Improving Literacy & Writing With Letters From The Teacher!

As a teacher, instilling a sense of excitement for reading and writing is important. While homework assignments and classroom exercises have their place, the can also garner a sense of tedium and obligation for some students. A great way to invite your students to sharpen literacy and composition skills (without them feeling as if they have to drudge through yet another exercise) is to write letters to them! Kelli Lewis, an Early Childhood Education graduate student and contributor to A Learning Experience, gives these suggestions.

• The letters do not have to be personalized for each student (although they can if you desire). While this is a fun exercise, the goal is not for it to take a crazy amount of time out of your already busy schedule.
• Have a specific time set-aside during class for letter delivery and reading. Lewis suggests leaving the correspondence on your students’ desks in the morning before they get to school and having them complete this activity in the first few moments before the learning day begins.
• Letter contents can be about anything, but make sure you give your students specific details (e.g. introduce them to your pet, tell them about an activity or class they will have that day, etc.). Most of all, keep the letters short.
• Invite students to respond to your letter with pictures and words, or to write a new letter of their own. You might also consider having students write letters to their classmates.
• Incorporate lessons learned in class by making intentional spelling or grammatical mistakes and having your students catch and fix them.

Letter writing is a great way to help your students review lessons learned in class, get to know one another, and strengthen both reading and writing skills! Your students are sure to love this activity!