Letters
I can clearly remember how my third grade teacher, taught our class how to write a letter. She passed out letters that she had received from students, parents, her children, and other family members and allowed us to look at them. As we looked at them as a class we first discussed the format of writing a letter. All the letters seemed to have the same format, the date on the top right corner (day/month/year), then about two lines down on the left side a Dear ___________, writing in the middle, and lastly a Love ______________ or Sincerely ___________. My teacher discussed that this the typical format for a letter, the farewell can differ but everything else is typically the same.
We then discussed the body of the letter. I believed that when writing someone a letter it should mean something, that it should express some type of emotion; some of my friends did not. So we read the letters that were floating around. The letter that I had was from one of my teachers former students thanking her for helping them better understand math and writing and helping them for passing third grade, they also mentioned that she was a great teacher. Some of the other letters were about her loved ones thanking her for everything she has done and some were just writing to find out how she was doing. We then realized that letters do not have to be about “important” things, or mean something but that it can be just to see how someone is doing. I do remember her saying that most of the time letters are written to express how you feel towards someone but that letters are not only used for that reason. I remember feeling glad that she said that, that I was not wrong when I said that they should “mean” something.
We then moved on to the history of letters, with the lack of technology in historical times letters were used as a form of communicating with those who lived far away. I could not believe that letters were one of the most efficient ways of communicating. It was now our turn to write a letter. I was so excited! So I started my letter, I wrote down the date, and then Querido (Dear), and then I was stuck. I didn’t know whom I wanted to write the letter to. It would be too typical to write the letter to my mom, dad or teacher. I could write a letter to my friends but I didn’t have anything meaningful to tell them, especially because I see them everyday. I could not think of anyone else, I see my family and friends everyday; I wanted to write to someone that I did not see everyday but that I had something meaningful to tell them.
Then I realized that I could write to my oldest brother, he worked at night and although I did see him almost everyday I did not get to spend as much time as I wanted to with him. I can finally get started; when I looked over to my friends’ paper they were almost finished with their letter! I felt like I had to rush my letter so I would not be the last one done. I wrote to my oldest brother Ariel and told him that I appreciate everything that he does and I love spending time with him. I told him that I love him and wish we could spend more time together. After writing the letter, our teacher allowed us to keep the letters and give it to the person we wrote them to. When I got home from school I went to give my brother the letter, but he was asleep, so I left it under his pillow. Later on when he woke up he saw the letter, gave me a big hug and told me he loved me too.
I can clearly remember how my third grade teacher, taught our class how to write a letter. She passed out letters that she had received from students, parents, her children, and other family members and allowed us to look at them. As we looked at them as a class we first discussed the format of writing a letter. All the letters seemed to have the same format, the date on the top right corner (day/month/year), then about two lines down on the left side a Dear ___________, writing in the middle, and lastly a Love ______________ or Sincerely ___________. My teacher discussed that this the typical format for a letter, the farewell can differ but everything else is typically the same.
We then discussed the body of the letter. I believed that when writing someone a letter it should mean something, that it should express some type of emotion; some of my friends did not. So we read the letters that were floating around. The letter that I had was from one of my teachers former students thanking her for helping them better understand math and writing and helping them for passing third grade, they also mentioned that she was a great teacher. Some of the other letters were about her loved ones thanking her for everything she has done and some were just writing to find out how she was doing. We then realized that letters do not have to be about “important” things, or mean something but that it can be just to see how someone is doing. I do remember her saying that most of the time letters are written to express how you feel towards someone but that letters are not only used for that reason. I remember feeling glad that she said that, that I was not wrong when I said that they should “mean” something.
We then moved on to the history of letters, with the lack of technology in historical times letters were used as a form of communicating with those who lived far away. I could not believe that letters were one of the most efficient ways of communicating. It was now our turn to write a letter. I was so excited! So I started my letter, I wrote down the date, and then Querido (Dear), and then I was stuck. I didn’t know whom I wanted to write the letter to. It would be too typical to write the letter to my mom, dad or teacher. I could write a letter to my friends but I didn’t have anything meaningful to tell them, especially because I see them everyday. I could not think of anyone else, I see my family and friends everyday; I wanted to write to someone that I did not see everyday but that I had something meaningful to tell them.
Then I realized that I could write to my oldest brother, he worked at night and although I did see him almost everyday I did not get to spend as much time as I wanted to with him. I can finally get started; when I looked over to my friends’ paper they were almost finished with their letter! I felt like I had to rush my letter so I would not be the last one done. I wrote to my oldest brother Ariel and told him that I appreciate everything that he does and I love spending time with him. I told him that I love him and wish we could spend more time together. After writing the letter, our teacher allowed us to keep the letters and give it to the person we wrote them to. When I got home from school I went to give my brother the letter, but he was asleep, so I left it under his pillow. Later on when he woke up he saw the letter, gave me a big hug and told me he loved me too.