Free worksheets and teaching materials for elementary school on the topic of letters worksheets
Writing letters is an important skill for students to acquire. At the same time, writing a letter to a friend or relative is often fun for them too. Different focuses are possible in terms of content; the students are happy to contribute their own ideas. Before writing begins, discuss the structure and composition of a letter. This includes the correct labeling of an envelope with address and sender.
Teaching material on the topic of letters worksheets
Further material on the topic of letters
Here you can find further material for lessons in elementary school on the topic of letters.
Writing letters in elementary school
Why students need to learn to write letters? Is this still in keeping with the times next to emails, SMS, Whatsapp and Facebook?? These are the questions that many people ask themselves nowadays. But if you think about where you deal with letters in everyday life, it becomes clear that letters are still an important means of communication. Whether it’s a job application, business letter, or personal greeting found in the mailbox, we have letters in our hands almost every day. And who is not happy to receive mail from their best friend or a colorful postcard in their mailbox??
From level 3. This topic is dealt with in class in the first grade, to introduce the children to letter writing. Letters are a great way to encourage the expression of creativity and personality and serve as an occasion for reading and writing. Later, the letter will play a big role in the first job application and finally also in contracts, contact with authorities, insurances and at the workplace. In order to arouse the children’s enthusiasm for this form of communication, many didactic means can be used that are fun and that encourage the important tools for writing letters teach. Here you will find some impulses and can Download letters worksheets for free.
Letter writing is usually taught in the 3. The basic skills for writing a letter can be learned in the first grade if the children already have the basic skills to write a letter. This involves everything from the design of the stationery to the building blocks of the letter and the lettering of the envelope. These basics are taught in the 4. Class deepened. From simple forms such as invitations and postcards to formal letters, children learn the structure and function of personal and formal letters.
Apart from the specific learning unit on letters, this form of free writing can also be used as an essay. More information and practice sheets can be found in the essay section. Letters can also be used as a cross-curricular topic in the subjects of science and art. For example, it is a good idea to make envelopes and design stationery in art class.
At the beginning of the Lesson on the topic of writing letters it is helpful to explore the prior knowledge of the students. In a conversation about different forms of letters, one or the other will surely tell about having already written a postcard from vacation, a letter to friends or family members. While these children are already familiar with formal aspects such as salutations, others have little basic knowledge in this area, which should be taken into account when planning the lesson.
A comparison of different letters as the topic of a lesson has the advantage that the formal basics as well as content-related and functional aspects can be worked out on the basis of the literary models. They also serve as a model for the children to follow when writing letters Writing your own letters be able to orientate. The distinction between personal and official letters also becomes clear. Letters can serve different functions. The sender can choose a narrative, informative style or make an appeal to the recipient. Reading this function out of a letter and writing a letter with a specific intention are just two of the learning objectives of this topic. Along the way, you and the children will practice developing a writing idea, formal and linguistic confidence, and fluent formulation.
Exercises and teaching material for writing letters
We have put together a series of worksheets for you, which can be used to work through the topic step by step and thus introduce your students to the learning objective of letter writing.
The worksheet "Why do we write letters", for example, is a good introduction to the topic. It first informs students about the history of letter writing and finally explains the current importance of letters. Following this, a class discussion can relate the children’s personal experience to the worksheet and answer questions.
Furthermore, on this page you can Exercise sheets on the topic of letters to download for free, which should not only teach the children how to write a letter, but also how to label the letter. For this purpose, an envelope is also shown on the worksheet for printing out, which the children should label correctly. The Writing Letters worksheets also offer many ideas for specific occasions, such as Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. In keeping with the season, you can have your class write a letter to the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.
At the end of the unit, you will have the opportunity to check your class’s learning with the worksheet "10 questions for writing letters". It includes both open and multiple-choice questions that address the form and building blocks of a letter, as well as basic knowledge and phrasing.
Structure of letters
The content of a personal letter should be understood in the same way as a written conversation. It can be divided into three parts: introduction, main part and conclusion. In the introduction, the recipient is addressed directly, you may thank him/her for the last letter and answer questions that the addressee has asked. The main part of the letter describes your own request. This can be news, events experienced, thoughts and feelings. The content can be funny or sad and contain opinions, doubts or encouragement and questions or advice to the other person. Finally, say goodbye with a friendly greeting and invite the recipient to further dialogue.
At Learning to write letters Helps students remember the W questions for a letter. To whom, why, what and about what I write? What language, what tone is appropriate? What order? Here you can also use the worksheet "Building blocks of a letter" as a guide.
A complete letter must contain the following building blocks
- Address of the sender
- Address of the recipient
- Place and date
- Subject
- Salutation
- Main part
- Farewell
- Signature
Occasions for writing letters
There are many reasons for writing a private letter: whether you want to establish or maintain contact with a person, send vacation greetings, apologize or thank someone – or simply write to show the recipient that you are thinking of him or her – a letter is something special.
Other occasions might include:
- Maintaining friendships
- Congratulations on passing an exam, on a birthday, on a wedding, on a birth, .
- Comforting someone
- Confide a secret
- Getting a problem off your chest
- Get-well wishes to a sick person
- a love letter
- a request
Unlike an e-mail, a letter does not end up in the trash so quickly, but can still be found after many years and please the reader. A handwritten letter is something very personal and offers many possibilities for design. The children can, for example, use special stationery in different formats, paint, glue, add photos, etc., so that the letter appeals to all the senses. The envelope can also be designed creatively, made of special paper or decorated with symbols that fit the occasion.
Didactic commentary on letter writing in elementary school
There are many ways to use the classroom materials to generate enthusiasm for this topic among students. The station work is varied, with different tasks being completed at several tables one after the other, which complement each other. A pen pal relationship is the best practice in writing and answering personal letters. Maybe you can find a parallel class with which letters can be exchanged. Students can be assigned a partner with similar interests using wanted letters and take the opportunity in class to write their first letter. In regular writing sessions, you can offer help with writing and answer questions about formalities and wording. The reply from the pen pal will motivate the children to write back, and it may even lead to a long-lasting pen pal relationship.