I wanted to share information with you about the "Letter to the Teacher" homework assignment.
By now you have probably seen the "letter to the teacher" listed on the homework page and/or spoken to your student about this assignment. This is part of our work in literacy for our Reader's Workshop. Letters to the teacher are to be turned in every other Friday. The earliest a student may turn the letter in is Wednesday of any week, but they must be turned in by Friday. They are to be written neatly in their "Letters" section of their Reader's notebook and the entire notebook is turned in each week. (So students should not rip this letter out to hand in.)The letter to the teacher is assigned for a variety of purposes.
Every other week students are asked to write a letter to me that is a minimum of one page about what they are reading independently. We are doing this in in lieu of a reading log. I have modeled to the students what a letter should look like and what it should contain. This letter not only serves in place of a reading log, but also gives students the opportunity to extend and deepen their comprehension about what they are reading independently. It also gives me an opportunity to assess not only reading skills but writing skills as well. I have stressed to the students that I should be able to tell that they have been reading nightly and that they are reading a "just right" book by the quality of their letter.
The letter should be a minimum of 2 to 3 paragraphs and should follow the format of a friendly letter.
Paragraph 1- Students should tell the title and author of the book they are currently reading. They should share details/ short summary of the reading for that week. They might include why they chose the book in this paragraph.
Paragraph 2- Students tells about any connections they made to the story and what they like or didn't like about the story.
Paragraph 3- Students share any questions they have about the characters or events in the story and they also share their predictions about the story. If it is a week that they finished they book they should include why they liked or disliked the book.
I have included a pictures of an example letter to this post to give you all an idea what they letter should look and sound like.This letter was one written by a former 4-3 student. I also posted a template in our Google classroom to remind students of the format and help them get started on the letter in these first weeks of writing this assignment. They should not complete the letter in the google classroom, but should complete it in the notebook. They should remember I modeled writing a letter using the BFG as the book so they would understand how to write their own letter.
I hope this helps you all understand this assignment. Students should complete this independently, with little, if any help from parents. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.
By now you have probably seen the "letter to the teacher" listed on the homework page and/or spoken to your student about this assignment. This is part of our work in literacy for our Reader's Workshop. Letters to the teacher are to be turned in every other Friday. The earliest a student may turn the letter in is Wednesday of any week, but they must be turned in by Friday. They are to be written neatly in their "Letters" section of their Reader's notebook and the entire notebook is turned in each week. (So students should not rip this letter out to hand in.)The letter to the teacher is assigned for a variety of purposes.
Every other week students are asked to write a letter to me that is a minimum of one page about what they are reading independently. We are doing this in in lieu of a reading log. I have modeled to the students what a letter should look like and what it should contain. This letter not only serves in place of a reading log, but also gives students the opportunity to extend and deepen their comprehension about what they are reading independently. It also gives me an opportunity to assess not only reading skills but writing skills as well. I have stressed to the students that I should be able to tell that they have been reading nightly and that they are reading a "just right" book by the quality of their letter.
The letter should be a minimum of 2 to 3 paragraphs and should follow the format of a friendly letter.
Paragraph 1- Students should tell the title and author of the book they are currently reading. They should share details/ short summary of the reading for that week. They might include why they chose the book in this paragraph.
Paragraph 2- Students tells about any connections they made to the story and what they like or didn't like about the story.
Paragraph 3- Students share any questions they have about the characters or events in the story and they also share their predictions about the story. If it is a week that they finished they book they should include why they liked or disliked the book.
I have included a pictures of an example letter to this post to give you all an idea what they letter should look and sound like.This letter was one written by a former 4-3 student. I also posted a template in our Google classroom to remind students of the format and help them get started on the letter in these first weeks of writing this assignment. They should not complete the letter in the google classroom, but should complete it in the notebook. They should remember I modeled writing a letter using the BFG as the book so they would understand how to write their own letter.
I hope this helps you all understand this assignment. Students should complete this independently, with little, if any help from parents. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.