Global Postcard Exchange #1: A great global project to get involved in

 

I saw this message to me on Twitter about the Global Postcard Exchange facilitated by Melissa Schur earlier in July. This seemed like a great way to connect students so I investigated further on her Google Site: https://sites.google.com/a/sjvknights.org/4postcardex/. I will enquire if we can do digital postcards – the South African postal service is definitely not reliable! Also I see we should not start sending before November 15th but I think I would like to start before that. I think I would like to involve Grades 2-7 in this project.

A look around the Global Postcard Exchange site answered some of my questions:

Who is welcome?
Any classroom in the world that would like to communicate with other schools and learn more about the world in the process. This is open to any grade level. It would be nice to get schools in a variety of states and locations too.

How can you join?
Visit the Postcard Exchange form below and add your information.

What do you have to do?
Create a postcard for each school in the spreadsheet (see below) that gives facts about your location. You might share information about your school or city. You might tell about the geography of the land where you live. List some of the famous landmarks near you. Tell us your school or class website or blog page.

Is there a deadline?
Let's not start sending postcards until after November 15th so we can see how many people want to participate. Postcards should be in the mail by no later than February 28th, so all postcards will be received well before the end of the school year. 

What can we do before we send the postcards?

• Have students draw the images that you use on the postcards. They could do this by hand or on the computer.
• Have students brainstorm information to include on the postcard. They may need to do some research to find information.
• Practice writing friendly letters, and write a friendly letter on the back of the postcard using the information you brainstormed.
• Practice writing addresses, and write the addresses of the schools on the back of the postcards.

What can we do with the postcards we receive?

• You could create a Google map, give students a world map of their own, or use a bulletin board to pin the locations of the postcards you receive.
• You could take a virtual field trip to the school/class websites.
• You could visit the school/class/student blogs, read their posts, and leave them some comments.
• You could compare information on the postcards in a Venn diagram.
• You could create a graph with information from the postcards.