Writing Letters
A WebQuest for 5th-7th Grade English
Introduction | Tasks | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Advice
Introduction:
You have been hired as the new Cyberspace Postmaster. Your job is to educate your neighborhood on electronic communications. You must educate them about the different formats used in friendly and formal letters. It is up to you to continue the lines of communication in your neighborhood.
The Tasks:
These activities will allow you to participate in school technology resources as well as write letters to friends, family, penpals, and even the President of the United States.
You will define and identify the five parts of a friendly letter.
The Process:
These great sites will allow you to communicate with others more effectively. Read the directions carefully. Have a wonderful time communicating with others.1. Welcome to the Friendly Letter Writing Unit. Take a Pretest on what you know about the five parts of a friendly letter. Find out where to use a commas and capital letters in the letter. Finally identify the parts of a letter and Posttest on what you have learned. Record your scores in your portfolio.2. Would you like to build friendships one letter at a time? Inky Trail News allows you to post a penpal ad, discuss letter writing, or chat with another visitor of this site. Find a penpal and e-mail them. Send a carbon copy of your penpal letter to your teacher or print out the letter and place it in your portfolio.
3. Choose one of the four stationaries for a friendly letter. Print out your choice and begin writing a letter to a friend. Place a copy of this in your portfolio as well.
4. This is a great opportunity to study Formal Letter Writing. Read about the different parts of a formal/business letter as well as the layouts of the letter. Compose a formal letter to your favorite fast food restaurant. Choose one of the following addresses and begin writing: Burger King allows you to find a restaurant in your area and gives the mailing address for that site. McDonald's and Taco Bell give an e-mail address. Wendy's allows you to send the letter to their corporate mailing address. Send a carbon copy of your letter to your teacher or print out the letter and place it in your portfolio. (Some of the sites require parental assistance if under the age of 13.)
5. Visit the White House in Washington, D. C. While there, find out how to contact President Bush. Write President Bush a Formal Letter by e-mail. Print a copy of your e-mail and place it in your portfolio.
The Evaluation:
You will be graded according to the rubric below. It will be necessary for you to use e-mail to complete several of the tasks. A wonderful site to use in this experience is Gaggle, a kid-safe e-mail site.
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Conclusion:
You have learned how to write friendly and formal letters, as well as sending e-mail letters. Congratulations on your accomplishments. Continue working hard and always remember that letter writing is an easy way to keep in touch with your community.
Credits & References:
A special thanks to animatedgif.com for the animations used in this Webquest.
Teacher Advice:
This lesson is anchored toward fifth through seventh grade language arts.The learner will need to have a background in writing skills. He/she should know when to use a capital letter and punctuation.
This is a single disciplinary lesson. It can be broken up into three periods stressing each task separately. The first lesson will involve the five parts of a friendly letter. The second lesson taught will be on the formal letters. The third lesson will inform the learners on how to use e-mail.
The teacher should be educated on proper letter writing skills. It also requires some experience on e-mail delivery.
This lesson can be taught in a classroom without the use of computers. Have the students write friendly letters within the class. The students should write a formal letter to the President of the United States as well. If student computers are not available, use the teacher's computer to demonstrate how an e-mail is done.
In order to complete the entire lesson as described above, computers are needed. This lesson can be taught without the assistance of computers as described above. One teacher is needed to implement the lesson. Parental assistance may be needed for some sites if the student is under the age of thirteen. If the teacher would like to expand on the penpal letters, he/she may coordinate with a teacher of the same grade from another school. They could exchange a list of names and addresses of their students. This allows each student the opportunity to have a penpal.
One other website that can be implemented into this lesson is G.I.R.L. This website is a great opportunity for girls to become more familiar with penpals and online activities with other girls.
Created for EDU 506 @ FHU School of Education by Angie Duncan on July 24, 2001.
Last update October 1, 2001, by Dr. Bruce Lewis.