Grades 3–5
2 Sessions, 45-60 minutes
InformationalLessonsStudents will practice self-reflection on their experiences as writers throughout the year. They will share their reflections in a letter or zine, using 2nd person point of view to address their message to a future writer coming up in the grade behind them.
Students will produce a mentor letter or zine written to a future young author and informed by their experiences writing this year.
5 minutes
Start by introducing the idea that through all the writing they’ve done over the year, your students have a very special set of fresh knowledge about what it’s like to be an author in their grade level. Invite them to remember what it was like to start writing at the beginning of the year and how much they’ve grown. This is a great place to share your own praise and observations from the year.
Announce that you’d like them to write to the students coming up in the grade behind them, to share their special writing knowledge, and that there will be an important place in the class where they will be displayed for next year’s authors to find them.
10 minutes
As a whole group, take a minute or two of think-time to reflect back on the year, and invite students to share writing activities that they remember. Jot these down somewhere where everyone can see. A visual representation of a timeline of the year can be useful here. Feel free to use the Writing Projects Roadmap attached to this lesson, or make something similar.
Now that you’ve jogged your collective memories of what writing you did this year, invite students to continue this memory journey — in a fun and imaginative way.
Start by asking students to imagine themselves on this path that you’ve just been remembering. As if they were a time traveler, they have the power to travel back to all their past experiences on this path.
For the next activity, you’ll invite students to walk around the room, slowly and safely, to reflect on key moments they’ve experienced this year as writers. You might help them visualize the room as the path of their writers’ journey. Here’s a couple of tips for guiding this creative visualization:
10 minutes
Once students have mingled and mixed around a bit, invite them to stop and find a partner who they are standing near. Inform them that they’ve stopped at their favorite writing experience of the year.
Invite students to tell their partner what they imagine when they think about their favorite piece of writing they created this year. Invite students to share how it felt when they were writing this piece, a favorite memory from the project, or what they love about what they wrote. Have them switch roles so the other person shares.
Once everyone has shared, go back to mingling around the room until you say stop, and they find another partner. The second prompt is to share something that inspires you to write like a song, your family, your culture, a book, a video game, a friend or other person. Encourage them to share why and/or how this person or thing inspires them.
And mingle one more time. The last prompt is to share a piece of advice for when you get stuck in your writing.
Other optional reflection prompts:
20 minutes
Review what goes into a letter:
Invite students to take some writing time to jot down their ideas for what they’d want to share with a future writer, including both memories from the students’ year of writing, and their advice for the writers of the future. You can have this be totally free form, or use the Dear Future Writer Prewriting Worksheet to guide their initial brainstorm.
Share with students that in the next session, they’ll take these ideas and make them into a final draft.
5 minutes
Invite students to imagine a future student entering their classroom on the first day of school next year. Like, really picture someone in your head! What do you think it will be like for them just starting their writing journey? How do you think they’ll feel? Remind students that this is their audience for their letter or zine.
15 minutes
Whether you are using a zine format, letters, or something else entirely, it can be helpful to start by modeling an example as a class.
Fill out a Dear Future Writer Zine Template (Fill-in), or start a sample letter, taking ideas from around the room as you narrate your thinking.
Practice using first person (“I”) to share your own experiences, and second person (“you”) to offer advice or ideas to your audience. See if you can source at least two or three example “I” and “you” statements from the room.
Time to write! If students are using the zine template, invite them to write one idea they want to share with their audience on each page. You can use the worksheet from the previous session as a guide.
Encourage students to share at least three things that they remember from the year (“I” statements), and three things they’d want to offer to their young writer audience (advice, recommendations, ideas — “you” statements).
10 minutes
Invite students to share their work together in pairs or small groups. Or, you can create an author’s chair for students who would like to share their letters with the class (note, this may take a little more time!).
Conclusion: Create a special place in your classroom library where these letters or zines will live next year. This could be creating just a special box and inviting students to sign it.
Let your students know that they are always welcome to come back to read their advice from their past selves if they need some inspiration, or to share their reflections and advice directly with the incoming class!
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