One winter holiday that simply doesn’t get the attention it deserves is National Letter Writing Day on December 7th. In today’s world of smartphones, webcams and instant messaging, it’s true that handwritten letters have been on the decline. Yet letter writing has always held a special kind of magic. As Lewis Carroll once wrote in a missive of his own, “The proper definition of a man is an animal that writes letters.”
Letter writing isn’t merely a romanticized literary leftover from ages gone by. It’s a skill-building activity that hones one’s handwriting ability and offers a creative opportunity to practice a variety of writing, editing and formatting techniques. This December, why not celebrate with your 2nd grade students with one of the following fun and engaging letter writing activities?
Letter Writing Activity #1: A Fictional Missive
Letter Writing Activity #1: A Fictional Missive
Letter writing is one of the most personal forms of correspondence on the planet. Often, a letter conveys much more than merely a set of facts—in the act of writing it, the writer tends to weave in their opinions and emotions, whether intentionally or not. This letter writing activity asks your students to write a very personal letter from a very unique perspective—that of a character from one of the books they’ve read in class. Ask them to write a letter from one character addressed to another about something that happened in the book. While writing, ask them to consider not just what happened, but how it made that character feel and how they would express those feelings.
PROJECT IDEA
After your students have finished their first drafts, ask them to peer-edit each other’s letters using an editing and revising worksheet or checklist. Once their final drafts are complete, ask them to imagine that their character has also sent a picture of themselves along with their letter. Ask them to draw a portrait of the character they chose to accompany their writing. Finally, collect their drawings and letters and publish their work in a unique classbook collection of fictional missives.
Letter Writing Activity #2: Classroom Tidings
The only thing more fun than writing a letter is receiving one. This letter writing activity allows each and every student in your class to enjoy both! Begin by having each student write their name on a small slip of paper and crumple it up. Collect their names in a fun hat or bowl. Have students draw each other’s names randomly, making sure that no one draws their own name.
Next, ask them to write a friendly letter to the person whose name they drew about how they spent last weekend. Ask them to end their letters with a relevant question for the recipient to answer. This can be as simple as asking what the other person did last weekend, or what their plans are for winter break.
Once they’ve finished writing, collect their letters. (You may want to read them over briefly to ensure everyone’s followed the rules before proceeding.) Ask a volunteer to be the mailman and deliver all the letters to the addressees. When everyone has read their letters, ask them to respond with an answer to the first person’s question. Once again, collect the letters and have your mailman deliver them to their designated recipients. Afterward, discuss how writing and receiving the letters made them feel.
PROJECT IDEA
For a more in-depth dive into the art of letter-writing, you can easily turn this activity into a publishing project by adding just a few simple steps. When writing their initial missives, ask your students to draw illustrations to accompany their letters. Then, before your students deliver their first messages, ask them to practice self-editing and rewriting their work, keeping a sharp eye out for spelling and grammar errors that may make their letters difficult for their recipient to read. Repeat this step for their responses. After everyone has finished writing, reading and drawing, collect and publish all of their hard work in a beautiful, utterly original classbook.
Celebrating the Art of Letter-Writing in the Classroom
Letter writing activities like these teach your 2nd-graders more than just how to format addresses and write legibly. It teaches them how to express themselves more clearly in writing, to take their time in choosing each word and considering how their message will be interpreted by a very specific audience. It can be a tool for exploring characters and plot in fiction, or for communicating more thoughtfully with their peers. And of course, it can be a lot of fun—for writers and recipients alike.
Publishing their writing helps validate your students’ experience, showing them not only that their ideas matter and their work is valued, but how powerful letter writing can be. They might surprise themselves—and each other—with what they come up with, and wonder at just how magical and personal writing letters can be.
For even more free creative writing activities, teaching tips and other classroom resources, check out our online teacher’s lounge and sign up for your free classbook publishing kit today!
Image sources: Lead image via Shutterstock; Images 1, 2 via PublicDomainVectors.org