Lesson Plan: ‘The Lost Letters of Christmas’ by Lisa Renée Ruggeri. 2 week lesson plan- Year3/4 (This can be made longer/shorter depending on your class.) This teaching sequence offers rich opportunities for authentic writing across a range of purposes and audiences. It allows for contextual grammar teaching and helps children understand how precise language choices shape meaning. Teachers can guide pupils in exploring authorial intent and its impact on the reader through a variety of approaches, including reader response and writing conferences, helping them develop their use of meta-language. The book supports cross-curricular learning as well as focused English sessions, encouraging deeper engagement with its themes. Pupils can: • Explore, interpret, and respond to a chapter book • Examine how powerful vocabulary enhances meaning and reader experience • Study the author’s language and style to build vocabulary and grammar knowledge, and understand how this shapes a high-quality text • Develop creative responses through drama, storytelling, and art • Write in role to build empathy with characters • Discuss and debate to explore interpretations of themes, plot developments, and characters’ motivations For the sequence to be most effective, the text should be introduced gradually. Keep the full story from the children at the start and reveal it slowly throughout the sessions, saving the ending for the final stages of teaching (The plan outlines which parts of the story to read and when). Don’t show the book to the class until lesson 2.