Post Office

Situation Place:  Cure of Ars Grade:  Third Time: January 1999 through June 1999 Students Learned: geography how to write their address and what each part means parts of a letter different types of mail history and function of the Post Office how to make their own paper and envelopes Observations students wanted write more so that they could send and receive mail this unit began in January and still continues today post office was a child directed center

With the help of the United States Post Office Wee Deliver Program, our class opened its own post office.  We began by studying the various PO jobs and vocabulary.  Then each student filled out a job application and had an interview for that job.  Then each student took a postal exam.  Based on their interview and exam score, students were assigned jobs. 

The jobs that were available:

• post master
• mail carrier
• nixie clerk
• sales clerk
• facer
• sorter

The students determined :

• drop off and delivery times
• stamp designs
• days that the post office would be open

The students then made mailboxes to collect their letters.  They were grouped by streets that the student lived on.  Then, students began writing to each other.   Every month, we interviewed for new jobs and students had the opportunity to try a different job.  Finally, we visited a real United States Post Office and got to see people doing the jobs we learned about.

In addition to the classroom activities the students could also choose to go the the United States Post Office kids page and to play the Jolly Postman CD-ROM game.