National Thank You Month and Letter Writing

Since January is National Thank You Month, it’s the perfect opportunity to teach your students about the importance of gratitude. Being thankful and expressing gratitude are two things everyone should learn from a young age. After all, thanking someone shows appreciation, not to mention good manners. National Thank You Month can go beyond just verbal communication. The following activities can be fun, creative, and a great way to help teach your class about the importance of expressing thanks, while also helping them hone their writing skills.

Friendly and Formal Letters

Lessons about thank you cards, notes, or letters can be incorporated into language arts or writing activities. Depending on the grade level of your class, you can provide information on the difference between formal and friendly notes and give them some examples. As an extension, ask your pupils to spend some time at home researching friendly and formal notes. They can bring a few examples to class. In small groups, or as a class, look over, discuss, and compare the sample letters. If you are working with older learners, have them look up the elements of formal letter writing and then designate class time for putting their research into practice. You could set up stations around the classroom, having students rotate through each one for 15-20 minutes to complete short writing activities.

Taking this activity further, have each pupil choose an important historical figure. For homework, he should spend twenty to thirty minutes researching this historical figure. Ask them to focus on this person's achievements and find samples of their correspondence. Back in the classroom, make some small groups and have your pupils spend time analyzing their research and discuss what they've found. Come together as a class to discuss and highlight the similarities and differences in friendly and formal letters. Once you've discussed the format for letter writing, and reviewed some examples, have each individual write a formal thank you letter to the historical figure they chose. In their letters, they should address specific reasons explaining why they believe this person deserves to be thanked. Once everyone has finished, they can present their letters to the class, or you can post all the letters on a bulletin board for reading at a later time. 

Crazy, Crafty Thank You Cards

Pupils should also know that, aside from being an important skill, friendly thank you cards can be fun and creative. One way to demonstrate this is to let them spend some time getting artistic with thank you cards. Begin by having individuals brainstorm a list of people they want to thank. You can give them some examples and suggestions. Then have them choose a few of these people to receive a hand-made thank you card. They can make these for their grandparents, a friend, a teacher, or even a sibling. Next, allow pupils to choose whatever art supplies they think they’ll need to create their own personal thank you cards. This activity will demonstrate that writing thank you notes can be creative and fun, instead of a chore. Extend the lesson by showing them how nice it feels to receive a thank you card. Have everyone in the class choose a name out of a hat. Each child makes a thank you card for the person who’s name they drew. Below you will find some other ideas to get your class thanking creatively.

Letter Writing Activities:

Writing Formal and Informal Letters

Learners write a thank you note as well as a formal letter. They learn about the components of a letter; this includes the salutation, body, closing, and signature.

We Are Thankful

This activity prompts pupils to write thank you letters to a staff member at their school. It also calls for including a photograph of this staff member and the student. This is a nice touch if you have a camera available. 

Write Someone a Letter

Pupils analyze correspondence from famous, as well as ordinary, people. They then have an opportunity to practice writing their own letters. There are activities that allow learners to practice writing thank you notes, letters of congratulation, formal business letters, and invitations.