The teacher will ask the students to gather in the group meeting section of the classroom (i.e. rug area).  In accordance with the Thanksgiving unit concurrently being taught, she will ask them: "Why did the Pilgrims celebrate Thanksgiving?  What were they thankful for?"  The students should give a response that reflects that the Pilgrims were thankful for the Indians’ assistance in the new land, or for showing them ways to grow and obtain food, improve their shelter, etc. 

     She will then read them a story of a modern-day family who realizes the true meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday, Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’, by Eileen Spinelli.  In this story, much goes wrong in the preparation process for the family’s Thanksgiving feast, but the family realizes that the food they eat matters not nearly as much as the time they spend together.  Following the story, the teacher will ask the students questions such as, "What were the Tappletons thankful for?  What events could have ruined their holiday and the time they spent together?  What did they realize was most important on Thanksgiving?"

     The teacher will then turn the lesson to focus on students’ lives by asking, "What kinds of things are you thankful for?  What is most important in your life?  Who would you thank for these things?" The teacher will express that she would like them to take turns responding by waiting for their turn to speak.  She will also ask them to respond in complete sentences, such as "I am thankful for…" and "I would thank my…."  As the students are mentioning what they are thankful for, and to whom, the teacher will briefly record their responses so that she can use them to help the students when it is time to write. 
 

     The teacher will ask the students to quietly move to their desks.  She will position herself at the front of the classroom, where she will model the creation of a short note offering thanks, by writing it on chart paper with markers of three different colors.  She will begin by stating what she is thankful for, and to whom.  She will then begin to write, "Dear (person to whom she is thankful), in one color, and aligned with the left margin.  She will continue, moving down a line, "Thank you for (what she is thankful for)" with a marker of a different color.  While she is writing, she will say the words out loud, sound them out, and ask the students for the spellings of simple words.  She will likely have some mistakes in her spellings, and perhaps capitalization, but will leave these unattended.  Her sentence will also have no punctuation at its end, nor after the greeting (where a comma should be), and the spacing between some words will not be adequate.  Finally, she will write (in yet a different-colored marker) a closing remark, such as "Love," and will print her name.  Again, she will have "forgotten" to put in the necessary comma after the closing statement.

     The teacher will show the class the peer review reminder strip that they will receive, and will show them how she will use it, herself, to check her work. She will then go through each step of the review process (COPS), while showing the students the location of the step, with which she is working, on the reminder strip.  The first step is capitalization, and the teacher will let students know that she will make sure that all proper nouns are capitalized, as well as the beginning letter in each sentence, or in the greeting and closing. 

     Overall appearance is the next step, and the teacher will review the meaning of this statement with the students.  The proper appearance of the letter includes adequate spacing between words and neatness (letters are formed according to the lines, and few erasures are present).  Also included is the placement of the greeting on a separate line from the body of the letter, and a closing is present below the body. 

     Punctuation is the third step.  The teacher will review that punctuation is needed at the end of each sentence (either a period or an exclamation point would be appropriate here), and that a comma belongs at the end of the "Dear" line as well as before the student’s name in the closing.  Again, students are familiar with this requirement, as they have written similar brief letters prior to this lesson. 

     Finally, the teacher will mention that a check should be done for spelling by going back to each word, and making sure the sounds one hears in the words match the letters written on the page (the teacher will model how to check sound-symbol correspondence, using her model letter).  She will also remind them to check with the word wall, and other places in which words can be found in the classroom, to see if any of the words they used are present anywhere else.  In checking her work, the teacher will be sure to overlook certain errors, in order to leave them for a demonstration of the peer review process that students will engage in. 

     She will then tell the students that they will have the opportunity to work with a partner to check each other’s work.  This is called "peer review" because, she will explain, "your partner is a peer, or friend, and with that peer, you will review both of your thank-you notes."  The teacher will call upon four different students to play the role of her peer in the review process, and will allow each student to check for a particular element of her writing (capitalization, overall appearance, punctuation and spelling).  Other classmates can become involved by raising a hand if they have a suggestion, for one of the teacher’s "peers," as to how to fix the element in question.  She will let them know that as a final resource, they can ask the teacher for the spellings of words that their peer reviewer did not know, or that were not present in any of the places in the classroom that they referenced.

     The teacher will leave her sample thank-you note on the chalkboard as a reference.  Due to her use of three different colors (one for the greeting, one for the body of the letter, and one for the closing), it will be easy for students to ensure that they have all three parts.  She will distribute a piece of lined paper to each student, and will then ask them to take out a pencil and begin to write their salutation, or greeting.  She will remind them that the person(s) to whom they are addressing the letter is the person(s) to whom they are thankful for something.  They may then fill in what they are thankful for as the body of the letter.  She will remind them not to forget their closing, so that the person receiving the letter will know who it is from.

     The teacher will move around the room while the students are writing, and she will have, from the group discussion, the things for which the students are thankful, and to whom, to reference if the students have trouble regenerating their ideas.  She will also pair the students with a peer, with whom they will review their note, when they have finished writing it, and conducting their initial review of it.  Once she sees that students are completing their letters, she will distribute peer review reminder strips to each student for use in the individual and peer reviewing processes.  If, upon the completion of the review processes (individual and peer), the student would like to recopy his letter (i.e. there are many erasures), he may do so on a new piece of lined paper provided by the teacher.

     Once students have completed the peer review process, the teacher will collect the letters to assess them.  Upon handing them back, she will review any mistakes, that may have been missed in the individual review process and the peer review, with the students individually, and each student will correct his errors before gluing his letter into his turkey card to be sent home.

     The teacher will ask the students: "What is one thing you can check your writing for, after you think you have finished?"  She should seek capitalization, overall appearance, punctuation, and spelling as responses. She will ask students to tell her how they checked their spelling.  She will ask: "Where did you find the correct spellings of words you wanted to use?  Can anyone tell me about a mistake that you did not see in your writing, but that your peer found when reviewing your thank-you note?" 

     The teacher will then explain that in the following lesson, the students will be creating turkey cards, in which they will place the letters they have just written, to give to the family member to whom they addressed their thank-you note.  The teacher will ask the students to write their names on the backs of their letters, and then she will collect and save them for the next lesson.