Junior School 

The Day The Chairs Quit

This term, on one unexpected day, the chairs from from 1/2A and 1/2B classrooms were rounded up, stacked and taped with a letter stating that the chairs have quit. It caused quite a stir amongst our classrooms as students had to go on their day without their chairs.

Our students had to write a letter to convince their chairs to come back. While some wrote apologies (e.g. I'm sorry for swinging on you), other responses negotiated (e.g. I am worried for you) or made compromises with their chairs (e.g. I will wipe you clean every day if you come back). As each letter was accepted and approved, the chair stacks grew smaller. 

As a part of our learning how to write persuasive texts, we learnt that to persuade means to convince someone else to think, feel and do something in a certain way. One way is to make a promise, negotiate or to compensate by considering the other person's perspective. These were big words that we unpacked on our word wall. 

Through our mentor text 'The Day The Crayons Quit' over the week, we began to unpack the structure of a letter, the characters, the language choices and persuasive structures used in the book. Each persuasive letter should have a salutation (e.g. Dear... ), opinions, reasons, explanations,  and an ending (e.g. Sincerely,...) to show that it has the basic features of a letter and persuasive text. We discovered that there were different ways to be creative with your letters. You can keep practicing at home. In the meantime, please enjoy our mentor text 'The Day The Crayons Quit'.