This lesson combines writing a simple 3-paragraph book report/summary with teaching (or reinforcing) the skills for writing a friendly letter.
Provide students with a copy of the Friendly-Letter Book Report work sheet. Students use the work sheet to write a "friendly-letter book report" to a teacher, parent, or someone else in their lives.
The Friendly-Letter Book Report work sheet is an editabletemplate. That means you can provide the template to each student to use with a word processing program. Students click any line and type over it. If you wish to use the template as a simple printable worksheet, click here for a blank version of the template.
Note: Because this template is editable, it might take a little longer to download than a normal Web page would take.
Introduce the basic format of the 3-paragraph friendly letter. (Here is one friendly letter format you might use.) Describe the kinds of information students might include in each section of their 3-paragraph friendly-letter book report:
First paragraph: Introduction -- Tell about the book you read, who wrote it, and why you chose to read that book.
Second paragraph: Body -- Describe what you liked most about the book and/or the author's style.
Third paragraph: Conclusion -- Tell whether you would recommend the book, and why or why not.
Remind students that when writing a letter handwriting counts!
Extend the Lesson
If students are all writing about the same book, they might write letters to the author that you would then mail to the author. You also can adapt the book report idea described above by having students use the following format:
First paragraph: Introduction -- Tell about the book you read and make an opening comment.
Second paragraph: Body -- Describe your favorite part of the book and/or what you liked most about the author's style or writing.
Third paragraph: Conclusion -- Make a closing comment, or end with a question you would like the author to answer.
Assessment
Did students follow the friendly letter format? Before the lesson, introduce to students a rubric by which their letters will be measured. You might use Friendly Letter Rubric 1, Friendly Letter Rubric 2, or Friendly Letter Rubric 3; or you might adapt those rubrics to create one of your own.
