This Lesson's Title:

Writing to your Favorite Author

Creating a great friendly letter by brainstorming great questions

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Shannon Mullen at an AT&T-sponsored in-service class for teachers.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from pages 14-30 of the book.

Check out Dear Mr. Henshaw at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Students will create a friendly letter to an author that they like. They will write from a genuine and personal point of view, sharing details about themselves, based on questions they choose to answer. Students will ask questions of the author, using details as they explain why they have an interest in the questions they are asking. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is organization; the structure of a friendly letter is what students are being asked to master with this writing assignment.  The support trait is idea development; students are to try and match the details used by Leigh when he asks questions in the book Dear Mr. Henshaw.