Let's Play Post Office!

To be the best Mail Delivery person you need some training.  Let's explore letter writing, mail processing and delivery. 

As a Mail Delivery person, what will you be delivering?  Letters!!  Why do we have letters to deliver?  Because people like to communicate!  Click these links to see why people write letters:

http://365lettersblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/reasons-to-write-letters.html  reasons to write letters
http://365lettersblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/10-reasons-to-write-letter.html  10 reasons to write a letter

Have you ever received mail?  Did you get a letter from a friend or family member in the mail?  Did it make you feel good to read the letter?  That's how your friends or family feel when they get a letter from you. 

There are 3 types of letters: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson322/LetterAttributes.pdf  What type of letter do you think a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grader would most often write?  They would mostly write a friendly letter...a letter to a friend or family member.  What type of letter do you think adults who work might write?  They would most often write a business letter or letter of persuasion at work. 

Now, let's explore HOW to write a letter.  There are important parts to a letter.  Click here to read about each part of a letter.  Then, scroll down to view a Kindergarten class singing a song to help remember what the parts are.  http://www.nhcs.k12.nc.us/parsley/Curriculum/Postal/FriendlyLetter.htm

Take a look at this website showing the popular cartoon character-Arthur-reviewing the parts of a letter.  You can also click to see the parts of an email, a postcard, and a greeting card.  http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/letterwriter/letter.html 

Ready to give letter writing a try?  Who will you write your letter to?  How will you write the greeting?  What will you write about?  Click this link to take you to an online letter generator.  Use this to see how what you write gets put into the different parts of a letter.  Then, try hand-writing the letter on a nice piece of paper.  http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/letter_generator/

You can view a nice sample letter a child wrote to his grandmother: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson85/SampleLetter.pdf

Did you enjoy writing the letter?  Did you remember all the parts of a letter?  How do you think the person you are writing to will feel when they get the mail and read your letter?  Here is a checklist to make sure you covered all the parts of writing a letter.  Review your letter and checklist and bring your letter to class.  http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson85/LetterChecklist.pdf

Now that the letter is written, let's address the envelope.  There are three things required to be on an envelope.  View this link to learn what the three things are: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/letter_generator/envelope_instructions.pdf You can also view the Arthur website again to see the parts that are on an envelope, just scroll down below the letter: http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/letterwriter/letter.html  Practice writing your return address and the delivery address on your envelope and bring in to class. 

One important part of an envelope is the stamp!  You buy stamps at the Post Office.  We will practice that in class.  For now, you can see the different stamp designs available from the Post Office at this website.  Don't buy stamps without your parents permission, simply view the designs available:  https://store.usps.com/store/browse/category.jsp?categoryId=catBuyStamps&categoryNavIds=catBuyStamps

Would you like to design your own stamp?  Click here, scroll down to the second page and create your own stamp:  http://www.timeforkids.com/files/TFK_USPS_0.pdf  Bring your design to class to share with the other students!

Now that you have a letter, envelope and stamp ready, let's learn how your letter will be processed at the Post Office.  Click these links for a tour of the Post Office:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpayiRaM86E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS8FULtQnGA&feature=related

Let's see how a Mail Delivery person spends their day: http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4635766_mailman-spend-workday.html

Congratulations!  You have now completed your initial training program to become a Mail Delivery person.  There is one more part - practicing at our classroom Post Office.  Bring your letter, envelope and stamp to class and we will practice buying and selling stamps, processing mail and delivering mail. 

See the resources below where you'll find many links to other interesting mail and post office facts.