Page 124 - SpringBoard_Writing_Workshop_Grade8_Flipbook

Editing
13. Remember that the elements of a formal or business letter are • Sender’s address
• Date
• Inside address
• Salutation • Body
• Closing
• Signature
With your class, add a heading, date, inside address, salutation, closing, and signature to your letter.
14. Edit your class-constructed letter for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and capitalization. Write a final, error-free draft to send to your audience. Make sure someone in your class adds a handwritten signature to represent your group.
ACTIVITY 3
Writing a Business Letter with Peers
WRITING PROMPT: Think of a service that you or you and a partner could
offer to other members of your community or neighborhood. Write a letter that explains the service you are offering and details the benefits you could offer to your community. Your purpose will be to convince the recipients to hire you for these services.
Be sure to:
• Communicate the purpose clearly
• Maintain formal tone
• Include appropriate reasons and arguments • Include the elements of a business letter
• Use appropriate conventions
Refer to the Scoring Guide for this writing task to help you understand where to focus your attention and efforts.
Prewriting/Drafting
1. With your writing group, copy the graphic organizer you used to write your class-constructed letter. Complete the graphic organizer as you plan your peer-constructed letter.
a. Brainstorm a list of questions the recipient might ask about your project, and generate answers to include in your letter.
b. Create a list of ways that you could make this idea sound enticing to the recipients.
c. Decide which of these details to use, and outline the order in which to use them.
d. Draft the letter based on the outline.
e. Create a sense of closure in the last paragraph. Be sure to offer a
suggestion for next steps in the process.
f. Readthelettertogether,makingrevisionsasnecessary.Keepinmindyour
purpose and audience when considering the tone and level of formality.
Review active and passive voice options in sentence construction.
g. Add the elements of a formal or business letter.
Writing Workshop 10 • Procedural Texts: Business Letters 7
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