The Letter Generator tool is designed to help students learn to identify all the essential parts of a business or friendly letter, and then generate letters by typing information into letter templates. A sample letter is included, and students can learn about the parts of a letter by reading descriptions of each part. Once students have become familiar with letter formats, they are prompted to write their own letter using a simple template. Students follow the steps and fill in specific fields in the template (for example, heading, salutation, closing, signature, etc.). They may even add a decorative border and postscript to the friendly letter. The finished letter can then be previewed, edited, and printed. This useful tool provides step-by-step instructions for familiarizing users with the necessary elements of written correspondence, and can serve as an excellent practice method for composing and proofreading both formal and informal letters. For ideas of how to use this tool outside the classroom, see Tips for Using Letter Generator.

Visit this interactive tool at: http://readwritethink.org/materials/letter_generator/.

ReadWriteThink Lessons That Use This Tool

A Genre Study of Letters With The Jolly Postman (3-5)
In The Jolly Postman, a postman rides his bicycle delivering letters. To whom? Storybook and nursery rhyme characters! After reading The Jolly Postman, the students will learn the attributes of different types of mail. Then, the students will categorize the letters from the book, and finally their own mail.

An Exploration of Text Sets: Supporting All Readers (6-8)
Text sets focus on one concept, and include books, Web sites, maps, pamphlets, poetry, photographs, almanacs or encyclopedias. In this lesson, students create text set collections on topics of keen interest. They will explore the texts using three reading strategies. Research strategies from your own repertoire can extend the lesson.

Analyzing Advice as an Introduction to Shakespeare (6-8)
Popular culture provides an introduction to Shakespeare’s poetic devices in this lesson, which asks students to explore an excerpt from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills (3-5)
This innovative writing lesson integrates fiction and nonfiction to create a blended genre that improves students' critical comprehension and writing skills. Students learn about a content area topic through a text set and Internet research, then blend elements of fiction and nonfiction to create an original piece that demonstrates new knowledge.

Blogtopia: Blogging about Your Own Utopia (9-12)
Students work together to create their own utopias, using blogs as the primary source of publication.

Book Report Alternative: A Character’s Letter to the Editor (6-8)
Students assume the persona of a character from a book that they have read and write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper from that character’s perspective, focusing on a specific issue or situation explored in the novel.

Book Report Alternative: Creating a Childhood for a Character (6-8)
Students will be introduced to familiar characters, from literature and from popular culture, whom readers first encounter as adults, but whose childhood stories are only told later. Students will then create a childhood for an adult character from a book of their choice.

Book Report Alternative: Creating Careers for Characters (6-8)
What if one of the characters in the book you've been reading was looking for a job? This question is the focus of this activity which bridges technical writing and literary analysis by inviting students to become characters in a novel they have read, find a job for those characters, and write application letters and resumes for their assumed persona.

Choosing, Chatting, and Collecting: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (6-8)
Students self-select new vocabulary and apply context, experience, and conversation to help them understand the meanings and uses of the words. This strategy can be used with any content area, but in this lesson, an online script from Shakespeare is provided as an example.

Communicating on Local Issues: Exploring Audience in Persuasive Letter Writing (9-12)
Students will research a local issue of personal concern to them then write letters to two different audiences that ask readers to take a related action or adopt a specific position on the issue.

Critical Literacy in Action: Multimodal Texts on Global Warming (6-8)
Students use comprehension strategies to understand and interrogate various representations of the effects and possible causes of global warming. They then discuss and evaluate the credibility of different positions on the issue.

Critical Perspectives: Reading and Writing About Slavery (3-5)
Through reading fiction and nonfiction children’s literature about the Underground Railroad, students critically explore the moral issues of slavery and the perspectives held by slaves and slave owners. They then use online, interactive tools to extend their understanding through creative writing projects.

Cultural Connections and Writing for Change (3-5)
While reading a story set in Palestine, students “meet” an Arab family, analyze book illustrations, and note cultural contrasts. They then collaborate to identify a social issue of concern and take action by writing and mailing a letter to an appropriate official.

Dear Librarian: Writing a Persuasive Letter  (3-5)
Inspire students to write their librarian a persuasive letter, requesting that a specific text be added to the school library collection. As they work on the project, students plan their arguments and outline their reasons and examples. Finally, students write a persuasive letter, which is assessed using a rubric.

Draft Letters: Improving Student Writing through Critical Thinking  (9-12)
Draft letters asks students to think critically about their writing on a specific assignment before submitting their work to a reader. This lesson explains the strategy and provides models for the project, which can be adapted for any grade level and any writing project.

E-pals Around the World (6-8)
This lesson provides teachers and students with an exciting way to build literacy skills in the classroom. Students learn appropriate formats for writing friendly letters and e-mail messages. Not only will students develop their reading and writing abilities, but they will also learn about other cultures, languages, and geographic areas.

Exploring Friendship With Bridge to Terabithia (3-5)
In this lesson, which is also appropriate for sixth-grade students, Bridge to Terabithia is used to explore the value of friendship. Students explore the main characters’ relationship and use this inquiry to help develop an appreciation of the many facets of friendship and relate the work to their own experiences.

Exploring Literature through Letter-Writing Groups (9-12)
This lesson asks students to discuss literature through a series of letter exchanges. It can be used as a one-time assignment in conjunction with any work of literature or it can be used throughout the year with the students discussing, and even making connections among, a number of literary works.

Expository Escapade—Detective’s Handbook (6-8)
Students will combine reading in the detective fiction genre with expository writing. Embedded in this unit are reading and writing skills such as defining, editing, explaining, illustrating, justifying, revising, supporting, and validating.

From Friedan Forward—Considering a Feminist Perspective (9-12)
Plato wrote, “You are young . . . time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions.” This lesson tests that maxim through an exploration of feminism. Students write letters expressing personal views on issues like equal pay, equal education/employment opportunity, and gender roles—and receive these letters six years later.

Guided Comprehension: Making Connections Using a Double-Entry Journal (3-5)
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of making connections using a double-entry journal. Students use the book Harvesting Hope by Kathleen Krull to make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections.

Guided Comprehension: Self-Questioning Using Question-Answer Relationships  (3-5)
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of self-questioning using question-answer relationships (QARs). Students use the book The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles to learn the different question types and how to identify the answers.

Have Journal...Will Travel: Promoting Family Involvement in Literacy  (K-2)
This project is designed to engage families in shared literacy activities. The students take turns taking home a book bag that includes a stuffed toy, a book, art supplies, a topic to discuss with their families, and a journal to share their thoughts and ideas. Through the experience they build positive memories of literacy activities.

Introducing Shakespeare: Exploring Persona and Character Motivations (6-8)
Students are introduced to the concept of persona and examine how personality is revealed in a drama. To develop a richer understanding of Shakespeare's characters, students research Renaissance society and customs. After watching a scene from a Shakespeare play, students discuss the motivations of key characters and the relationships among them.

Investigating Junk Mail: Negotiating Critical Literacy at the Mailbox (3-5)
By investigating junk mail, students learn to think about and question texts in ways that develop their analytical capacities and critical reading practices.

Investigating the Holocaust: A Collaborative Inquiry Project (6-8)
As students progress though this inquiry project, they explore a variety of resources—texts, images, sounds, photos, and other artifacts—as they learn about the Holocaust. Working collaboratively, they investigate the materials, prepare response to share orally with the class, and produce a topic-based newspaper to complete their research.

Involving Students and Families in Ongoing Reflection and Assessment (K-2)
In this lesson, students begin by writing a sentence or two each week and progress to daily reflections and records of their school activity. Families respond to these student reflections, which become the basis for discussion among family, teacher, and students. The reflections are also a key resource in regular student-family-teacher conferences that take place during the term.

Joining the Conversation about Young Adult Literature (9-12)
Students create a persuasive case calling for the adoption of a particular young adult literature title into their school’s language arts curriculum. They then present their argument in the form of a letter or speech addressing school decision-makers such as the English department chair or the language arts curriculum coordinator.

Launching Family Message Journals (K-2)
This lesson introduces Family Message Journals, a tool for encouraging family involvement and supporting writing to reflect and learn. First and second graders are led into composing through demonstration, guided writing, and finally independent writing of messages that they will bring home for family to read and write a reply.

Letters and Learning Genre (6-8)
Combining their prior knowledge of letters with several books containing letters, students learn how genres can flex to accomplish different purposes for different contexts. Students show their understanding of genre by rewriting a story and reflecting on how a traditional story differs from a story told in letters.

Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness  (K-2)
After studying about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what he believed in, students need the chance to apply those lessons. This is the action piece. This project allows students to participate in Dr. King’s dream by doing 100 acts of kindness. What better way to prove that we can make a difference? What better way to live the dream?

Mail Time! An Integrated Postcard and Geography Study (K-2)
Children love to receive mail. Can you imagine their excitement if they received a picture postcard at school? That’s what happens in this project! Children will write and receive postcards from friends and family, and then chart where all those postcards come from on their classroom map.

Note Writing in the Primary Classroom  (K-2)
Focus on authentic writing in your classroom by visibly using everyday notes in the classroom and inviting students to write short notes to themselves, friends, teachers, and family. This lesson invites students to write short everyday notes, to remind, plan, request or compliment, providing many natural opportunities for meaningful writing and lots of practice in encoding/decoding written text, drawing them into the world of real writing for real purposes.

Our Classroom: Writing an Owner’s Manual (3-5)
The first few weeks of school are all about creating rules, establishing routines, and becoming familiar with the classroom. Engaging students in activities that help them get to know their classroom can make the transition easier while at the same time providing students with a sense of ownership. In this lesson, students write an owner’s manual to help them become more familiar with their classroom as well as to let others know about their classroom.

Paying Attention to Technology: Exploring a Fictional Technology (9-12)
Students complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology then compare their opinions to the ideas in a novel that depicts technology (such as 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, REM World, or Feed). By exploring the fictional technology, students are urged to think more deeply about their own beliefs and to pay attention to the ways that technology is described and used.

Persuading an Audience: Writing Effective Letters to the Editor (9-12)
Students write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper, focusing on a current local or national issue and requesting a specific action or response.

Persuading Readers with Endorsement Letters (9-12)
Students explore the genre of commercial endorsements and then write letters of endorsement for products or services that they use.

Persuading the Principal: Writing Persuasive Letters About School Issues (6-8)
Adolescents love to share their opinions about the way life “should be.” This lesson gives students the opportunity to examine editorials and write their own persuasive letters on issues that are important in their school community.

Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues (6-8)
Critical stance and development of a strong argument are key strategies when writing to convince someone to agree with your position on a topic. This lesson focuses on having students create persuasive essays that address environmental issues that are relevant to their lives.

Persuasive Writing: What Can Writing in Family Message Journals Do for Students? (K-2)
Composing messages with varied purposes helps children discover the power of writing. When students recognize what writing can do for them, motivation to write increases. This lesson engages children in using writing to their families as a persuasive tool to get what they want and need.

Promoting Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action (6-8)
Students explore the effects of stereotypes by analyzing children’s books; then, they use their findings to promote diversity by matching stereotypical portrayals and coverage of issues with balanced and diverse texts. Students create bookmarks that encourage readers to question the assumptions of stereotyped books and to seek out matching, balanced texts.

Short Story Fair: Responding to Short Stories in Multiple Media and Genres (9-12)
In this activity, students read short stories from a collection in small groups then prepare responses in multiple media and genres that are shared in a culminating Short Story Fair. On the days of the fair, the class explores the displays for the short stories, responding to related questions.

Students as Creators: Exploring Copyright (6-8)
In this lesson, students learn and use strategies for incorporating multimedia resources in their own works without violating copyright law. The tables then are turned as students contemplate how original works they have created are in turn protected by copyright law.

The Correspondence Project: A Lesson of Letters (9-12)
After exploring business and friendly letter formats, students write letters for various audiences and real-world purposes.

Using Writing and Role-Play to Engage the Reluctant Writer (3-5)
In this lesson, students use dramatic role-play to further engage their literacy skills. By exploring the characters in a story and writing in role, students use creative means to support their learning and understanding of the writing process.

Wartime Poetry: Working With Similes (3-5)
Using photographs, first-hand accounts, drama, and peer-editing, students write poems about the feelings of children evacuated during World War II. Students are introduced to the term simile and make comparisons to develop strong imagery in their poetry. This lesson can be adapted to suit any time period or topic.

What’s in a Name? Teaching Concepts of Letter and Word  (K-2)
The purpose of this lesson is to help kindergarten children understand the concepts of letter and word by using their names as a starting point. Ideas will also be given to help assess student progress in becoming readers and writers. What can you do with names? Just see!

Who’s Got Mail? Using Literature to Promote Authentic Letter Writing (3-5)
This activity teaches and reinforces letter writing through read alouds and shared writing. Students discuss and chart letter elements and write their own letters to adults at school. This can lead to ongoing correspondence between adults and students, reinforcing letter-writing skills beyond the classroom lesson.

Worth Its Weight: Letter Writing with “The Things They Carried” (9-12)
The best literature expands our understanding of the human experience. Tim O’Brien’s story “The Things They Carried” allows students to appreciate both the complexity of war and the simple truth that all of life demands courage. This lesson uses a letter-writing activity to build empathy as students examine the weight they symbolically carry in their own lives.

Writing about Writing: An Extended Metaphor Assignment (9-12)
Using Richard Wilbur’s poem “The Writer” as an inspiration, students examine the literary element of metaphor then write their own extended metaphor, describing themselves as writers.

Young Adult Literature about the Middle East: A Cultural Response Perspective (6-8)
Adapted from Sheryl L. Finkle and Tamara J. Lilly’s Middle Ground: Exploring Selected Literature from and about the Middle East, this variation on traditional literature circles exposes students to a variety of young adult fiction from and about the Middle East. Students read and share researcha and responses in collaborative groups. At the end of the lesson, they write a letter to welcome an immigrant student to their school and community.

Zines for Kids: Multigenre Texts About Media Icons (3-5)
Using ReadWriteThink.org online tools, students write short pieces in a variety of genres about a favorite media icon. After working with each tool, students print out their work and assemble the documents into their own zines.