Postcards Across the Curriculum

Curriculum Connections

Really, is there a curriculum area that cannot be tied to a postcard writing activity? Social Studies, Science, Math, Fine Arts, ESL, Health - If you want your students to write about anything at all, it can go on a postcard!

National Landmarks & Parks Postcards

Information Sources

Students may check out books from your school or classroom library, but if you want them to do an Internet search, you may want to point them to a few specific sites. For my "Old Faithful" lesson, I have links that point directly to Old Faithful facts. You could provide a link to the main page of these sites and let kids search the sites for their landmark or park.

• National Park Service
  - http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/oldfaithfaq.htm
• Kids Can Travel
  - http://www.kidscantravel.com/familyattractions/uppergeyserbasin/funstuffkids/index.html
• Wyoming Tourism
  - http://www.wyomingtourism.org/articles/detail/Old-Faithful-in-Yellowstone-National-Park/405167
• Desination 360
  - http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/wyoming/yellowstone-national-park/old-faithful-facts

Graphic Organizer

This "Main Idea and Details Chart" from Holt is a fillable .pdf which allows students to take their notes digitally. http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/PDFs/Main_Idea_and_Details_Chart.pdf

On an iPad? Try this free app - "Total Recall." https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/total-recall/id360443748

Photos & Illustrations

For my example, students would save a photo from the Internet (and provide source information), but for other projects they could:

• illustrate their own postcards
• use clip art on the computer
• use original images from a digital camera, or mobile device

Final Product

Here are two options for completing the postcard. 

PowerPoint slides or Google slides

"Print, Cut and Fold" Activities
 http://www.printcutfold.com/activities.html

- one slide is for the photo

- one slide is for the letter body and address; students use text boxes separated by a drawing tool line

- slides are printed 2 to a page and then cut out and pasted back to back

Bill Atkinson PhotoCard App for the iPad

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photocard-by-bill-atkinson/id333208430?mt=8
- free
- use your own photos or choose from a selection of nature photos
- save to camera roll to print on your own
- send them as eCards or printed cards via a service