Internet Resources to Teach Letter Writing
This week we were struck with the dilemma of not having access to Jenny Eather's Writing Fun resource. This great 'go to' resource for teaching different writing genres has ducked under the umbrella of Spellodrome, which my school has decided not to subscribe to this year. For the first time in years, I have been forced to look for something else and/or create my own resources for teaching a genre.
I was very pleased to find that Australia Post stepped up to the mark with a range of great educational resources. We accessed the letter samples and letter writing interactive. We used this interactive to write letters between two of the Year 2 classes. They also provide additional classroom resources that we have not found suitable to our situation at this time.
Prue then found this site that contains a range of different activities to enhance letter writing - including samples for editing. We plan to use some of these samples this week to teach editing skills.
The next logical step will be to consider how email is used to communicate and to compare letters to email. It might be fun to find some classes around the world that we can send and receive a couple of class emails or letters from. To tie in with our Integrated Inquiry - Now and Then, it would also be great to find some people born between 1940-1960 to share about how everyday life (and technology) has changed since they were children.
Posts
Hi Penny,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was on internship I did a post unit. I had each preschooler write a letter to themselves and send it home.
I also had a friendly postie named Michael from Australia post ride out to the school on his motor bike to do a talk. He gave the kids a colouring book and had three toy post vans to give away. This was a huge hit for the kids.
I have seen a cute idea on Pinterest where kids give the postie a pressie. They could maybe write a thank you letter for delivering the mail each day. I would like to do this with my toddler as she always loves listening out for the postie and getting parcels from eBay :)
Thanks for your post. It is lovely to read whilst I put my kids to sleep.
Thanks Sally. Great ideas for the classroom. I particularly love the idea of sending a letter to themselves or maybe to a family member. I will have to see if I can get to come and visit us.
ReplyDeleteYou can still access Jenny Eather's Writing Fun through ABC Reading Eggs Express. You need to login as a student or set up a demo student in your class subscription and head to the Writing Press. Also the teaching resources in ABC Reading Eggs/Express are fantastic! They have Targeting Text interactively which takes you through specific text types. Alternatively, you can purchase these (Targeting Text Interactively and Jenny Eather's Writing Fun) as interactive CD-ROMs through Blake Education :)
ReplyDelete