Overall expectation #1 in Writing, in the Ontario Curriculum, asks students to "generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience." This project provided students with an opportunity to write for two purposes and three different audiences.
We asked the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre (KTTC) to help us turn our persuasive writing unit into something with a real purpose. Staff at the centre told us they would love it if we would write some letters aimed at persuading potential donors (companies and those offering grants) to support KTTC. They said they would also appreciate some kids' thank you letters that they could give to donors.
As you can see from the following pictures, working for a real-world client inspired students to do exemplary work. These are their persuasive letters (click on any photo to enlarge it):
These are samples of their thank you letters to donors:
We also wrote thank you letters to the staff and volunteers at the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre for the amazing work they do! Here are samples of those letters:
Thank you for visiting our class BLOG. If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black): mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.