Lesson Plan

Name: Macayla Tyndall and Caitlin Martinez

Grade: 3rd Grade

Topic/Concept: Writing and Addressing Letters to Others, Community Involvement

Materials/Resources: Paper, pencils, envelopes, crayons, colored pencils, tape, scissors, and
glue.

Teaching Behavior Focus:

● We will promote collaboration and orchestrate discussions by having the class deliberate
over which school issue they want to write about in their letters in order to see active
change. We will utilize collaborative learning by having students work in pairs to practice
writing letters to one another.
● We will prime students for engagement by demonstrating how to write a letter and
monitoring activities by walking around and asking students intentional questions about
their discussions. Clear directions will be provided before every transition or activity,
such as giving the expectations before we begin a read aloud.
● We will assess students prior-knowledge of citizenship by filling in a citizenship frayer
model as a class during our morning meeting and discussing their experiences.

Learning Objectives (measurable):

● Students will be able to identify changes they want to see in their school community.
● Students will be able to properly address letters to send in the mail, as well as structure
their letters in the correct format.
● Students will be able to send letters and know the process for putting them in the
mailbox.
● Students will be able to show how responsible citizens are active in the community and
participate in community decisions.
● Students will be able to model ways in which responsible citizens take part in public
debate and discussion by deliberating over a school issue.

Standards:

3.C&G.2.1- Exemplify how citizens contribute politically, socially and economically to their
community.
3.C&G.2.2 - Exemplify how citizens contribute to the well-being of the community’s natural
environment.

RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence

of events.

W.3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

● Organize information and ideas around a topic to plan and prepare to write.
● Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an
organizational structure that lists reasons.
● Provide reasons that support the opinion.
● Use linking words and phrases to connect opinion and reasons.
● Provide a concluding statement or section.
● With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as
needed by revising and editing, with consideration to task and purpose.

Assessment Plan (How will you know that your students met the objective?):

Our assessment plan is to observe students while they are working, and take note of any
changes or modifications we need to make to the requirements. We will be roaming around to
observe the letter writing of the students, and we will analyze them before we put them into the
envelopes for the principal. We will assess the debate by ensuring students can reach an
agreement or agree to disagree on their issues. We will assess the envelopes by ensuring that
students have addressed them properly, and the stamp has been placed in the right area.
Ensuring that students have written about an issue that affects their school or community, and
that they have participated in the debate will be the big assessments for them. Active
participation and completion of the task is essential to be able to assess their understanding and
progress made with the new content learned.

New Vocabulary:

● Citizen - a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its
government and is entitled to its protection
● Community- a group of people living together
● Citizenship- membership in a political community with certain rights and privileges.
● Deliberation- a process of thoughtfully weighing options, usually prior to voting

Responsibility- doing the things you are expected to do and accepting the consequences (results)
of your actions
Note: A detailed lesson plan is specific enough for another teacher to read and teach
effectively. There should not be any question regarding what to do or how to do it.

Lesson Development (hook/engage/launch, step by step in real time, include questions you
will ask in real time, closure/revisiting learning objectives):

Launch

● Teachers write a letter to the class to read during the morning meeting and model that we
will be learning how to write letters.
○ “Good morning, friends. Today I want to start class by reading you a letter I wrote
for you.” (Teacher reads letter about the learning goals for this lesson and gives
encouragement to the class)
○ “Thank you for following along with me.” Ask: “Have any of you written a letter
before? What kind of letters do people write?” (Give students 2-3 minutes to
share out their ideas and experiences) Students may say thank you letters, letters
of complaints, invitations to birthday parties, and more.
○ “In my letter, I said that we would be active citizens in our school community.
Turn and talk: What do you think being a citizen means? What is an active
citizen?” (Give students 1-2 minutes) Call on students and allow them to give
their responses.
○ “Today we will learn what being a citizen means and we will get a chance to be
active citizens of our school that seek change through letter writing.”

I DO

● After the launch, the teacher will transition students to their seats to get out their social
studies journals. The teacher will pull up a blank frayer model with the word “citizen” in
the middle.
○ “First, let’s try to define what a citizen is and fill in this frayer model. You all had
some great ideas about what you thought a citizen is, let us combine those ideas
and come up with a definition.”
○ “The second part of the frayer model says responsibilities. What are the
responsibilities of a citizen? This can also be any characteristics you would use to
describe someone who is a citizen.” (Examples would be trustworthy,
compassion, loyal, voting, doing their jobs, taking action, etc.)
○ “If these are responsibilities, what are non-examples of a good citizen?”
(Examples may be stealing, lying, and not doing your job.)
 ○ “Lastly, I want you to take what we have just discussed about being a good citizen
and draw a picture that represents that idea. This can be any representation that
reminds you of what citizen means.”
○ Allow students time to put away their journals.

● The teacher will transition here to give a mini-lesson on how to structure a letter. The
teacher will pull out the letter that they read during the morning meeting and discuss the
parts that make up a complete letter.
○ “Let’s talk about this letter! Does anyone know what a heading is?”
■ Have students think about other ways they can write a heading.
○ “Who can identify the greeting? If you were writing a letter, how would you make
the greeting more creative?”
■ Allow 2-3 minutes to discuss.
○ “What does the body talk about? Are there different ways to word your letter?”
■ Talk about and define persuasive writing.
○ “Now which part do you think is the closing? How would you write your
closing?”
■ Give some examples of letter closings.
○ “Now I want everyone to come up and show me their best signature on the
board.”
■ Students will come up and “practice” writing their signature.
○ “Great job students! Now let's all gather on the carpet for a read aloud.”

WE DO

● Read aloud a book about students making a difference in their school called “Sofia
Valdez, Future Prez”.
○ “Today we are going to read about a little girl who ran for president in her school
in order to make her voice heard. This story emphasizes that everyone has a role
to play in the community.”
○ The teacher will read aloud this book and have students respond to questions to
keep the reading interactive. Potential read aloud questions are:
■ Why did the Mayor think Sophia couldn’t build a new park?
■ Why did Sophia’s friends decide to help her? How did they make a
difference?
■ What small ways can we show kindness that would make a difference to
someone?
○ “Sophia was brave and started off with a small step of kindness that created a
ripple effect in the community. Everyone has a role to play to make their
 community a better place. Today, we are going to brainstorm ways that we can be
active citizens in our school that either show kindness or ask for change.”

● The class will be deliberating over which school issues that want to see changed and
ways they can be involved. Explain to the students that a deliberation is a discussion to
make decisions for everyone. It is “what we should do” in order to have “wise action.”
Good discussion skills such as listening while others are talking, encouraging
participation, and supporting opinions with reasons are good to keep in mind.
● Split students into two groups to have two discussions going. Give students a couple
ideas of topics they could deliberate about (longer lunch time, more school involvement,
etc.)
○ Allow each group to pitch their ideas and reasoning behind them. It is okay if one
group supports the idea and one group opposes it because it will get students
thinking and collaborating together over an issue.
○ Establish rules for the deliberations:
■ Everyone should participate.
■ Treat others ideas and opinions with respect.
■ Do not talk over each other.
■ Be active listeners.
■ No hard feelings after the debate.
● Allow students to discuss for themselves, but monitor to ensure students stay on task and
are actively participating.
● Bring debate to a close and recap on what all was discussed. The class will then vote on a
common issue that we will write about in a letter to the principal.

YOU DO

● Practice writing in a letter format by working in pairs and writing a compliment letter to
your partner.
○ This should be a quick letter that can be written on large note cards.
○ Have students read their compliment letter from their partner.
● Students will take the prompt on the issue the entire class chose and write their letter to
the principal. (Example prompt: We should have a longer recess to give our brains a
break and have time to play with your friends who are not in your grade or not in your
class.)
○ Walk around and help students if they need it.
○ If you have ELL’s, pull a small group to help them draft their letter.
○ Check letters to ensure students included the structures of a letter.
 ● Students will make their own stamps with their own arctic expression.
○ Pass out paper, colored pencils, markers, glue, scissors, what other supplies that
may be necessary.
● Pass out envelopes and have students put their letters inside and seal them up.
○ Have students put their stamps on their envelope and show them how to address
them.
■ Display the school address on the board for them to copy down.
■ Have students put their names in the upper right hand corner.
● Student name
● Teachers name and classroom number

CLOSURE
● Take students on a trip to the mailbox and explain how the mail system works
○ Have students put their letters in the mailbox
○ Talk about what the flag on the mailbox is for
● End with a whole group discussion on their lesson.