Social Studies Standards Mail:Postal Workers, Letters and Envelopes

1. Social Studies StandardsMail:Postal Workers, Letters and Envelopes Jennifer Norris Erica Tyler

2. Contents • Objectives • Standards • History* • People in Societies* • Geography* • Economies * • Government* • Citizen Rights and Responsibilities* • Social studies Skills and methods* *Slide of Corresponding websites to follow

3. ObjectivesStudents will: • Identify postal service worker as a community helper job • Students will identify the different jobs of a postal worker • Understand the parts of a letter and how to address a letter so a postal worker can deliver it.

4. Academic Content Standards All Activities and Standards are for Social Studies First Grade • Identify and correctly use terms related to location, direction, and distance including • Left/right • Near/far • Identify and use symbols to locate places of significance on maps or globes. • Locate the Local community, state and United States on maps or globes.

5. Standards Continued • Raise questions about how families lived in the past and use photographs, letters,artifacts and books to clairify what is know and what is unknown • Describe Life in other countries whith emphasis on daily life including the roles of men, women, and children • Describe the way people produce consume and exchange goods and services in their community • Recognize symbols of the United States that represent it’s democracy and values including: • The bald Eagle • The White House • The Statue of Liberty • The national anthem

6. Standards Continued • Obtain Information about a topic using a variety of oral and visual sources

7. History Activities: • Compare and contrast the present day postal system with the 1960’s postal system. • Have a postal worker come in and talk to the class about their job in the postal system. • Research the increases in the price of the stamp. Why did these price increases take place? • Research the mail history from the pony express to present day with a focus on changes in technology including computerized mail sorters, vehicles, etc. • Make a Venn Diagram comparing E-mail to standard post of how the two are used and discuss changes

8. History Websites • Forever Stamp • United States Postal Service History • History of Ohio Daily Life • History of Women’s Daily lives • Postal Museum

9. People in Societies Activities • Students will “interview” their grandparents to see how many days it took to send mail and the price of a stamp from when they were young. • Have students make a timeline showing all the important historical events that affected the United States Postal Service. • Have students learn the name of their postal carrier and research the names of former postal carriers that served their local community. • Have students make a list of the variety of items that we send through the postal service. • Students will do research to determine what the penalty is for tampering with someone else’s mail.

10. People in Societies Websites • United States Postal Service History • Postal Museum • Postal Pack PDF • Postal Game • Make your own stationery

11. Geography Activities • Students will learn and be assessed on new vocabulary words related to location, direction, and distance. • Students will be able to identify their local community, state, and the United States on a map or globe. • Students will construct a chart showing the role that the post office plays in helping consumers exchange goods and services in their community. • Students will look at letters that are addressed with one part missing and try to determine if they can still mail it or if they need more information

12. Geography Activities Continued Where does a letter go? • Students will discuss the sorting process that goes on within the post office. • Game: Where does this letter go? Teacher will have a different collection of maps ones that represent the community state and the United states as well as a few easily identifiable foreign countries. Letters will be addressed to each of these places and students will be expected to find the address on the map and match the two together.

13. Geography Websites • Zip code Lookup • Decode the Barcode Game • Rail, Sail or Overland Mail Game • Up Down Around Game • Directions in the Rain Forest

14. Economies Activities • Students will hold a debate discussing whether the hobby of stamp collecting will increase or decrease in the future. • Students will hold a discussion about how the postal system is being pushed aside and ignored due to email. • Have students research and make a list of items that the postal service considers “hazardous”. Explain that consumers are not permitted to send or receive these hazardous materials. • Students will do research to determine what the penalty is for tampering with someone else’s mail. • Students will look up and discuss the laws that pertain to mailboxes,trucks etc. being federal property

15. Economies Websites • Mail Security • Suspicious Mail Poster • Best Practices Mail Center Security • Historic Stamp Scramble Game • Pony Express Stamp Mix Up

16. Government Activities • Students will make lists of holidays and special occasions that people often use the postal service to send cards or packages for. • Students will play Memory with laminated pictures of American Symbols • Using interactive writing have students describe a postal worker, as far as uniform, job, transportation. • Discuss Purposes of Mail to send cards, pay bills, solicit business etc. • Write a Letter to a White House Pet

17. Government Websites • White House Pets • Flat Stanley • Famous Americans Stamp Game • Symbols of our Government game • US Symbols Matching Game

18. Citizen Rights and Responsibilities Activities • Discuss the importance of a postal service worker. • Read The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg • Using interactive writing have students describe a postal worker, as far as uniform, job, transportation.

19. Citizen Rights and Responsibilities Websites • Character Education and Rights Stories • Respect for others • Write to Buddy • Values • Conflict Resolution

20. Social Studies Skills and Methods Activities • Write a letter with a heading, date, greeting, body, and closing. • Address and stamp envelope • Drop of letter at Post Office • Reply to a pen pal • Apply knowledge of postal work to daily life

21. Social Studies Skills and Methods Websites • Billy Bear will send you mail • Make your own fold and mail stationery • Arthur interviews a postal worker • Find a Pen Pal • Flat Stanley