Dear Friend: Writing a Friendly Letter

About This Resource

A free Grade 4 ESL writing lesson on the five parts of a friendly letter: date, greeting, body, closing and signature. Includes a timed lesson plan, a six-activity worksheet with a guided letter-writing task, an editable Word version and an answer key.

Overview

Students learn the five parts of a friendly letter and the language that goes with each part: a greeting such as "Dear Mia,", a body with news and questions, and a closing such as "Your friend,". They match, order and complete letter parts, check commas and capital letters, and finish by writing their own letter to a friend about their weekend.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Writing a Friendly Letter
Category: Writing
File Type: PDF
File Size: 258.3 KB
Published: 28 Oct 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 4 / intermediate English learners (ages 9–10) 45 minutes Writing text organization punctuation capital letters asking questions

Learning Objectives

Name the five parts of a friendly letter: date, greeting, body, closing and signature.
Use correct capital letters and commas in the greeting and closing of a letter.
Write a short friendly letter that shares news and asks a question.

Lesson Procedure

Show the model letter in the lesson plan and label its five parts together.
Students complete activities 1 to 5 to practise the parts and the language.
Students write their own letter in activity 6; check it with the parts checklist in the answer key.

Assessment

Activities 1 to 5 check the parts of a letter and punctuation (answer key included). Use the checklist in the answer key to assess the letter in activity 6.

Differentiation

Support: give students sentence starters for the body ("This weekend I…", "How are you…?"). Challenge: ask students to write a reply to a classmate's letter.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Class post box: students post their letters in a box and each student answers a letter from a classmate.
Letter puzzle: cut a letter into its five parts and ask pairs to put it back together.
Pen pals: exchange letters with another class in your school.

Teacher Tips

Write the model letter on the board with each part in a different color. Leave it up while students write so they can copy the layout.

What's Included

7-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (5 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Editable Word version of the worksheet
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)