Deployed But Not Forgotten

3rd grade students at Sand Ridge Elementary School will be learning how to write a friendly letter. Since many of our students have parents in the military that are deployed I would like to have students write friendly letters to their parents that include pictures of their learning experiences. Even though our students' parents are deployed, I firmly believe that as an educator it is my duty to keep those parents involved in their students' learning experiences.

First, I would teach a week long lesson on the parts of a friendly letter:

1) The Heading: The heading can include your address and the date.

2) The Salutation (greeting): This usually begins with Dear_________. The blank is for the name of the person you are writing. After you write the person's name you put a comma ( , ) .

3) The Body: The body of the letter is the information you are writing in your letter.

4) The Closing: In the closing the first word is capitalized and you put a comma after the last word.

Second, I would teach students how to use a time line to pre-write their thoughts for their letter to their parents. The events to be used would be what they learning in school.

Third, I would review with students how to use the information in the pre-writing activity to write a draft. Students' drafts can be written in paragraphs or a list.

Fourth, I would review with students how to revise their draft to turn it into a friendly letter to their parent.

Fifth, I would reveiw with students how to edit their revised paper using the Writing on Track textbook.

Sixth, I would review with students how to publish their friendly letter. This is where students would include pictures of their learning experiences.

After spending two weeks teaching students how to write a friendly letter to their parents, I would introduce them to the ability to capture pictures of their learning experiences using a digital camera. Each week students would take pictures of their learning experiences. Then during writing time students would write a friendly letter to their parents using the same steps as above. Students would either email their letters or mail them.

After students have captured three weeks of pictures of their learning experiences, I will teach students how to use Photo Story to create a video to send to their deployed parent. I will work with students in our computer lab using a smart board to show them exactly how to create a photo story.

I will have students create photo stories monthly to be sent to their deployed parent.