Make Your Own Postcard

Objective: To apply research, visual art, and letter writing skills social studies skills to designing a postcard from a US landmark that was visited on Sals journey.
Materials: computers or social studies/geography books (for research), postcard template, art supplies, paper and pencils, scissors and glue (optional)
Procedure:
The facilitator will begin by brainstorming with the class to generate a list of the places that Sal and her
parents traveled through on their road trip.
The list should contain the following places:

Chicago, Illinois
Lake Michigan
Madison, Wisconsin
Pipestone National Park, Minnesota
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Missouri River
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Black Hills, South Dakota
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park
Rocky Mountains
Coeur dAlene, Idaho

Each student will either pick a place from the list or the facilitator may choose to assign the places.
With older grades this lesson could be modified to have the students use their knowledge of US geography
to choose their own landmark or state to write a postcard from (can be along Sals route or simply a place
theyd like to travel to on their own).
The students will then research their landmark or city to determine what distinguishing features about
the place would be on a postcard what image would best represent this place on a postcard. The students
will also be instructed to find at least three facts about the landmark to include in the written portion of their
postcard, it may be helpful for the students to think about who they will write to and what sort of facts
would fit into their postcard best.
Once the students have researched and taken notes they will each be given a postcard template. In the
top box the students will design the front of the postcard using art supplies. All postcards should include a
picture/design as well as some writing (the name of the place). The bottom box on the postcard template
allows the student to decide who they are writing the postcard to (a family member or friend), address the
postcard to this person and then there is space for them to write a message. This message should include at
least three facts about the place, from location of the landmark, to fun things to do in the city the students
goal should be to prove that they learned something valuable about the location, which they didnt know
before.
The students can then cut the postcard halves out and glue them together to create one two-sided postcard.

Make your own postcard!

Design front of postcard in the top box use the bottom box to write your message. Then
just fold in half over the dark middle line and glue the two sides together.