Postcards

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Home : 2004 : July : 22

Postcards
By Postcards

I teach middle grades social studies moving from 6th to 8th grade with the students. We begin a bulletin board in 6th grade entitled "Postcards from the Ledge"...The bulletin board has a map of the U.S. and is boardered
by flags from around the world. A small wooden ledge sits directly above the map. Students are assigned different states and write letters requesting postcards from government officials, teacher unions, the chamber, etc. using the internet to find the addresses. Incoming postcards sit on the ledge for a little while then get stapled to the wall. Each state is marked when a card comes

in and we continue writing until all 50 states respond. Next, we go for the countries. By the end of the three years, we have cards from all over the world surrounding the entire room and, because we discuss the countries along the way, we've completed a strong geography lesson.