Friendly Letters

Friendly Letters Mrs. Bowser

What is a Friendly Letter? • Friendly letter sometimes referred to as social letter because the tone of the letter is not as formal as some other types of letters.

Friendly Letter • Can be written to someone you already know or they can be written to someone you want to know better.

Example JFK to Mother

Example Teddy Roosevelt to Son

Parts of a Friendly Letter • Heading • Salutation • Body • Closing • Signature He saw beautiful cows singing.

Graphic Organizer

Formatting a Friendly Letter • Format: • 1" margin on all sides (top, bottom, left, and right) • Paragraphs indented 1/2“ • Written in ink

Formatting a Friendly Letter Heading: • All information in the heading goes at the top, just under the margin, on the right hand side of the page; the end of the longest line should touch the edge of the margin, the rest of the lines should begin at the same place the longest line begins. • Street address • City, state, ZIP code • Write out the date (letter was written) • DO NOT include sender's name!

Formatting a Friendly Letter • Salutation: • The salutation starts at the left margin. Skip at least one line after the heading. • “Dear” • Name • Comma

Formatting a Friendly Letter • Body: • Skip one line after salutation • Indent 1/2" • Write paragraph - only one main topic/idea per paragraph. This usually works out to between 1-8 sentences per paragraph. • Don’t skip lines between paragraphs (unless you're double-spacing the entire letter) • Indent 1/2" & start new paragraph • Repeat as necessary

Formatting a Friendly Letter • Closing: • The closing should be left aligned after the body of the letter. • Skip one line after the body • Write your word/phrase, capitalizing each word (Sincerely, Yours Truly, Your Friend, etc.) • Write a comma

Formatting a Friendly Letter • Signature • Your signature should be left aligned • Sign your name in cursive; your first name should be enough, because this is an informal writing, and thus should only go to someone who knows you well. • Use two or three lines - be large, like John Hancock • Type out your name

Formatting a Friendly Letter • Post-Script (P.S.): • Skip one line after your signature • Write “P.S. - ” using capital letters and proper punctuation • Write your post script • [Note: “post” means “after,” “script” means “writing”; a post-script is something added after writing the rest of the letter. If you wished to add a second annotation, it would be a post-post-script (after the writing you did after writing your letter), so it would be “P.P.S.”]

Practice Activity • The students will use paper to complete the graphic organizer for a friendly letter. • The students will consider our topic, audience, form, and purpose for our writing.

Assessment Activity • The students will be given their own graphic organizer to complete. They will be reminded to consider their audience and purpose for writing. Their topic will be a letter to the editor of the Greenville News.

Helpful Hints • Pick a topic that you feel passionate about. Relate it to an issue very recently discussed in the publication to which you are writing. • Think of new ways to discuss the topic and present unique solutions to the problem

Helpful Hints • Write clearly and concisely following the limitations usually given on the editorial page or letters-to-the-editor page. • Include your major points within the first few paragraphs. • Type your letter and double space between lines.

Helpful Hints • Use your spell check and then proofread

Friendly Letters