Volume 1, Issue 8 Special Interest Articles: • Book Review – A Framework for Understanding Poverty • Business Letter Worksheets Individual Highlights: Free Lesson Plan: Writing the Business Letter 1-4 Book Review – A Framework for Understanding Poverty 4-6 Workshop Information 6 Business Letter Worksheet #1 7 Business Letter Worksheet #2 8 CreateBetterWriters.com Presents the “I Can’t Believe We’re Giving this Away” Newsletter Welcome to CreateBetterWriters.com’s Free Monthly Newsletter Free Lesson Plan: Writing the Business Letter If you received last month’s newsletter, Writing the Friendly Letter, you already have a powerful resource that will help you get started teaching the business letter. It is a good idea to begin learning to write business letters by first learning how to write a friendly letter. The friendly letter is easy to learn and follows a similar format to the business letter. If you missed last month’s newsletter, here is a review of the critical first step in learning letter writing. Knowing the parts of a friendly letter is important. If the students have these parts memorized, they are sure to include them. There is an excellent trick that will help students remember the five parts of the friendly letter. After they practice the trick once, review it a few times throughout the school year. They should remember it forever. Follow the steps below to help the students memorize the friendly letter: Step 1 – Have the students point to their heads and say, “Heading”. This is the top of the friendly letter. Pointing to their head will help them remember the heading. Go over where to place the heading. The trick for remembering the parts of the heading is this: The Address goes first. The City, State and Zip Code goes second followed by the Date. The three lines begin with A, C, D, not A, B, C. Model on the board where to put the address; city, state, zip code; and date. As you do the worksheets later, you can remind them of this trick. Step 2 – Have the students point to their mouths and say, “Greeting”. (This is also known as the “Salutation”.) You greet people by saying “hello”. In a friendly letter, you greet the reader by putting a greeting such as Dear_____, or My good friend __________, . Review Steps 1 and 2. Page 2 of 11 Work Smarter, Not Harder! A System That Improves: Writing Assessment Descriptive Writing Vocabulary Development Writing Tricks Research Reports Letter Writing Much More! Order your copy at: CreateBetterWriters.com Writing the Business Letter (cont.) MC Publications Monthly Step 3 – Have the students point to their bodies and say, “Body”. Our body is the largest part of our anatomy. It is the place where most of the important activity takes place. Likewise, the body of the letter is where the main message is delivered. Review Steps 1 through 3. Step 4 – We’ve been using our bodies to memorize the parts of the friendly letter. We are going to continue this with our clothing. The next part of the friendly letter is the “closing” which sounds like “clothing”. Therefore, the students will grab their pant leg or skirt and say “Closing”. Obviously, explain to them that “closing” sounds like “clothing” which is why they are grabbing their clothes. Review Steps 1 through 4. Step 5 – The final part of the friendly letter is the signature. Since the students have just grabbed their pant legs, they are going to use those same legs for the final step. With the big toe, the students are going to draw an “S”. They will say “Signature” as they do this. After you have reviewed the five parts of a friendly letter, your students now have the steps memorized. A fun activity is to time the students to see who can say the five steps the fastest. In most cases, the students are able to do it in less than two seconds. Business Letter Once the students have memorized the parts and format of the friendly letter, the business letter is easy. Once again, have a sample of a business letter on a poster or overhead as a reference while reviewing the parts of a business letter. Step 1 – Begin by reviewing the parts of a friendly letter. Be sure to use the hand motions as you say each step. Step 2 – The parts of the business letter are basically the same. There is a heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature. However, the business letter is a two-headed monster. It has two headings, not just one. The second heading is known as the “inside address”. Page 3 of 11 MC Publications Monthly Writing the Business Letter (cont.) Step 3 – Show the students a model of a business letter. Use a large poster or give them a handout of a business letter. Ask the students to find as many similarities and differences as they can. See the samples below. Below are a few suggestions to point out in case the students miss them. THE definitive work on teaching the Five-Paragraph Essay! Order your copy at: CreateBetterWriters.com Similarities: 1. The author’s address is included in the heading. 2. There is a greeting, body, closing, and signature. 3. The body is made up of paragraphs. 4. Both are used to communicate ideas. Differences: 1. The heading, inside address, body, closing and signature all line up in the business letter. Only the heading, closing, and signature line up in the friendly letter. 2. The friendly letter doesn’t have an inside address. 3. The greeting of the business letter has a colon, not a comma. Page 4 of 11 Writing the Business Letter (cont.) Differences (cont.): 4. The greeting of the business letter is more formal. 5. The paragraphs are not indented in a business letter. There is a space between the paragraphs. 6. The signature of a typed business letter is written by hand. Step 4 – Copy Worksheet #1 at the end of this newsletter on both sides of the paper. It shows students the business letter format. On the front, label each part of the business letter: Heading, Inside Address, Greeting, Body, Closing, and Signature. On the back, write a sample business letter together as a class. The lines will help them format the letter. Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grades 7-8 Home School Edition Order your copy at: CreateBetterWriters.com Step 5 – Complete Worksheet #2. Students need to unscramble the parts of a business letter and format the letters correctly. They can use Worksheet #1 for the first few to use as a reference. However, they should be able to put the parts in the correct order without this help by the end of the worksheet. Book Review: A Framework for Understanding Poverty By Ruby K. Payne If you have students in your class living in poverty, stop reading this book review, go to the “Book Store” at CreateBetterWriters.com, and purchase A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne. I’ll wait … … now that you’re back, you’ll probably want to know why I insisted that you get this book right now. Well, it’s kind of common sense that the students’ economic level plays a roll in their achievement in school. While reading A Framework for Understanding Poverty, not only will you understand the effects of poverty on the academic lives of students, you’ll be well equipped to help turn these students’ lives around. This is a book you’ll want to pass around your staff lounge. Your principal will want presentations made at staff meetings, and you’ll be the hero who brought it to your school’s attention. Page 5 of 11 A Framework for Understanding Poverty (cont.) “I can say from experience that the schools in the poor areas have a much higher percentage of students who exhibit these problems.” A Framework for Understanding Poverty Order Your Copy at: CreateBetter Writers.com’s Book Store Have you ever had struggling students who also have the following behaviors? * Impulse Control Problems * Associate with others who encourage negative or selfdestructive behavior. * Feels the need to be the “entertainer”. * Would rather look tough than smart. * Little awareness regarding the consequences of one’s actions. * Poor organization skills. You might say that you’ve had students from wealthy families who’ve shown the same behavior. That may be true, but these behaviors are far more typical in students who come from generational poverty, poverty that continues from one generation to another. I have personally spent significant amounts of time in high and low socio-economic areas. I can say from experience that the schools in the poor areas have a much higher percentage of students who exhibit these problems. There may be similar factors that might contribute to the “rich” kid’s behavior. However, the “rich” kid also will have a support system and “hidden rules” that will enable him/her to stay out of the cycle of poverty. It doesn’t take a PH.D. to figure out that a single parent who is homeless is more concerned about feeding his or her children than helping them do their homework or reading to them before they go to bed. This book goes far beyond the obvious factors that inhibit the learning of students in poverty. Ruby Payne does an excellent job painting a picture of how all people use “hidden rules” to help us function in life. Since school is a part of life, the “hidden rules” that one class of people use to help them succeed in school are much different than the “hidden rules” that others use to just survive. What Ruby Payne does in this book is help the teacher understand the mindset of families in poverty. We get to read about real students with real problems. Most teachers will have no problem identifying similar A Framework for Understanding Poverty (cont.) students from their own classrooms whose lives are just like those in the book. When you learn what makes these students so ambivalent about education, the thing that will help them escape the situation that they’re in, it will give you more patience and empathy. Here are just a few of the wonderful things you will discover in this book. 1. What is poverty? 2. What class are you in, and could you survive in another? 3. What are the hidden rules of each class? 4. Do our schools encourage one group’s “hidden rules” more than others? 5. How do we help students move out of the poverty mindset? 6. What are the four reasons why people are able to escape poverty? Be prepared to be fascinated. A Framework for Understanding Poverty is available in the Book Store at CreateBetterWriters.com. You won’t be disappointed. Workshops Available - Reading / Writing / Grammar If your school or district is Outside of Southern looking for powerful staff California, workshops can be development, David Dye is a teacher / arranged on weekends and in the trainer who has written seven books summer. Summer workshops are and presented all over the country. available from late June through late Workshops can be designed to meet August. the specific needs of your staff. His To arrange a workshop, or for specialties include writing, reading, more information, please call (562) grammar, English language learning, 627-5662 or send email to: and differentiated instruction. [email protected] Page 6 of 11 “When you learn what makes these students so ambivalent about education... it will give you more patience and empathy.” MC Publications Monthly MODELCITIZEN PUBLICATIONS CreateBetterWriters.com. E-MAIL: ContactCBW@ Verizon.net CreateBetterWriters.com Next Month * Adverbs vs. Adjectives * Book Review: A Framework for Understanding Poverty – Part II ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________, ________________________ (Sign Your Name) ________________________ (Print Your Name) CreateBetterWriters.com Name: ________________________ Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the business letters below. Be sure to put them in the proper format. #1 4597 Snowy Hill St. / January 10, 2004 / Juneau, AK 99801 / Anchorage, AK 99504 / Buster’s Hiking Supplies / 9128 Packer Blvd. / Buster Brown, Tour Guide tours. / Sincerely, / Harriet Hiker / / Please send me information about your hiking Dear Mr. Brown: #2 July 18, 2010 / 25801 Golden Ave. / Denver, CO 80204 / Yosemite Sam’s School of Anger Management 329 Mustache Rd. Cordially, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 / / Yosemite Sam, Counselor / Dear Yosemite Sam: / What should I do? / I need help. There’s a screwy rabbit that is driving me crazy. / Elmer Fudd #3 Hartford, CT 06106 / October 20, 2006 / Boston, MA 02114 / Jone’s Flowers 2984 Ocean Blvd. / / Kim Mitchel, Florist Please send me a catalogue of your lovely bouquets. Nancy Miller / / 129 Nectar Rd. Dear Kim Mitchel: / / Yours truly, #4 55821 Rocker Rd. Andy’s Elvis School / September 14, 2007 / / Memphis, TN 38104 305 Hound Dog Drive / Sincerely, Nashville, TN 37206 / / Andy Koff, Elvis Impersonator / Dear Mr. Koff: / Hugo Moran / / How can I be a great Elvis impersonator like you? Please let me know. CreateBetterWriters.com