Today we started off with signing up the kids for Postcrossing (www.postcrossing.com).
Each of them received a brief bio and an address for another Postcrosser and then designed and wrote their first postcrossing postcard.
We are going to be mailing handmade postcards to Finland, Belarus, China, Iowa and Taiwan. Now that they've each written a postcard, the kids have initiated the process for receiving postcards themselves.
Here are some excerpts from some of the cards.
After learning that Minna from Finland loves animals, Hannah wrote:
"My name is Hannah. I am 9 years old. I love animals too! I went to a zoo once and held a lion cub and I have 2 cats and a dog."
Hannah's handmade postcard
After learning that Abby, a substitute teacher in Iowa, wanted to hear a headline from the local newspaper, Sophie wrote:
"...the weather here is foggy, but it's supposed to be sunny this afternoon. One of the headlines in the San Francisco Chronicle today is: BAR protest causes major delays in service."
Tess' handmade postcard
We also embarked on original stories based on the title: Licking Envelopes: A Cautionary Tale.
The task? To write a tragic, funny, magical or mysterious story about what happens to a character of their own creation when he or she licks that fateful envelope.
Here are some excerpts:
Tess
" 'Ewwwww! I do not want to lick all of these envelopes!' I cried out as my parents revealed the consequences of climbing a tree to access the roof..."
Ella
"Once there was a girl named Olivia. She was as a beautiful girl. She lived with her parents and loved her life. Except for one thing. Olivia hated licking envelopes, especially the weird tasting ones. She longed to lick an envelope with no taste, but of course no matter how hard she looked he couldn't find one."
Tyra
"Brothers Tommy and Timmy stayed up late watching TV when an interesting commercial came on.
'When's the last time you had a vacation?', a man with an all-white suit said. Tommy and Timmy looked at each other. The last vacation they went on was three years ago during winter break.
'Tired of doing the same boring things everyday? Need to get away?', the man when on to say.
'Hey man - this looks pretty cool,' Tommy said.
'All you have to do is find a silver ticket and listen to this special TV offer. At Mike's Hardware store every time you spend five dollars you receive a special envelope that's unopened. All you have to do is lick the most envelopes and bring them in."
'Tommy, we've got to do this!'
'Sounds easy enough!', Timmy said. ( to be continued)
And...Look what we did with the white board!
In the afternoon, we used envelope templates to create envelopes from colored papers and magazine pages and added rubber stamps and collage to make stationary and cards that fit - WOW! We made tiny envelopes as well that fit into graduating sizes and some of smallest envelopes in the world! The students now have cards and envelopes ready to send.Check out the photos!