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Postcards from a Frog!

© Irene Taylor

Here is a great multi-disciplinary project to start off the school year with. This was done in the school I taught in with third graders, but could be used with any age students. This is a wonderful project for teaching geography skills, writing skills, and a variety of other things as well.

Begin by choosing a "World Traveler" for your class. In our case it was a small stuffed frog! You will also need to enlist the help of parents, friends and relatives of the students in your class.

Here is how this activity works. Ask parents and other willing volunteers to take your class mascot along with them on any trips they may be taking. On the trip, even if it is a short one, ask the volunteers to send the class a postcard describing the mascot's destination and any activities that it enjoyed while there. For example, when we did this, I took our Frog skiing one weekend and sent a postcard back from the ski area describing the snow and the mountains and the chair lift.

As the postcards arrive, begin a large map and have students locate the places visited by their mascot. Post any pictures, brochures, or other memorabilia that your mascot returns with.

Great discussions about regions of the country, other countries, cultural traditions, geography, and climate can result. If interest in the program grows, consider adding a second mascot.

You may be surprised at the places your little mascot will go. It was rumored that ours almost got to go along on one of the Space Shuttle missions!!!

Enjoy!

Here are some great books about traveling animals that you may want to share with your class. (Publisher's descriptions included.)

This is a great book to use to start this project!
Letters from Felix: A Little Rabbit on a World Tour
Sophie is unhappy when she loses her stuffed rabbit at the airport on the way home from summer vacation, but then she begins receiving letters from him as he visits various places before returning home for Christmas.

The Runaway Bunny
An adventurous little bunny tells his mother he is going to run away; his mother's response makes for an unforgettable fantasy.

Another book of letters from Felix!
Felix Explores Planet Earth: With Six Letters from Felix and a Fold-out World Map
After floating up into the sky in a balloon that Sophie built, Felix, Sophie's stuffed rabbit, is off on another fantastic voyage and sends back informative letters from all the interesting places he visits.

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