Lesson Plan Template ED 3501 (Version C)

Lesson
Title/Focus

Introduction to Letter Writing- Santa

Letters

Date

Dec. 1st

Subject/Gra
de Level

Language Arts- Grade 3

Time
Duratio
n

1 hour 10 min.

Unit

Read Aloud/ Christmas

Teacher

Miss. Lyon

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:

Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

General Outcome 2- Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to
comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts.
General Outcome 3- Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to
manage ideas and information.
2.1 Use Strategies and Cues - Use prior knowledge identify the different ways in
which oral, print and other media texts, such as stories, textbooks, letters,
dictionaries and junior dictionaries, are organized and use them to construct and
confirm meaning. Use textual cues- use headings, paragraphs, punctuation and
quotation marks to assist with constructing and confirming meaning.
2.4 Create Original Text - Structure texts- Add sufficient detail to oral, print and
other media texts to tell about setting and character, and to sustain plot.
3.3 Organize, Record and Evaluate- organize information- draft ideas and
information into short paragraphs, with topic and supporting sentences.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
I can identify ways in which letters are organized and used to construct meaning.

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:
Key Questions:
Products/Performan
ces:

The teacher will observe student brainstorming to create a detailed Santa

letter.
What are important parts of a letter? Why?
The students will have completed their rough draft templates for
their Santa Letters, with sufficient/relevant information under each
heading.

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

and Illustrations by Oliver Jeffers.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Smart board
Santa Letter Template x20- created by
Miss Lyon
Whiteboard/marker

Pencil/eraser
PROCEDURE
Prior to lesson
Attention Grabber

Assessment of
Prior Knowledge
Expectations for
Learning and

The teacher will have his/her exemplar uploaded on the smart board, the
objective written on the board, and the templates photocopied.
Introduction
Time
Today we are going to write letters to Santa. But first, we are
going to read a story that involved a lot of letter writing.
The purpose of this story is to introduce us to the different parts
of letter writing. Reading this will help us see the different
things that a letter has, that we should include in our letters.
Has anyone ever written a letter before?
What kind of things did it include?
What did you do first and last? (Dear Bob, this is.. from.)
Students will listen attentively to the elements of letter writing
and follow the template exemplar while incorporating original

Adapted from a template created by Dr. K. Roscoe

2 min

3 min

Behaviour
Advance
Organizer/Agenda
Learning Activity
#1

Lesson Plan Template ED 3501 (Version C)

ideas to complete their rough draft of the Santa letter.
1)The Day the Crayons Quit Read Aloud
2) Overview of Santa Letter Template and Exemplar
3) Rough Draft Santa Letter Writing
Body
Time
Listen closely for the different details we should use in our
letters!
The teacher will read the story aloud. He/she will show the
many illustrations and point out that a young boy close to the
students age drew them.
The teacher will ask students what they notice is included in
the different letters.
Ex. The Crayons explain why they are writing the letter and
give details that support what they are saying.
Now, our Santa letters are going to be a little different from the
letters the Crayons wrote, but there are some still really
important things we should include.
What do you think some of those things are?
Ex. Who you are writing to, your name, details that support why
you are writing, closure.
Do you think the tone of our letters to Santa will be the same as
the crayons?
No- we are excited to write to Santa not upset like the crayons.

25 min

Lets go back to our desks and see what is important to include

when writing our Santa Letters!

Teacher Notes:
Assessments/
Differentiation

Learning Activity
#2

Transition: Please put away your reading carpets and return to

your desks.
The teacher will expand on student comments and components
of the story to ensure it heightens students understanding of
the elements in letter writing.
Ex. How do we know who wrote this letter? They said their
name.
The teacher will hand out the letter template to the students
and have them follow along during the instructions. The
teacher will show the completed exemplar on the smart board
and will go through each heading of what should be included in
the letter. The teacher will have the template filled out so
students better understand what they are expected to do.
The students will then start writing their own letters within the
template provided.

30 min

The teacher will write Santas address on the board for students
to input into their letter.

Teacher Notes:
Assessments/
Differentiation

The teacher will circulate the classroom to provide assistance to

students.
The teacher will give the completed exemplar to students with
developing writing skills. This will give them sentence
starters/prompts for writing ideas in their letter.
The exemplar presented on the smart board will help keep the
class on task and understand the letter requirements.
Students can be provided with extra paper if they need more

Adapted from a template created by Dr. K. Roscoe

Lesson Plan Template ED 3501 (Version C)

Consolidation of
Learning:

space to include more detail.

Closure
The teacher will ask the students to flip their papers over.
The teacher will ask the students to list as a class the different
things that they have to have in their letter. Ex. Date,
Salutation, Introduction, Body, Closure, Address, etc.
What is the first thing we need when writing a letter? What
comes after that? Continue on

Time

5 min

After all the elements are listed the teacher will have the
students give a thumbs up if they think they could carry this
information over to a blank piece of paper for a good copy!
Feedback From
Students:
Feedback To
Students

Above.

Transition To Next
Lesson

The teacher will respond accordingly to student responses in

the consolidation to ensure the appropriate inclusions of letter
writing are listed.
Please hand me your rough drafts of your letter and then wait
quietly in your desks.

Sponge
Activity/Activities

Students can add additional details to their letter or start their good
copies on the back of their page.

2 min

Reflections from the

lesson

Adapted from a template created by Dr. K. Roscoe