David Slonim Lesson

Name: Christina Forshee, Ashland  University, Ashland , Ohio

Grade: Second

Lesson Length: Roughly 30 minutes

Ohio Academic Content Standard: #7 Writing Applications

Grade Level Indicator: #3: Write letters or invitations that include relevant information and follow letter format (e.g., date, proper salutation, body, closing, and signature)

Assessment: The assessment for this activity will be the students’ final copy of their friendly letter. I will be assessing to make sure the format of the letter is correct and it includes all the necessary information that we discussed in class.

Materials Needed:  1 copy of the book You Think it’s Easy Being the Tooth Fairy by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt and illustrated by David Slonim, enough copies of a friendly letter format sheet so each student in the class has one, pencils, writing paper-1 per person.

Overview of lesson: I will begin the lesson by reading the book You Think it’s Easy Being the Tooth Fairy by Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt and illustrated by David Slonim. Once the book is finished, I will say “this morning, I got a letter from the tooth fairy written to the class.” I will then pull out a letter from the “tooth fairy.” In the letter, I will have the “tooth fairy” tell the students’ that she heard they were just reading about how hard her job can be sometimes and that she has decided to take a vacation and she asks the students’ where she should go because she has no ideas. The students will then respond to the tooth fairy’s letter. I will review a friendly letter format and have them write their rough draft on a format sheet (abcteach.com has the format sheets). If there is enough time, I will have them read through their letters and see if they can find any spelling mistakes to correct. I will then have them write it on a final sheet of writing paper, so they can send their best copy to the tooth fairy.

Possible Art Idea: To extend the lesson to another day, have the tooth fairy write back to the students’ thanking them for their ideas( could use a post-card, or a thank you letter). The tooth fairy will send the students’ little boxes to decorate for when they lose their teeth.