The holiday season is here! It's the perfect time of year to reach out to family and friends to tell them how special they are. With the advent of email and texting, the art of writing letters can often be overlooked, but taking the time to write a letter or card is more meaningful. Teach your children how to write a letter to someone they love by following the tips below.
- Teach them to begin their letter with a greeting like, “Dear___________,” and end it with a closing like “Love, __________.”
- Help them take the time to make the body of their letter unique. Brainstorm ideas they can include such as a favorite memory they have about the person they are writing to or something they want that person to know about their current life.
- Children who are just learning their letters and sounds can draw pictures and dictate what they want to say. Write it in yellow marker so that they can trace the words.
- Children who want to write a longer letter, but who may also need help writing can dictate the letter to an adult who can write it down for them to copy onto a separate piece of paper.
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Older children can write the letter themselves using lines as a guide with one line for each word. Letter templates are also helpful such as the ones on this website: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Letter-Writing-Paper-Friendly-Letter-596390
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Add fun to the letter-writing process by buying (or downloading) festive or personalized stationery. Check out https://www.freeprintablestationery.net/category/christmas. Let your children use colorful markers and stickers as decorations.
If you take advantage of the magic of the holidays to teach your children how impactful letter writing can be, you may inspire them to continue it all year long. Then it may not only be one of the most memorable gifts of the season, but also the most everlasting!
Any questions? Please email us at Janice@Neighborhoodlit.com. Taylor Burke is a teacher and Director of Communications at Neighborhood Lit. and works closely with Janice Migliazza, a Reading Specialist and owner of Neighborhood Lit, Route 34, Colts Neck to bring you this information.
(Image by Biljana Jovanovic from Pixabay)
