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As we journey through the mail system let us explore the
beauty of stamps….
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You will create your very own postage stamp !
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Let’s Learn……
What you need to mail a letter…
Enter
How a letter travels………………
Enter
What is a stamp……………………
Enter
Create your own stamp……………
Enter
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The End
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K-2
3-6
pen and paper
envelope
address
stamp
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K-2
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3-6
Land
Air
Railway
Sea
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K-2
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3-6
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K-6
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Mail time Grades K-2
Back
 Intelligence areas targeted: Linguistic, Visual, Interpersonal
 Lesson Objective: Students will state what materials and steps are necessary to mail a
letter
 Prerequisite skills needed for a child to be successful in the activity: Student will be
able to write his name, know position words like top, bottom, left, right. Ability to fold a paper
into half, quarters or thirds.
 How will the prerequisite skills be assessed : Skills will be assessed on the teachers
observations of the students participation in prior activities and lessons.
 Development of the activity : After teacher reads the book, “The Jolly Postman and other
people’s letters” by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, to the group, they will discuss the different kinds
of letters and will identify the materials needed to mail a letter. Teacher can customize or
create a letter, provide envelopes and postage stamps to help students ‘write’ a letter to
their family.
 Materials:
Book: The Jolly Postman and other people’s letters” by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
Paper for writing the letter or teacher created/ customized template for letters if needed
Envelopes with students address written. Postage stamps.
Pencils, crayons, markers
 Resources
http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=5
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Mail time Grades 3-6
Back
 Intelligence areas targeted: Linguistic, Visual/ Spatial, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal
 Lesson Objective: Students will state what materials and steps are necessary to mail a
letter and use creative writing skills to write a letter.
 Prerequisite skills needed for child to be successful in the activity: Student will
possess basic creative writing skills. Know position words like top, bottom, left, right.
 How will the prerequisite skills be assessed :Skills will be assessed on the teachers
observations of the students participation in prior activities and lessons.
 Development of the activity : After teacher reads the book “Messages in the Mailbox: how
to write A Letter” by Loreen Leedy to the group, they will discuss the different kinds of letters
and will identify the materials needed to mail a letter. Students will then used creative writing
skills to write a letter to a person of their choice. Teacher can provide envelopes and
postage stamps needed to mail a letter.
 Materials:
Book: Messages in the Mailbox: how to write A Letter” by Loreen Leedy.
Paper for letter writing
Envelopes and postage stamps.
Pencils, pens, markers and crayons.
 Resources
http://www.nea.org/lessons
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Following a Letter K-2
Back
 Intelligence areas targeted: Verbal- Linguistic, Mathematical, Visual, Spatial, Interpersonal
 Lesson Objective: Students will learn how a letter travels through the mail system and arrives at
its destination. They will recall at least three steps involved in the process of how a letter travels.
 Prerequisite skills needed for child to be successful in the activity: Student will be able to
recognize a post office and the purpose of this service. Student is also able to identify a mail carrier,
their vehicle for work as well as a ‘ tool of their trade’
 How will the prerequisite skills be assessed :The skills will be assessed on teacher observation
of the students participation in prior discussions and ability to work with community worker
identification cards in the classroom.
 Development of the activity :Students will view the DVD Reading Rainbow –‘ following a letter’.
In this video students will see how Tommy’s letter travels through the mail system to arrive at
Grandma’s house. After viewing the video the group will discuss the sequence of steps involved
from mailing to delivering a letter. Teacher will use sentence strips to show the steps in the
sequence
 Materials:
DVD: Reading Rainbow – Following a letter hosted by LeVar Burton GPN educational media
Sentence strips and marker
Picture sequence activity
 Resources
http://shopgpn.com/ and search under “following a letter’.
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Following a Letter Grades 3-6
Back
 Intelligence areas targeted: Linguistic, Math- Logic, Visual/ spatial, Interpersonal, BodilyKinesthetic
 Lesson Objective: Student will locate at least five states in the US and estimate distance from
their home state to the five states.
 Prerequisite skills needed for child to be successful in the activity: Student will be able to use
a map to find states within the USA. Students have knowledge on how a letter travels through the
mail system.
 How will the prerequisite skills be assessed :The skills will be assessed on teacher observation
of the students participation in prior social studies activities and math activities.
 Development of the activity : At circle, students will review the book ‘Stringbean’s Trip to the
Shining Sea’. After reading the book students will estimate distance in miles from their home state
to other 49 states and time it would take regular mail to reach within the US. If time permits,
students can view the DVD Reading Rainbow – “History of Mail Delivery” In this clip students see
earlier ways of sorting, transporting and delivering the mail.
 Materials:
Book: “Stringbean’s Trip to the Shining Sea” by Vera b. Williams and Jennifer Williams.
DVD: Reading Rainbow hosted by LeVar Burton- “History of Mail Delivery “Hail to Mail”
Map of the United states of America
Paper for math activity and pencils
 Resources
http://www.maponicsonlinestore.com/products/reference-maps/reference-maps.html
http://www.usps.com/history/history/his1.htm
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What is a Stamp? Grades K-2
Back
 Intelligence areas targeted: Linguistic, Mathematical, Visual/spatial, Interpersonal, bodily kinesthetic
 Lesson Objective: Students will identify the proper postage required to mail a letter or postcard
and explain the use of a postage stamp.
 Prerequisite skills needed for child to be successful in the activity: Student will be able to
recognize a post office and the purpose of this service. Student has an understanding in reference
to proper address, how mail travels and duties of postal workers.
 How will the prerequisite skills be assessed :The skills will be assessed on teacher observation
of the students participation in prior activities related to the postal system and understanding math
concepts on money.
 Development of the activity : Students will be asked to bring in at least two stamped envelopes
they have received in the mail at their home. The teacher will gather the students at circle and
proceed as a group to sort the mail by their stamps. Students can graph, compare and contrast the
variety of stamps that come in by their value. The teacher will then proceed to inform the students
of the current value of a first class stamp and explain to them that a postage stamp is used as
evidence that fees have been paid for the delivery of an item of mail.
 Materials:
stamped envelopes you have received in the mail
chart paper and markers for drawing the graph
 Resources
http://www.stamps.org/kids/kid_StampFun.htm
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What is a Stamp? Grades 3-6
Back
 Intelligence areas targeted: Linguistic, Mathematical, Visual/spatial, Interpersonal, bodily kinesthetic
 Lesson Objective: Students will use secondary resources to identify and describe significant
events and people in the history of their state and the United States. They will rank the importance
of the events and people in their state and the nation’s history and present their choices.
 Prerequisite skills needed for child to be successful in the activity: Students have an
understanding of earlier ways of sorting, transporting and delivering the mail and how the postal
system works today. They know the meaning of the term ‘philatelist’ and have an introduction to the
subject of stamp collection.
 Development of the activity : Students collect a range of secondary sources- reference books,
textbooks and general interest books on their state. They will generate lists of names and events of
importance that are connected to their state by scanning the text and using the indexes of these
books,. They identify those names and events that appear repetitively. Working in small groups,
students will then make ‘top ten lists’ of the most important names and events. They will have to
justify their decisions in placing and ranking the person or event on their list. They may seek the
input of a local philatelist to help them through their project. Students can determine if their choices
were similar to those of the U.S. post office by referring to Scott’s postage stamp catalogue.
Students can order stamps from the post office or from collectors and create a historically
significant timeline related to their state or another state.
 Materials:
reference books related to the subject of stamp collection
Scott’s postage stamp catalogue
 Resources
alphabetilately.com/commems.html
http://www.stamponhistory.com/
http://www.junior-philatelists.com/USStampsHistory4.htm
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Let’s Make History! Grades K-6
Back
 Intelligence areas targeted: Visual/spatial, Interpersonal, intrapersonal, bodily kinesthetic
 Lesson Objective: Students will create their own stamps using the Art Stamps forms
and template.
 Prerequisite skills needed for child to be successful in the activity: Students have
an understanding of the how the postal system works and are introduced to the history
of stamps.
 Development of the activity : Teacher will explain to the students how art stamps is
set up to work for the students and their school. Students can then create their own art
stamp and make their mark in US Postal History.
 Materials:
Art stamps forms and templates
 Resources
http://myartstamps.com/
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Books………
Back
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/williams.htm
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/ahlberg.htm
http://www.loreenleedy.com/pages/02Book.html
http://www.postalworkersonline.com/books.htm
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Places to Go…..
Back
 United States Postal Service- This site features all kinds of information for consumers and
businesses.
 http://www.usps.com/
 The Pony Express Museum – The pony express was in service from April 1860 to November
1861. On this site for the Pony express you can read about the pony express and even take a
virtual tour of the museum.
 http://www.ponyexpress.org/
 National Postal Museum- The National postal museum is at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.
Visit the museum and find postal history for each state and also helpful curriculum information for
teachers.
 http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/index.html
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People to See……
Back
 Benjamin Franklin: World of Influence- Benjamin Franklin was the First Postmaster General of
the Colonies in 1775. He recognized the importance of communication between the colonies and
created the American postal service.
 http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_letters.html
 Monster.Com: Mail Carrier Profile- find information on what is required to be a mail carrier.
 http://jobprofiles.monster.com/Content/job_content/JC_ConstructionM
iningandTrades/JSC_distribution__and_transportation/JOB_234_lette
r_carrier/jobzilla_html?jobprofiles=1
 Their Stamp on History- On this educational website you can explore the lives of actors, artists,
athletes, doctors, explorers, inventors, musicians, politicians, scientists, social activists and writers
through their pictures on US postage stamps.
 http://www.stamponhistory.com/
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Things to do……
Back
 Shop Stamps Online- Start a stamp collection. Browse the USPS shop for easy and
inexpensive stamps.
 http://www.shopusps.com/
 Flat Stanley Project- Learn more about and participate in this international project
based on the premise of the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.
 http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/
 Philatelists in the Classroom: Science 501.com- Access these activities using
stamps in the classroom.
 http://www.science501.com/Philatelic/TeachingId
eas.html
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