Teaching Letter Writing

One of my favourite lessons to teach is letter writing. It really is great to get kids writing with a real purpose. I love that it can tied into other activities like researching the recipient and even a trip to the local post office. Writing with a purpose has been proven to encourage reluctant writers, and gives them a chance to put themselves into their work. With this in mind here is my list of The best people to write letters to from your class.

 1- The Royal Family
    Writing to the royal family is a great way to teach children about the monarchy, and in many cases they will write back which is very exciting for the class.

2- Other children in different countries
    Pen pals are still a strong tradition in man schools and connecting with children in different countries teaches many lessons about cultures and differences. Facebook groups and Twitter posts are an easy way to find other teachers who are interested on working on this with you.

3- Famous Authors
    If children have a particular author they are interested in it can be a lot of fun to research them and then reach out and contact them. Many authors will take the time to reply or at least send autographs. Check out my collection of lessons on writing to children's authors here

4- Someone local in power
Learning about how local government works and is run is a very interesting topic to work on in class. Find out the address of local councillors and campaigners and ask them questions about how they are making changes in the local area is very engaging.

5- Family members
It can be nice to encourage children to write letters home. Parents often get frustrated with the lack of information children give them about classroom life, so a structured letter about the things they have been learning would be very appreciated.

There are of course many more people your class can write to, spending some times collecting ideas together is a great way to start this project.

What ever you decide to do, I hope you are all having a fantastic week!