Letters home

Students will write letters home, taking on the role of one of the sons of the "Gold Star Mothers" from Union County, NC.

A lesson plan for grade 5 Social Studies

By Meg Millard and Pamela Webb

Learn more

• American Memory from the Library of Congress This website provides information and pictures of some of the locations the soldiers were. You must search for the locations individually.
• Format for a friendly letter This website provides tips for how to format a friendly or personal letter. Follow the links for more detailed instructions.

Related pages

• Civil War journals: Integrates creative writing with social studies and enhances knowledge of the effects of the Civil War on people.
• Along the Trail of Tears: A part of history is often forgotten when teaching younger students. This is the relocation of the Cherokee Indians when the white settlers wanted their property. The US Government moved whole groups of Indians under harsh conditions. This trip became known as the Trail of Tears. Using this as a background students will explore and experiment with persuasive writing as they try to express the position of Cherokee leaders.
• North Carolina Cherokee Indians: The Trail of Tears: In this two week unit, students will study the Cherokee by participating in literature circles, learning about Native American story telling, writing a letter to Andrew Jackson to protest against the Creek War, and more.

Related topics

• Learn more about American history, North Carolina, United States, history, language arts, letter writing, military, social studies, soldiers, and wars.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• discover that soldiers from a small community have fought in conflicts for the U.S. throughout the world.
• explore the wide range of places our soldiers have traveled and fought to protect our country.
• make personal connections with some of the people who fought in WWI, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

5 days

Materials/resources

• World maps
• NC map
• push pins, tape, and paper to make labels for maps
• Airmail paper, pencils, pens
• Envelopes
• Optional:Typewriter (for historical significance)
• Student computers with internet access
• Printers (colored would be ideal, but not required)
• Letter rubric

Pre-activities

This activity would best follow study of WWI, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

Have a background discussion and KWL of the U.S. involvement in the above mentioned conflicts.

Activities

1. As a class, locate Union County on a North Carolina map.
2. Introduce the students to the “Heroic Sons of Gold Star Mothers” website. (scroll down to contents and select a soldier.)
3. Have each student choose a soldier to “become” from the list on the website and print out the page with the information about that soldier. The picture from this page will be mounted for the final product.
4. Have each student locate where the soldier fought on the world map and place a push pin labeled with the soldier’s name on it at the correct location.
5. Have the students use the internet to find an image and information about the location and print them out to be mounted for the final product.
6. Instruct the students to write a creative letter home as though they were the soldier. Tell them to be sure the letter includes information about the location as it would have related to the soldier’s experience.
7. Have the students plan, draft, revise, edit, and create a final draft of their letter. Give the students a copy of the letter rubric so they know how the letter will be assessed.
8. Have the students address the envelope and mount the portrait of the soldier with the letter and location picture as the final product.

Assessment

Use the letter rubric to assess students’ letters.