HEADING- The heading includes the sender’s address and date.

INSIDE ADDRESS- The inside address includes the receiver's name and the receiver’s address.

GREETING/ SALUTATION- The greeting or salutation- says “hello” to the reader.  It includes receiver's name and ends with a colon.

BODY- The body is the message to the receiver.  It is the main part of the letter.

CLOSING- The closing wraps up the letter and says “good-by” to the reader.  A comma follows the last word in the closing.

SIGNATURE-  The signature tells who wrote the letter.  It should be written in cursive with the sender’s name typed below it. 

In this lesson, students will use the Letter Generator to write a business letter.

 Students will:

• identify parts of a business letter.
• use correct business letter format to write a letter.
• assess personal work for accuracy.

1 class period (45 minutes)

“Letter Generator.” ReadWriteThink.org. Thinkfinity.org Web.22 Mar. 2010. https://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/letter_generator/

computer for each student

Access to a printer

 pencils

 activity sheet for each student, E:\Business letter worksheet.doc

W:    This lesson is the kick off to the Business Letter unit.  Students will use the Letter Generator through out the lesson.  From the beginning, the computer program and class discussion will deal with why we write letters.  This lesson is an introduction, therefore, the focus is on the parts of the letter and common errors will be emphasized.  Student assessment will be aligned with instruction. 

H:     The use of technology is key to hooking the students into the lesson.  The Letter Generator creates a personalized letter using the student’s name.  Students will be fully engaged because the activity is individualized, so students can work at their own pace. 

 E:      Being able to write a business letter is a real-life skill.  We will discuss real situations where they will need to be able to write a letter.  This lesson can be adapted to meet the needs of all students.

 R:           Before the students are “done” writing their letter, they will need to self-check their work for some of the common mistakes discussed in class.  A checklist is provided on their activity sheet. 

 E:      As the students are writing their business letter, they will apply the knowledge from the lesson.  Student will be able to be creative and write a meaningful letter about a person experience.  In the end, students will label the parts of their own letter and check for accuracy.  

 T:      With the use of computers, students are able to work at an individual pace.  Since the computer is guiding the independent work time, the teacher is available to re-teach and support students with additional needs.  Higher level workers can extend the lesson by writing a more in-depth letter.  

 O:     The lesson begins with students identifying parts of the letter and discussion of common mistakes.  The next part of the lesson, has the students applying the information to create a letter of their own.  Students have the opportunity to write a real world example of a business letter.  

I.  To begin the lesson, all students will log on a computer and go to the Letter Generator   located at https://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/letter_generator/  Each student will type his or her name into the program, and a personalized letter will display on the screen.  The letter introduces the students to letter writing and establishes a purpose. 

II. After all students have read their letters (allow 2-3 minutes), stop to discuss why letter writing is important. 

     A. Points to discuss.

          1.      Letters add a personal touch when hand written. 

2.      People receive emails all the time with just a click of a mouse.  Letters sent by mail show you put a little more effort.  Aren’t you excited to get a piece of mail?  Emails aren’t as exciting.

          3.      Letters are often saved and are a record of our history.

     B. Compare and contrast friendly letters and business letters. 

         1.      Friendly Letters

               a.       Written to someone you know.

b.      Usually consists of information on the personal nature. (your new hair cut, your favorite new song, or what you did on the weekend)

          2.      Business Letters

               a.       Written to someone you don’t know. 

b.      Has a formal tone and formal topic. (complaint to a company for a faulty product, persuasive request to the principal, or a letter from a lawyer)

III. The focus of the lesson will be on the business letter. Hand out the activity sheet.  Students will write two sentences to answer the question, "What is the purpose of writing a business letter?”   Students should write about how  a business letter will help you get a response from a company. Or get information to someone you don’t know.

IV. Students will continue with the next activity on the Letter Generator.  Students will use the curser to highlight the parts of the letter.  Students will then record the vocabulary on their activity sheet. The focus is on the following vocabulary words:

HEADING- The heading includes the sender’s address and date.

INSIDE ADDRESS- The inside address includes the receiver's name and the receiver’s address.

GREETING/ SALUTATION- The greeting or salutation- says “hello” to the reader.  It includes receiver's name and ends with a colon.

BODY- The body is the message to the receiver.  It is the main part of the letter.

CLOSING- The closing wraps up the letter and says “good-by” to the reader.  A comma follows the last word in the closing.

SIGNATURE-  The signature tells who wrote the letter.  It should be written in cursive with the sender’s name typed below it. 

V. Instruct students on proper format of the letter and conventions.

          A. Identify: heading, inside address, salutation/ greeting, body,  closing, and signature.

          B. Discuss placement

          C. Common errors with commas

                1.      Address: Harrisburg, PA 17110; not City, State, Zip

                2.      Date: May 13, 2018; not December, 13, 2010 

                3.      Salutation: Dear Dr. Elliott:; not Dear, Mr. Jones:

                4.      Closing, missing comma, sincerely

VI. Students will then work independently to write a business letter.  The student activity sheet has directions. 

    Student Prompt: Write a business letter to a company explaining why you are not satisfied with an item of clothing or a game you once owned. Make up the name and address of the company.

Sample directions that are on the activity sheet.

1.      Use the letter generator to write a business letter.

2.      Before you print, check for these common mistakes.  Press the edit arrow to fix mistakes.

     a.       In your address, check for 1 comma. Ex: Enola, PA 17025

     b.      Check your date for a comma in the correct location. 

              Ex: March 12, 2010

     c.       Use a colon (:) at the end of the salutation. Ex: Dear Dr. Ralph Miller:

     d.      Place a comma after the closing. Ex: Sincerely,

3.      Print your letter.

4.      Label the parts of your business letter.

VII. Closure: Use the 3-2-1 summarization strategy.  On the back student letters, have each student write:

     3- three mistakes you don’t want to make when writing a business  letter

     2- two types of punctuation used in the salutation and closing

     1- one time or topic you could have wrote a business letter

A.      The lesson will begin with students establishing a purpose for writing letters.  Through class discussion, the teacher will be able to assess if students have enough understanding to answer the question, “What is the purpose of writing a letter?"

 B.      Next, students will learn through the guided tutorial the parts of the business letter.  The teacher will walk through the room and monitor for accuracy.

 C.      As students work independently, they will have a checklist to check work for accuracy.

     1. In your address, check for 1 comma. Ex: Enola, PA 17025

     2. Check your date for a comma in the correct location. 

     Ex: March 12, 2010.

     3. Use a colon (:) at the end of the salutation. Ex: Dear Dr. Ralph Miller:

     4.  Place a comma after the closing. Ex: Sincerely,

D.      To conclude the lesson, the 3-2-1 strategy will be used to check for understanding of the lesson.

     3- List three mistakes you don’t want to make when writing a business letter.

     2- What are two types of punctuation used in the salutation and closing?

     1- What is one topic for a business letter?

Other topics for business letters:

1.     Write a business letter to the principal or school board informing them about the exciting lesson and activities your class did this year. 

2.     Write to an author of a book you read this year.  Ask the author about the characters, plot, or background information?

3.     Write to members of your community to inform them on the importance of recycling. 

"Tips for Using the Letter Generator." ReadWriteThink.org Thinkfinity.org Web. 24 Mar. 2010.  https://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/letter_generator/LetterGenerator.pdf

 "Strategy Guide: Persuasive Writing." ReadWriteThink.org Thinkfinity.org Web. 24 Mar. 2010. https://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/persuasive-writing-30142.html#strategy-practice