envelopes, letter writing anchor charts, and graphic organizers.
Next to the Letter Writing Center are the Letter Writing Read-Aloud Books. I suggest keeping the books close by to offer inspiration when needed.
I look at the Letter Writing Center as the second and third-grade version of the kindergarten playhouse. Don’t you think older kids need a creative space as well? I sure do!
The Student Hook for FREE!
You can check out my FREE Letter Writing Post Office here. After signing up, you’ll have all the materials needed to excite your students and then maintain their enthusiasm for letter writing.
Then, introduce the activity with regular routines and expectations of the Writing Post Office. I hope the first and most crucial expectation will be to use it!
Yes, that expectation is just a sneaky way to get the students in front of the anchor charts, writing rubric, and checklist needed to support excellent writing.
Now, if you’re a bit “extra,” you may even use the FREE Letter Writing Post Office and create individual desk-sized Post Offices!
Whole-Class Letter Writing Activities
To truly improve student writing, there must be an element of direct instruction.
The necessary lessons on writing structures, using your voice, and so much more are essential.
For me, this is a time for whole-class instruction before the students even begin to write.
My whole must-have class activities are note-taking, peer discussions, and color-coding the text.
Note-taking on Letter Writing Features
Next, I provide the necessary background information on friendly letter writing, the students take brief notes in a straightforward graphic organizer. The notes then become a source of reference to support their letter writing in action.
Pre-Writing Peer Discussions
So, I encouraged students to discuss their learning with peers. The more discussion opportunities, the better the writing.
Mind-blowing, right?
As you teach the Friendly Letter Writing Unit, students are provided with small chunk-sized mini-lessons, each with several peer discussion opportunities.
The peer discussions allow students to verbalize their thoughts. Students then gain perspectives of others, receive feedback, and adjust previous thinking.
All of which leads to stronger writing.
An example of peer discussions is discussing the topic of a letter with a peer before committing to the writing.
Students share and build upon each other’s ideas. All topics are thought out, supported, and explained before starting to write.
Once the student takes the discussion to write, the overall outcome is much more developed.
It’s like giving students a “practice” round before putting in the extra effort to develop the writing.
I had a friend once say, “always take it to the writing stage.”
“Talk it out before you write it out.”
M. Qualle
Color-Coding the Text Activity
Finally, my favorite whole-class pre-writing activity is Color-Coding the Text. If you’re not familiar with this, here are the basics.
First, you provide a mentor text to read together. Then as a class, and eventually independently, the students highlight each feature of Letter Writing structure with a different color.
Students love this pre-writing activity because (you know), well, highlighters, of course!
In our situation, Friendly Letter Writing Activities, the students highlight the heading in purple, the greeting in green, the body in yellow, the closing in red, and finally, the signature in blue.
Yes, the students have engaged, plus the finished product is so easy for you to scan for check for understanding quickly.
Can you say, a total win-win?!
Letter Writing Practice Worksheet
In my opinion, there’s one single Lette worksheet that must be present for students to be successful. That’s the graphic organizer.
You can pick up your FREE letter writing graphic organizer found within the Letter Writing Post Office Kit.
The graphic organizer worksheet is the single most crucial worksheet in the letter writing unit.
Students will need to have the letter-writing structure down to pat to write letters independently. So I believe in scaffolding the graphic organizer.
Plus, I use the graphic organizer at the beginning with heavy support. Over time, I slowly remove the scaffolds to encourage student independence.
As the students become more efficient with their letter writing skills, the graphic organizer has fewer supports. Eventually, students will not need the graphic organizer.
Letter Writing Activities for a Center
There are numerous fun and engaging Letter Writing Activities for your centers. In this post, I have two that are my go-to for Letter Writing Skills.
Letter Writing Match-Up Activity
Also, use the Letter Writing Match-Up Activity with pairs of students or with small groups. The goal of the writing activity is to match three puzzle pieces together.
Each set will be one feature of the Letter Writing Structure. Students will need to check the vocabulary term, the definition, and an example together.
Example:
Heading matches includes the reader address and date, which then matches with, 2416 First Street, Ceres, CA 95386
The beauty of this activity is that students need to check one another’s work, which is more practice with the letter-writing structure.
Letter Writing Choice Board
The Letter Writing Choice Board is an array of 12 different letter writing prompts. I assign this activity in centers or as Early Finishers Work. With twelve writing prompts, students are busy writing.
I use the Choice Board throughout each month to save me time. (Fin!)
Another benefit of using the choice board is it gives students an actual choice!
Yes, we don’t have to dictate everything! Who knew?
That’s right, allowing students the choice in writing will definitely pay off in the quality of the student writing.
An interesting writing prompt equals quality writing.
Digital Letter Writing Activities
However, Letter Writing Activities are not always pen-to-paper. Oh no, not in the world we live in today. We also have letter writing through email. With 3 million emails sent every second, teaching our young students the letter structure is essential.
Now, I still believe in students learning how the print and write in cursive. So I use a delicate balance of digital and printable resources. If you’re like me and want both the digital and printable Friendly Letter Writing Unit, you can check it out here.
(Here’s a little side note. Did you know you can print the slides in Google Slides? Use 8.5 X 11-inch slides.
Digital Activities
The most ideal Digital Letter Writing Activities found in my Friendly Letter Writing Unit are:
- Note-Taking Activities
- Peer Brainstorming
- Graphic Organizers
- Writing Checklists
- Check for Understanding
Also, the listed digital activities are short and quick, which is usually not too overwhelming for young students who may not be proficient at typing yet. (Trust me, fast and simple will save you your sanity.)
In addition, I have a related post, How to Teach Friendly Letter Writing, with 3 Key Elements that you may want to check out.
There you have it. Five Letter Writing Activities to Boost your lessons now. Just like that, once you introduce letter writing using these activities, there’s no stopping them. Letter Writing Activities will hook your students for life!
Also, I offer a course for teachers to transform their students’ writing through letter-writing, called Elevate with Letter Writing. You can check out all the course goodness here.
Are your students struggling and making very little progress in writing? Or maybe they’re unmotivated or a reluctant writer? If so, I’ve got your back.
Yes…I…Do!
Let me share my secret sauce when it comes to teaching writing to elementary students.
It’s the Sentences, Paragraphs, and Essays: OH, MY! E-book.
Click this link to learn more about how the E-Book can transform your students’ chicken scratch, hap-hazard writing into strong, effective, glorious writing!
–Melissa
