We started this unit with introducing the structure of persuasive writing on day one of the week. Then, we went into the structure more in detail the following days starting with the Introduction Paragraph. This process happened before the chairs quit with another topic; Should we have a class pet? Students collectively created each example paragraph by using the structure and each other to help decide which sentence they liked the best to use as the exemplar for our writing piece. After a week of this process, students decided they were ready to write their own persuasive essay independently. That's when I read aloud The Day the Crayons Quit. The next morning, students walked into class to the chairs quitting and had to proceed with the school day with the chairs being stacked away. During Writer's Workshop, they discussed the reasons why the chairs should come back. From those reasons, they chose a few that they were ready to use to persuade the chairs to come back. We hope you enjoy the letters below!
P.S. The blue chairs were fully persuaded and came back a couple days later.
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Dear Chairs,
I want you to know that we really wanted you to come back because our legs get tired of standing, the floor is really cold, we get tired and the floor is too hard for us. We are very sorry for what we did to you all and I hope you can forgive us for what we have done to you. We will start to treat you like we want to be treated. We are really sorry for dragging you on the floor, hitting you on the floor, treating you bad, for getting you annoyed and other things that you don’t like. Please forgive us for the things we have done to you. We are very very very sorry for annoying you. We promise to never do it ever ever ever! Again! Sincerely, Sofia Dear chairs
Chairs, we are sorry for hurting your feelings. We will do our best to not hurt your feelings. Please come back and we promise you will not feel left out. We will not be annoying anymore so we are so sorry so do you forgive us? Without you we will have to sit on the floor and the floor is cold. Your friend, Ethan Dear Blue Chairs,
I want you to know that I got your letter and I’m sorry about how we treated you. We promise we will treat you better if you come back. Without you we have to sit on the ground or under the table, maybe the couch if our teachers let us so please COME BACK!!! The first reason why you should come back is because the ground is cold. do you know how cold it makes my butt like -10 so please come back!!! If we stand up all the time our legs will start to hurt and we can’t always sit on the ground. Maybe the ground will start to hurt and it could run away. It’s also easier to work sitting down than standing up. If we sit or lay on the table it might run away too and that won’t be cool. These are some reasons why I think you should come back. We will treat You better if you come back. Thank you for all the help this year. We would really appreciate it if you could come back. Sincerely He He Dear Chairs,
COME BACK!!!! We need you, we are not a calm class without you. You can see for yourself that we are all over the floor and going under the tables with our friends. We lay and we sit on the tables. We might be hurting the tables too. Don’t tell me we are hurting the tables too. Don’t even get me started on how tired we get after standing up for so long. It hurts our legs and it feels like we can walk any more. I know that you should have a break but if you want us to be calm and not annoying then please come back. But if you do then I wish you a good break? If you come back then we promise to take better care of you ,keep all four legs on the ground ,and push you in when we leave for snack and lunch. Will you come back if we promise to take better care of you and your friends? When this ends we can make great memories in the class together. Your friend sincerely, Abbey Stevenson Dear chairs, Please come back, we promise we will treat you well, just come back please we had to suffer when you guys left us we had to lay or sit on the ground.The ground was too cold i was freezing laying on the ground.We will treat you good we will not drag you also WE HATE STANDING. We got so sore in like 60 seconds. And it feels like so many needles poking you. Sincerely, Maya Dear chairs,
Yesterday we were so hopeless without chairs, please forgive us and come back. Here are some reasons why. The ground is super cold and dirty plus we can't lay or sit on the table or the table will brack. We promise to tuck you in and not be silly with you guys. We promise to keep you guys on the floor with 4 legs! We will do anything you want us to do like ANYTHING. So please consider coming back. We are super hopeless without you guys. We always get so distracted without you guys!!!!! So please come back. Take care, Emily Dear chairs,
I want you to know that I miss you. We need you to sit down when we're tired. I know you get tired but that's your job. It's not our fault your creator made you for sitting on. Please come back. without you We get distracted and have to lay on the floor. I hope you come back soon! Take care, Luna Dear blue chairs,
I would like you chairs to know that we all want to come back . Me and my class all want you back.It would be the best day . The reason is that some people stay on the floor . And also that the floor IS SO COLD like SO COLD . And we promise that we won’t let you feel left out. Also we were not at the level of the table. It was so annoying. So I hope you know the golden rule . Second reason is that we want you back and we are trying our best!.Also we're going to treat you best and that is called THE GOLDEN rule .We will sit on you correctly and not swing.Or we will not drop you and mess around. Sincerely, Aubriannah Dear Chairs
I want you to know that we miss you and we really appreciate you and we promise we will take care of you. We won't make you feel left out. We will use the golden rule on you plus we will tuck you in. Plus we won't drop you or mess around with you again. Please come back we need you we aren't a complete class without you. My friend tried to stand the whole day and then we realized that's a pretty bad idea for our legs and back. So please come back where begin you so please come back Take care Emiliano Dear chairs,
You made it really hard to focus on wednesday. Our legs hurt when I stand. We promise to use the golden rule. If you are so angry that we do not treat you with respect. Well in mashin how spris and annoyed I was when I had to stand all day. That made me just frustrated. You say it is so esey to stand well here is the bottom line. IT IS NOT:( You should know the golden rule here if you do not know. Treat others the way you want to be treated.yes I understand we as a class did not treat you well. And I am truly sorry. Focus is key when my legs are sore that stops me from focusing. Sincerely, Rileigh. Dear Chairs,
I want you to come back because we were so tired and sour and the floor was so cold. I am sorry how we were treating you this whole time and did not know about it. Please come back. My back was hurting a lot. It felt like I was gonna die. Please come back. My feet were hurting like crazy. Please come back. I miss siding down. I miss the chairs so please come back. Please come back and forgive us all for hurting you and not treating you appropriately. Please come back super sorry for everything please come back. Take care, Robert Dear chairs,
I want you to know that I'm sorry for hurting your feelings with everything I did to you and your friends. I will try not to do it anymore. That's why I'm making a sorry note.I promise I won't do it again and when I say mean I meen swinging on you. Also not pushing you in when I should be pushing you in and that's probably annoying.Also some other things that are annoying probably are making loud noises like scratching you against the floor. I'm sorry for that and I won't do it again.Now I'm going to tell you why I need you. I need you because the floor is cold,my legs get tired and I need to sit on something because my legs are going to get sore.And we need you because it is hard to stand for one holl school day. In conclusion I think you should come bake so we can use you correctly.your good Your friend, Sophia k. Dear Chairs,
Do you know how tired you get when you are standing the whole day? It gets you so tired! You need to come back. The first reason that you should come back is because we won’t get tired. We got so tired while you were quitting. It made when we came back from recess so tiring. It was not fun. These are some reasons why you should come back. The second reason that we should have chairs come back is because we are not level with the tables. Do you know how hard it is to write and read when you are standing up. It is so hard and hurts your back. It was really hard and annoying. These are some reasons why we should have chairs. As you can see, we should have chairs. Having chairs helps us read, write, type, and relax. Please consider coming back. Sincerely, Will Dear Chairs,
BLUE CHAIRS! WE REALLY NEED YOU BACK PLEASE COME BACK! A reason why we want you back is because WE JUST NEED U! Another reason is because we cant be leveled on the table WITHOUT U! You should REALLY come back. I don't know what you think but you should REALLY come BACK! One reason WHY u should come back is because, it can make the class a bit more normal not though that u did anything wrong. Another thing is that when we start to stand a lot, our legs start hurting a LOT! As u could tell the day u quit it MADE US CRAZY! I bet if you were us u would go cAZY with us.We were crazy because people were on the carpet, floor and under the tables sitting with our friends! I'm telling you we NEED U! We don't want u blue chairs to feel left out so u should really stay with us. Also we feel more comfortable with chairs then sitting on the floor because the floor is cold and dirty and we just don’t want to sit on the cold and dirty floor.We could make a mess on the floor there could be books on the floor, paper on the floor and many other belongings on the floor. We promise we are going to treat you better! We won’t slam you on the floor. We will be more careful with you when we are stacking the chairs (you blue chairs).We will treat you like how we want to be treated (very nicely).When we sit on you we will not go on two of your legs so its not scary for you. PLEASE COME BACK WE NEED YOU! As you can see we REALLY need you back please please please come back! Overall you help us with stuff a lot so we really want you back so please consider coming back cause i bet we would not be the same. Sincerely your friend, Mia Dear Chairs,
I want you to know that I am sorry but will you come back because our legs start to hurt when we are standing and we are so sorry please come back so are legs hurt. We get distracted when we don't have chairs. We lay down and that gets us distracted. We will be careful so do you give us another try. Take care, Eli Dear blue chairs,
I would like you to know that our legs start to hurt and cramp up when standing. And most people like to sit down and mess around but I don’t think people should mess around on a chair because it can be dangerous. We need you back please! I hope you can forgive us. Take care. Sincerely, Bianca! Dear Chairs
You are very nice Chairs and we are ever so sorry about treating you wrong thank you so much for helping us . We don't want you to think we don't care about you. I know if some people had to stay on the ground that they would get distracted. And it would probably help the people that get distracted. WE NEED YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok listen and class got wild when you weren't there we needed you. We will promise to push you in and it is much easier to work siding down than standing up . Also you wanted us to be careful with you. I know it is probably annoying when we are typing you and suddenly falling it probably hurts when you fall and is scary too. From now on we will treat you with respect and with the golden rule. Dear Chairs,
I want you to know… That we are sorry that we slam you guys around and swing you guys around. We want you to know that we need you guys back because our legs hurt when we stand and our backs. I promise we won’t mess with you and we are sorry. Come Back!! We won't be a fun class without you!:(. We want you back please.I am sorry we were annoying to you all. I want you to know that we want you to come back please. We forgive you guys.I promise we will give you the respect you deserve like tuck you in. We will be calm and gentle with the chairs. Sincerely, Adrian Dear Mrs. Gresham and Ms. Bowman’s class,
WE QUIT! We are absolutely tired of how you treat us. We try our hardest to support you every single day! You try holding a 9 or 10 year old every day…it is exhausting! We feel underappreciated. How would you feel if you were dragged along the floor??? IT MAKES US SO ANGRY!!!! Don’t even get us started on swinging. Do you know how scary it is to be chilling with four legs on the ground and then ALL OF A SUDDEN have only two on the floor. If we could scream, then we would. Did you not hear the story of the child who swung on a chair and cracked his head open? Finally, WHY do you leave us untucked all the time? I know you are in a hurry to get outside because you want to play and eat BUT leaving me untucked means your friend will get hurt by tripping over us. It hurts us when we trip somebody because we don’t want to. If you care about us at all, you will do something to fix it. PLEASE do something to fix it because we love supporting you. We are just really tired of being treated unkindly. This is our official resignation. WE QUIT! Regards, Blue Chairs |
Persuasive Writing UnitBased on the book, "The Day the Crayons Quit", fourth graders learned how to effectively persuade their readers using specific language that they noticed was used in the book. Throughout this page, you will read excerpts from various students of their persuasive letters to the chairs as well as the chairs' letters to the students. |