Making Letters

Intern: Ashley Blair

Date: 2/10/16

Objectives The objective of this lesson is to help students understand the format of a
letter and to compare a letter to other types of writing styles.
TEKS (1) Reading/Beginning Reading Skills/Print Awareness. Students understand
how English is written and printed. Students are expected to:(A) recognize that spoken
words can be represented by print for communication;(2) Reading/Beginning Reading
Skills/Phonological Awareness. Students display phonological awareness. Students are
expected to: F) blend spoken onsets and rimes to form simple words (e.g., onset/c/ and
rime/at/ make cat);(G) blend spoken phonemes to form one-syllable words (e.g.,/m/
/a/ /n/ says man);
(3) Reading/Beginning Reading Skills/Phonics. Students use the relationships between
letters and sounds, spelling patterns, and morphological analysis to decode written
English. Students are expected to: (A) identify the common sounds that letters
represent; (B) use knowledge of letter-sound relationships to decode regular words in
text and independent of content (e.g., VC, CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words);
(C) recognize that new words are created when letters are changed, added, or deleted;
and (D) identify and read at least 25 high-frequency words from a commonly used list.
(18) Oral and Written Conventions/Spelling. Students spell correctly. Students are
expected to:(A) use phonological knowledge to match sounds to letters;(B) use lettersound correspondences to spell consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words (e.g., "cut");
and(C) write one's own name.
(21) Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students use comprehension skills to listen
attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students continue to apply earlier
standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to:(A) listen attentively by
facing speakers and asking questions to clarify information; and(B) follow oral
directions that involve a short related sequence of actions.
(22) Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using
the conventions of language. Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater
complexity. Students are expected to share information and ideas by speaking audibly
and clearly using the conventions of language.
(23) Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in
teams. Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students
are expected to follow agreed-upon rules for discussion, including taking turns and
speaking one at a time
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ELPS (if applicable)

4. (A) learn relationships between sounds and letters of the English language and
decode (sound out) words using a combination of skills such as recognizing sound-letter
relationships and identifying cognates, affixes, roots, and base words;(B) recognize
directionality of English reading such as left to right and top to bottom;(C) develop basic
sight vocabulary, derive meaning of environmental print, and comprehend English
vocabulary and language structures used routinely in written classroom materials
5. (A) learn relationships between sounds and letters of the English language to
represent sounds when writing in English;(B) write using newly acquired basic
vocabulary and content-based grade-level vocabulary;(C) spell familiar English words
with increasing accuracy, and employ English spelling patterns and rules with increasing
accuracy as more English is acquired;
Focus/Anticipatory Set To get students attention, the teacher will post a letter onto the
smartboard using the ELMO that she has written. She will ask the class to sit quietly
and read the letter to them. The letter will be telling them thank you for letting the
teacher teach and remind them of their expectations. Then the teacher will read the
book Happy Valentines Day, Mouse.
Relevancy Students need to understand the differences in types of literature. Students
will be able to create letters and practice writing rules to further increase their print and
literacy awareness.
Explanation/Teaching Strategies & Modeling Review with students what the mouse
was making in the book. Ask students what the inside of a valentine letter might look
like. Go over the components of a letter. Create an anchor chart with the students to
show how letters should look include a Dear, ____ and a Love ____.
Teaching: Checking for Understanding Have students turn and talk to a partner
about the components of a letter. Then, call on students to come up to the smartboard
and write certain parts of a letter that are asked of them by the teacher.
Questioning strategies: Why was mouse making cards? What makes a letter different
than a story? Why is it important to sign your name at the bottom of a letter? Who do
you think you could write a letter to? Why do we write letters? Are letters written only
when we want to tell someone that we like them?
Guided Practice: The teacher will give each student a template of a letter. The
students will write a letter to a friend in their class. They will use the word wall and

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anchor chart for referencing spelling and style. The teacher will walk around the room
making sure everyone is following the correct style and correcting as needed.
Closure Now can anyone tell me what we need to do to make our letters into
Valentines Day cards? Yes, we need to decorate them. We learned how to write letters
and we wrote a letter to our friends. Now, we are going to decorate our letters to create
Valentines cards just like the mouse did in our book.
Independent Practice. Students will be given a piece of construction paper. They will
cut out their templates and glue their letters to their construction paper and then
decorate the outside. Then, they will read their letters to the class and present their
Valentines Day cards.
Materials: Anchor chart, letter template, construction paper, glue, pencil, crayons,
Happy Valentines Day, Mouse by: Laura Nomeroff
Duration 45min 1hour

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