The Great Postcard Race

For the past three school years, my classroom has participated in The Great Postcard Race.  Our goal was to obtain at least one postcard from each of the fifty states.  Below I have documented our success over the three years and how I have changed/modified the project each year.

2009/2010 School Year: The first year we completed the project and collected postcards from 40 states.  We displayed the cards in the classroom and students were able to read facts about the states during stations time. To keep track of which states we had postcards from, a checklist was kept next to the cards.  Each time we got a new card, it was one student's job to check it off.  They really treasured that responsibility.

 2010/2011 School Year: The second year we completed the project I decided to display the postcards in the hallway so the whole school could see them and read about the states.  We kept track of which postcards we had collected by coloring in a map of the United States.  We also completed a bar graph indicating the number of postcards we had from each region.  We collected postcards from 46 states.

2011/2012 School Year: During the most recent school year we were able to collect postcards from EVERY state!  We even received postcards from 8 other countries!  This year I again decided to display the postcards in the hallway.  However, rather than color in a map, we used stickers to show which states we had received cards from.  I did not have students complete the bar graph this year and I think it was a missed opportunity.  I plan on using the bar graph from here on out.

I highly recommend this project as it is a great way to teach fourth graders about the states and regions of our country.  Every day while walking back from lunch I would check my mailbox and the students were always thrilled when I pulled out a stack of cards.  Below are a few more tips for if you decide to try this project out in your classroom.

1)Don't rely only on other classrooms for cards.  Postcard exchanges are great but I have found that many times I do not receive that many postcards from other classes.  Encourage your students to contact their friends and relatives from around the country and ask them to send a card with facts about the state they live in.

2) If you are participating in a postcard exchange.  Don't waste your money purchasing 50 postcards to send out.  Your students will have a blast designing their own postcards and they will also take more ownership in the project.

3) Lastly, (and most importantly) be EXCITED ... even if you are just acting.  The more excited I was about the project, the more excited my students were to go home and talk to their parents about it.  This led us to receive A LOT of postcards from friends and relatives.