Reading Rainbow Episode HAIL to MAIL Integrated Curriculum Guide

Reading Rainbow episode HAIL TO MAIL Integrated Curriculum Guide

✉ Table of Contents

Getting Started & General Activities ...... 1 Language Arts & Literature activities & reproducibles...... 7 Mathematics activities & reproducibles...... 23 Social Sciences activities & reproducibles...... 33 Science activities ...... 41 The Arts activities ...... 43 Appendix bibliography & reproducibles ...... 45

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Language Arts and Literature Through a variety of activities related to learning about mail, the postal system, and stamps, and through letter writing, students will have the opportunity to experience: • the functions of written communication • recognizing characteristics of different types of mail • writing letters that have different purposes • using the parts of a friendly letter in writing • how to address an envelope • the use of abbreviations • biography as a type of literature The Hail to Mail book and the review books from the Read- ing Rainbow program provide opportunities for students to: • become familiar with the work of authors and illustrators • compare and contrast pieces of literature • get to know literature from another culture (Russian) • extend reading experiences into writing experiences Tie-ins to other Reading Rainbow programs are noted with some activities. These programs allow “video visits” and live action sequences that provide further enrichment to your study of the topics. Looking at the Mail Activities ✉ Different types of mail. In the program, LeVar receives many different kinds of mail. Examine the different types of mail that the children bring in from home and discuss attri- butes unique to each type. Teachers may want to work with a different type of mail each day over a period of days. The following types of mail are possibilities for study: friendly letters, greeting cards, business letters (includes bills), postcards, and “junk mail” (advertisements). Junk mail, in particular, may yield different interpretations. Discuss with students why everyone might not view junk mail in the same way. ✉ Classes of mail. Investigate the different “classes” of Note to teacher: mail and the types of mail that make up each class. Have First-class mail—letters, postcards, greet- students sort the mail they brought in into the different ing cards, personal notes, and checks. All classes. first-class mail receives prompt handling ✉ Messages on mail. Look for special rubber stamped and transportation. messages on envelopes and packages, such as “certified Second-class mail—magazines and news- mail,” “registered mail,” “postage due,” “priority mail,” papers from publishers approved for “special delivery,” and “returned to sender.” Investigate second-class mailing privileges. the meanings of these messages. Third-class mail—primarily advertisements The need to obtain information about classes of mail and from retailers and catalogers to promote special stamped messages may provide an opportunity for their products and services. students to write their local postal office to find out what Fourth-class mail—parcel post, i.e., pack- these terms represent. ages weighing one pound or more. ✉ Studying postmarks. Examine postmarks with the students and determine what types of information can be found on a postmark. H A I L T O M A I L L a n g u a g e A r t s 7

PLACES DISTANCE New York to Boise 2250 miles Boise to Zurich etc. Zurich to Brazil etc. etc. etc.

✉ Sorting and graphing. As students are working with the collection of mail brought from home, have them focus on the mail they have sorted into a “junk mail” pile. Have them further sort the junk mail according to where it came from, in order to determine locations that send the most junk mail (e.g,. New York, Washington, D.C., California). Locate these places on a U.S. map. Have students graph the results of their sorting. ✉ Estimation and weight. Have students estimate the weight of the junk mail they brought in collectively. Then weigh it and compare the actual weight with their estimates. Discuss how the amount of junk mail they receive in their homes compares with the other mail they receive. H A I L T O M A I L Mathematics 23

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Social Sciences-History Through experiences with the Hail to Mail curriculum guide, students will have opportunities to: • examine the operations of post offices in the past • investigate historical means of mail delivery • explore the significance of selected historical events • become acquainted with a variety of historical and contemporary personalities • recognize symbols of the United States of America History Activities ✉ Past and present post offices. In the video, viewers have a glimpse of post offices of the past as well as the operation of a present day post office. Revisit this portion of the video with the students and compare and contrast the workings of the postal system then and now. Additional sources of information for students include a field trip to a post office, a visit from a postal worker who has been invited to the classroom to talk about her/his work, and nonfiction books about the postal system (see Bibliography). ✉ Postal history stamps. Several stamps in The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps would be of interest to students as they investigate the past and present of the postal system: the 20th Universal Postal Congress issue, which reviews historical means of delivering the mail; the Postal Service Bicentennial issue, which shows past and present modes of mail travel; the Zip Code issue; the Postal Service Employees issue, which depicts various jobs at the post office; the Stamp Collecting issue; the four stamps in the National Postal Mu- seum issue; and various air mail and special delivery stamps over time. ✉ Pony Express. Have students research the Pony Express. (An information page for teachers about the Pony Express appears on page 39 at the end of this section of the guide. See bibliography for additional resources.) The following addresses can provide authentic letter writing experiences for students seeking historical information: Philatelic Foundation 501 Fifth Ave. Rm. 1901 New York, NY 10017-6103 Postal History Society Kalman V. Illyefalvi 8207 Daren Ct. Pikesville, MD 21208-2211 (Consult current copy of The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps for name of appropriate contact person.) The Postal History Foundation P.O. Box 40725 Tucson, AZ 85717-0725 National Postal Museum Smithsonian Institution 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE Washington, DC 20560-0001 H A I L T O M A I L S o c i a l S c i e n c e 33

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Science Through experiences with the Hail to Mail curriculum guide, students are able to: • explore aspects of our natural world • become acquainted with scientists and their discoveries • become familiar with inventions and scientific achievements that have had a significant impact on our lives Reading Rainbow program tie-ins allow “video visits” and live action sequences that provide further enrichment to your study of these topics. Science Activities ✉ Exploring topics in nature. Use the considerable variety of nature topics on stamps to inspire student research. Examples from The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps include the following commemoratives and booklets: Habitats—Coral Reefs Issue, Creatures of the Sea Issue, Wonders of the Seas Issue, Desert Plants Issue, Antarctic Treaty Stamp, and others. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: Dive to the Coral Reefs; Humphrey the Lost Whale; Jack, the Seal and the Sea; Sam, the Sea Cow; Desert Giant; Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport; Alejandro’s Gift. Plants—American Trees Issue, Wildflowers Issue (50 different species are included), Garden Flowers Issue, Orchids Issue, and others. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: Once There Was a Tree; Paul Bunyan; My Little Island. Animals—American Wildlife Issue (includes insects, birds, and mammals), Butterflies Issue, Prehistoric Animals Issue, American Dogs Issue, American Cats Issue, Fish Booklet, Seashells Booklet, Wildlife Booklet, and others. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: Seashore Surprises; Louis the Fish; Raccoons and Ripe Corn; Is This a House for Hermit Crab?; Runaway Duck; Bugs; Digging Up Dinosaurs; Best Friends; Martha Speaks; The Adventures of Taxi Dog; Duncan and Dolores; Gregory the Terrible Eater; Mama Don’t Allow; Summer. Conservation—Preservation of Wildlife Habitats Issue (includes wetlands, grasslands, mountain, woodland), Endangered Flora Issue, Endangered Birds Issue, Cranes Is- sue, Anti-Pollution Issue, Earth Day Issue, and others. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: And Still the Turtle Watched; The Salamander Room; The Paper Crane. Geological Formations—Mineral Heritage Issue, Minerals Issue. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: Hill of Fire; The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth.

H A I L T O M A I L Science41

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Selected Bibliography of Children’s Books Books in which Characters Write Letters, Notes, and Postcards Ada, Alma Flor. Dear Peter Rabbit. Illus. by Leslie Tryon. Atheneum, 1994. Alternating letters between Peter Rabbit and Pig 1 (from the “Three Little Pigs”) and between Goldilocks and Baby Bear reveal some friendships and interconnections previ- ously unknown to fairy tale readers. Ahlberg, Janet & Allan. The Jolly Postman or Other People’s Letters. Little, Brown, 1986. The postman delivers different types of mail to several familiar fairy-tale characters. Alternating pages are envelopes containing these different pieces of mail. Ahlberg, Janet & Allan. The Jolly Christmas Postman. Little, Brown, 1991. The jolly postman visits his fairy-tale friends again, but this time with a bit different assortment of mail because it’s Christmas. His journeys even take him to Santa’s work- shop where there is a gift for the postman himself. Ahlberg, Janet & Allan. The Jolly Pocket Postman. Little, Brown, 1995. Diminished in size because of a trip to Alice’s Wonderland, the jolly postman must, nevertheless, complete his rounds to yet another collection of familiar book characters. There is more mail to examine, and an enclosed magnifying glass will help readers with the finer details. Alexander, Sue. Dear Phoebe. Illus. by Eileen Christelow. Little, Brown, 1984. Mouse Phoebe moves out of her mother’s house and into her own. They exchange many letters, but the letter Phoebe wants most is the one telling her how much she is missed. Asch, Frank & Vagin, Vladimir. Dear Brother. Scholastic, 1992. Joey and Marvin (mouse brothers) discover an old packet of letters sent years ago between their great-great granduncle (a country mouse) and their great-great granduncle (a city mouse). Their family’s past unfolds as they read the letters. Baker, Keith. The Dove’s Letter. Harcourt, 1988. A dove finds a lost letter with no address on it and delivers it to one person after another on her journey. Its message of love makes them all very happy, and the dove herself is exhausted but happy at the end when she thinks she has found the person for whom the letter was intended. Bang, Molly. Delphine. Morrow, 1988. Delphine braves all sorts of frightening obstacles on her way to the post office to pick up a package. The trip was worth the effort as she receives a wonderful gift from her grandmother and writes her a thank you note in the end. H A I L T O M A I L Bibliography 47

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Borchers, Elisabeth. Dear Sarah. Greenwillow, 1981. Sarah’s father writes letters, many of which contain stories and poems, to his daughter about the cities he visits and what he sees on a trip to Europe. Brighton, Catherine. Dearest Grandmama. Doubleday, 1991. In 1830, young Maudie-Ann is on a long sea voyage with her scientist father. In a series of letters to her grandmother, she tells of a mysterious, silent boy who comes aboard the ship and becomes her friend...but, is he real? Brisson, Pat. Your Best Friend, Kate. Illus. by Rick Brown. Bradbury, 1989. Kate and her family take a car trip through the southeast- ern United States. Kate describes the sights along the way in a series of short letters to her best friend Lucy. Informa- tion about the places they visit makes up part of the text and illustrations. Brisson, Pat. Kate Heads West. Illus. by Rick Brown. Bradbury, 1990. Kate is on a trip with her friend Lucy this time, and they are traveling through four western states. Kate relates information about the sights in letters to her family and friends back home. Brisson, Pat. Kate on the Coast. Illus. by Rick Brown. Bradbury, 1992. Kate’s family is moving to Seattle, and she writes the details of their trip on the west coast, including Alaska and Hawaii, to Lucy, her friend in New Jersey. Brown, Marc. Arthur Goes to Camp. Little, Brown, 1982. Arthur is not happy with his experiences at Camp Meadowcroak. While the text tells of his problems, the illustrations show letters to his parents in which he describes his misery. Campbell, Rod. Dear Zoo. Macmillan, 1982. A letter to a zoo, asking for a pet, brings an array of wild animals in response, arriving by special delivery in all sorts of crates, boxes, and baskets. Caple, Kathy. Harry’s Smile. Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Harry loves to correspond with his pen pal Wilma, but when she sends him a picture and asks for one in return, he decides that his picture is too awful to send and that he can no longer be her pen pal. Just when he thinks he’ll never smile again, Wilma surprises him with a visit and solution to the problem. Cartlidge, Michelle. Mouse Letters. Dutton, 1993. In an undersized book, the mouse fairies leave letters with clues to a surprise. On each page, tiny letters in tiny envelopes lead to the next clue. Caseley, Judith. Dear Annie. Greenwillow, 1991. Since she was a baby, Annie has received cards and letters from her grandfather. She has written too, from her mother doing all the writing, to dictating what her mother should write, to writing her own. When Annie shares her collection H A I L T O M A I L of letters at school, her teacher sets up a bulletin board to 48 Bibliography display everyone’s mail.

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Cherry, Lynne. Armadillo from Amarillo. Harcourt Brace, 1994. A wandering armadillo sees cities, historic sites, and geo- graphical features of Texas and beyond and shares his adventures through a series of postcards with his cousin, an armadillo at the Philadelphia Zoo. Davis, Burke. Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers. Illus. by Douglas Gorsline. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1978. This historical vignette relates the story of 12-year-old Grace Bedell’s letter to Abraham Lincoln, suggesting that a beard would improve his appearance. A copy of Grace’s letter and Lincoln’s response is included in the book. Dupasquier, Philippe. Dear Daddy.... Bradbury, 1985. A little girl writes to her father, who’s away at sea, telling him what is happening at home. In divided pages, the illustrations show what is happening at home and what is happening with her father at sea. George, Jean Craighead. Dear Rebecca, Winter Is Here. Illus. by Loretta Krupinski. HarperCollins, 1993. On the shortest day of the year, a grandmother writes to her granddaughter telling her about the changes of the earth and the animals in winter and the preparation of all living things for the spring that follows. Gordon, Sheila. A Monster in the Mailbox. Dutton, 1978. Julius orders a monster from a catalog. When the monster finally arrives, Julius is disappointed by it and writes several letters to the company until he receives his money back. Harrison, Joanna. Dear Bear. Carolrhoda, 1994. Katie is afraid of a bear that she thinks lives in the closet under the stairs. She writes him letters and he writes back until he has completely won her over. Henkes, Kevin. Return to Sender. Greenwillow, 1984. When Whitaker writes a letter to Frogman, a TV super hero, his family thinks it’s a waste of time, but they begin to wonder when he receives an answer. Short chapter book. Hoban, Lillian. Arthur’s Pen Pal. Harper & Row, 1976. A letter from his pen pal helps Arthur the monkey develop a different outlook on his problems with his sister Violet. Jakobsen, Kathy. My New York. Little, Brown, 1993. In a letter to her friend, Martin, Becky tells him about all the sights of New York City. Colorful illustrations and a map, along with the contents of the letter, provide much information. James, Elizabeth & Barkin, Carol. Sincerely Yours: How to Write Great Letters. Clarion, 1993. An informational book with advice for writing all types of letters.

H A I L T O M A I L Bibliography 49

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. James, Simon. Dear Mr. Blueberry. McElderry/Macmillan, 1991. When Emily finds a whale in her backyard pond one summer, she writes to her teacher, Mr. Blueberry, for advice. In their exchange of letters, Mr. Blueberry insists that a whale can’t live in a pond, but Emily has an explanation for every reason her teacher offers. Keats, Ezra Jack. A Letter to Amy. HarperCollins, 1968. Peter is a little nervous when he writes an invitation to his birthday party and sends it to Amy. He is glad that he did invite her when Amy comes to his party. Kempadoo, Manghanita. Letters of Thanks. Illus. by Helen Oxenbury. Simon & Schuster, 1969. The letters of thanks for the gifts from the twelve days of Christmas range from very formal at first to rather blunt as the chaos mounts from the accumulating gifts. Krupp, Robin Rector. Let’s Go Traveling. Morrow, 1992. Letters, postcards, and diary entries supplement an informational text as Rachel Rose travels to six ancient sites around the world. Leedy, Loreen. Postcards from Pluto: A Tour of the Solar System. Holiday House, 1993. When Dr. Quasar, a friendly robot, takes a group of children on a tour through the solar system, they are inspired to write postcards home to family and friends telling them what they have learned about the planets. Levy, Elizabeth. The Shadow Nose. Morrow, 1983. Someone does shadow paintings of people all over town, then sends blackmail notes to all the “victims” suggesting that they did the paintings. In order to escape the blame (because of his name), Lamont uses the notes to help solve the mystery. Lobel, Arnold. “The Letter” from Frog and Toad Are Friends. Harper & Row, 1970. Mail by snail is indeed slow, but for Toad, a letter from his friend Frog is worth waiting for. MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. Harper & Row, 1985. In this short chapter book, Anna and Caleb exchange touching letters with Sarah, the woman who has answered their father’s ad for a bride. After she comes to the prairie, Sarah writes to her brother William telling him what her life is like. Moore, Inga. Little Dog Lost. Macmillan, 1991. Liz has trouble adjusting to her new home in the country because she is too shy to make new friends. Her letters to her best friend Jill sustain her through all of her new adventures. Nichol, Barbara. Beethoven Lives Upstairs. Illus. by Scott Cameron. Orchard, 1993. Actual incidents from the life of Beethoven are woven into a series of fictional letters from a boy to his uncle, a music student in Salzburg.

H A I L T O M A I L 50 Bibliography

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Parker, Nancy Winslow. Love from Aunt Betty. Putnam, 1983. While the text of the book is written in the form of a letter, it’s the illustrations that reveal the events that occur when Charlie follows the directions for making a chocolate fudge cake from a Transylvanian recipe sent to him by his Aunt Betty. Potter, Beatrix. Dear Peter Rabbit. Frederick Warne, 1995. In a story featuring correspondence between Peter Rabbit and other characters from Beatrix Potter’s tales, miniature letters (originally written by Potter) tucked in envelopes are included on each page. Quackenbush, Robert. Skip to My Lou. Lippincott, 1975. In a letter to his cousin, Matthew writes of all the disasters of his sister Lou’s engagement party. Each disaster corre- sponds to a verse of the familiar folk song. Sampton, Sheila. Jenny’s Journey. Viking, 1991. As she writes a letter to her friend Maria, Jenny fantasizes about crossing the sea to Maria’s island home. Schulman, Janet. Camp KeeWee’s Secret Weapon. Greenwillow, 1979. Jill writes a letter home from camp begging her parents to come for her. After she makes friends and discovers some new talents, her letters change. Smith, Janice Lee. The Monster in the Third Dresser Drawer. Harper & Row, 1981. Notes are Adam Joshua Smith’s primary means of communication, as he writes messages that express his feelings on anything at hand—walls, paper, even the bot- tom of his baby sister’s diaper. Smith, Janice Lee. The Kid Next Door and Other Headaches. Harper & Row, 1984. There is more note writing by Adam Joshua in this book, as he and his neighbor and best friend Nelson write notes to each other on the window shades in their rooms. Spurr, Elizabeth. Mrs. Minetta’s Car Pool. Atheneum, 1985. Mrs. Minetta takes four children on fantastic adventures instead of to school on her carpool days. She then writes carefully worded, but truthful, notes to school as absence excuses for the children. Turner, Ann. Nettie’s Trip South. Illus. by Ronald Himler. Macmillan, 1987. In a letter to her friend Addie, Nettie relates all that she saw and heard on her trip from New York to Virginia in the pre-Civil War south, including the grim realities of the slave quarters and a slave auction. Wild, Margaret. Thank You, Santa. Scholastic, 1992. When Samantha writes a thank-you letter to Santa Claus, he writes back and they become pen pals for the next year. In their letters, they exchange information about animals, where they live, and what they enjoy doing.

H A I L T O M A I L Bibliography 51

Books featuring the Postal System and Mail Carriers Brandt, Betty. Special Delivery. Illus. by Kathy Haubrich. Carolrhoda, 1988. Brief history of the U.S. postal system from earliest means of sending messages to more modern times. Craven, Carolyn. What the Mailman Brought. Illus. by Tomie dePaola. Putnam, 1987. At home because of an extended illness, William eagerly anticipates the mysterious packages he receives daily from a series of unusual mail carriers. Gibbons, Gail. The Post Office Book: Mail and How It Moves. HarperCollins, 1982. An easy-to-read informational book about the workings of a post office. Haley, Gail E. The Post Office Cat. Scribners, 1976. Historical fiction based on the practice of using cats to rid the London post offices of mice and rats. Hedderwick, Mairi. Katie Morag Delivers the Mail. Little, Brown, 1984. Katie helps out by delivering the mail, but she mixes it up and has to sort it out by matching people’s needs to their packages. Henkes, Kevin. Good-bye, Curtis. Illus. by Marisabina Russo. Greenwillow, 1995. After 42 years as a mail carrier, Curtis has reached his last day on the job. When he reaches the last mailbox at the last house on the last street, there is a big surprise waiting for him from the whole town. Kightley, Rosalinda. The Postman. Macmillan, 1988. A simple, rhyming text relates all the places a postman delivers letters and packages during a day. Lakin, Patricia. Red-Letter Day. Illus. by Doug Cushman. Raintree-Steck Vaughn, 1995. The work of a mail carrier and the operations of a post H A I L T O M A I L office are told in a fictional format. 52 Bibliography

Books about the Pony Express Coerr, Eleanor. Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express. Illus. by Don Bolognese. HarperCollins, 1995. Fictional, easy-to-read story of William F. Cody’s adventures as a Pony Express rider. Dicerto, Joseph J. The Pony Express: Hoofbeats in the Wilderness. Franklin Watts, 1989. Informational account of the history of the Pony Express. Levinson, Nancy Smiler. Snowshoe Thompson. Illus. by Joan Sandin. HarperCollins, 1992. Fictionalized story of John Thompson, who lived in Placerville, California in the mid-1880’s and delivered bags of mail on skis across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Stein, R. Conrad. The Story of the Pony Express. Children’s Press, 1981. Informational account of the history of the Pony Express.

Books about Stamps and Stamp Collecting Granger, Neill. Stamp Collecting. Millbrook, 1994. Jacobsen, Karen. Stamps. (A New True Book). Children’s Press, 1983. Lewis, Brenda Ralph. Stamps!: A Young Collector’s Guide. Lodestar, 1991.

H A I L T O M A I L Bibliography 53

Poetry “It’s Confusing” in Ciardi, John. Mummy Took Cooking Lessons and Other Poems. Houghton Mifflin, 1990. “Dear Brothers and Sisters” in Dakos, Kalli. Don’t Read This Book,Whatever You Do! Four Winds, 1993. “Male Mail” in Florian, Douglas. Bing Bang Boing. Harcourt, 1994. “Letter from a School-Boy in the Country to His Mother in Town” by Anonymous; “I Think” by James Schuyler in Harvey, Anne (Ed.). Shades of Green. Illus. by John Lawrence. Greenwillow, 1991. “The Mailman’s Such a Magic Guy,” “Collecting Things” in Kennedy, X. J. The Kite That Braved Orchard Beach. McElderry, 1991. “Pokey Old Mailman,” “The Mailman” in Lenski, Lois. City Poems. Henry Z. Walck, 1971. “Letter” in Livingston, Myra Cohn. There Was a Place and Other Poems. McElderry, 1988. “Thank-You Note” in Viorst, Judith. If I Were in Charge of the World and Other Worries. Atheneum, 1981. “Letter from a Witch Named Flo” in Yolen, Jane. H A I L T O M A I L 54 Bibliography Best Witches. Illus. by ElisePrimavera. Putnam, 1989.

STAMP COLLECTING GUIDE

These recommendations are adapted from Lyn-Co Stamps & Coins, 2641 No. 48 St., Lincoln, Nebraska 68504.

1. Mount stamps in whatever order or arrangement you wish, such as by country or by topic (e.g., sports, animals, space, etc.).

2. Acquire stamps from many sources. Ask relatives and friends to save stamps for you. Purchase stamps from approval companies. (These stamp companies send stamps to your home on approval. You buy what you like and return the rest.) Also check local stamp dealers for stamps to purchase. Drugstores and department stores often stock stamps. Recent issues are available at the post office.

3. Visit the library to find stamp catalogues. Stamps are listed in Scott’s Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, a multi-volume, comprehensive reference source.

4. Take good care of your stamps. The jagged edges, called perforations, must be intact for a stamp to qualify as sound and undamaged. Also be aware of tears, creases, thin areas in the paper, and other signs of damage.

5. Use the following process for removing stamps from mail. Tear the paper off the envelope all the way around the stamp, taking care not to tear any part of stamp. Place it in a bowl of water. When the stamp is loose (generally 3-5 minutes), it will separate from the paper. Place the stamp face down on a newspaper or paper towel and let dry thoroughly (2-3 hours). It is then ready to mount.

6. Mount stamps with stamp hinges, taking care not to over moisten the hinge. Since you may want to rearrange stamps at a later time as you acquire more, you want your stamps to come off easily without damaging them. It is important to remember NOT to use rubber bands, cellophane tape, paper clips, glue, or photo albums when mounting or storing stamps.

Postal Service State Abbreviations

Alabama ...... AL Montana ...... MT Alaska ...... AK Nebraska...... NE Arizona ...... AZ Nevada ...... NV Arkansas ...... AR New Hampshire ...... NH California ...... CA New Jersey ...... NJ Colorado ...... CO New Mexico ...... NM Connecticut ...... CT New York...... NY Delaware ...... DE North Carolina ...... NC District of Columbia ...... DC North Dakota ...... ND Florida ...... FL Ohio ...... OH Georgia ...... GA Oklahoma ...... OK Guam ...... GU Oregon ...... OR Hawaii ...... HI Pennsylvania ...... PA Idaho ...... ID Puerto Rico ...... PR Illinois ...... IL Rhode Island ...... RI Indiana ...... IN South Carolina ...... SC Iowa ...... IA South Dakota ...... SD Kansas ...... KS Tennessee ...... TN Kentucky ...... KY Texas ...... TX Louisiana ...... LA Utah ...... UT Maine ...... ME Vermont ...... VT Maryland ...... MD Virginia ...... VA Massachusetts ...... MA Virgin Islands ...... VI Michigan ...... MI Washington ...... WA Minnesota ...... MN West Virginia ...... WV Mississippi ...... MS Wisconsin...... WI Missouri...... MO Wyoming ...... WY

Scientist When he/she lived Kind of work

John James Audubon 1785 - 1851

Benjamin Banneker 1731 - 1806

Alexander Graham Bell 1847 - 1922

Luther Burbank 1849 - 1926

etc.

✉ Inventions. Numerous inventions and scientific achievements are depicted on stamps, including the bicycle, car, airplane, train, microphone, movie camera, microscope, pho- tography, chemistry, radio, printing press, and hot-air balloon. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: The Bicycle Man; The Tortoise and the Hare; Tooth-Gnasher Superflash; Bored—Nothing to Do!, Ruth Law Thrills a Nation; Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express; The Bionic Bunny Show; My Shadow; How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, Simon’s Book; Hot-Air Henry; Archibald Frisby. With the students, make a list of “Great Inventions” and discuss why they think those inventions are important. Work- ing with part of the above list of inventions (for example, bicycle, car, airplane, train, and hot-air balloon), have small groups rank them in order of importance. Each group must decide the reasons for the order they established. Have groups share their rankings with the class and compare their level of agreement. ✉ Space exploration. Several stamp issues commemorate achievements in space, including First Man on the Moon, Moon Landing, Space Exploration, Space Adventure, and many others. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: Alistair in Outer Space, Space Case; Hot-Air Henry. Use one of the several CD-ROM encyclopedias to show students a clip of the first landing on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Have them compare the scenes on the stamp with the computer footage. Brainstorm with students what they know about space exploration. Examine the Space Exploration stamps to show how satellites sent H A I L T O M A I L into space have explored the planets and the moon. 42 Science

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. The Arts Through experiences with the Hail to Mail book and Read- ing Rainbow program, students will have opportunities to: • create materials for letter writing • design stamps • become familiar with various art forms as depicted on stamps • appreciate the cultural diversity in the visual arts • become familiar with the work of composers and musicians as depicted on stamps • recognize different musical instruments • appreciate the variety of forms of dance and theater as depicted on stamps. Activities associated with these experiences provide opportunities for classroom teachers to co-plan and teach with art, music, and physical education specialists in the building. Reading Rainbow tie-ins allow “video visits” and live action sequences that provide further enrichment to your study of these topics. Arts Activities ✉ Design stamps. Have students design postage stamps. By looking through The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps and other stamp collecting books or pamphlets, they see the variety of topics depicted on stamps. In this activity, they may design individual stamps or stamps in a series. For the series, have them brainstorm possible broad topics and different stamp ideas for each topic. Their stamps could be placed in a stamp book or displayed on a bulletin board. A blackline mas- ter of a stamp outline is located on page 63 in the Appendix. ✉ Design stationery. Have students design special letter writing stationery. They may want to design a personalized stationery for their own use, as well as some generic pieces that can be placed in the letter writing center. ✉ Design envelopes. Have students design envelopes. They may wish to design stationery and envelope combina- tions. Stress that their envelope creations must adhere to postal service guidelines in terms of placement of artwork and that they need to leave space for an address and stamp. Use #10 envelopes (business letter size) or the reproducible envelope pattern, located on page 67 in the Appendix, so that students have adequate working space. ✉ Multicultural art on stamps. Art on stamps depicts a variety of art forms and represent many cultures. The Folk Art series (which includes quilts, toleware, woodcarving, carousel animals, Navajo blankets, duck decoys, and Pacific Northwest Indian masks), lacemaking, and Pueblo art are among the art forms celebrated on stamps. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: The Patchwork Quilt; Tar Beach; The Runaway Duck; The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.

H A I L T O M A I L T h e A r t s 43

✉ Music on stamps. Music has been commemorated in stamps through issues on composers, musicians, musical instruments, and the American Music series, which features stage musicals, rock and roll singers, and country and western singers. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: Abiyoyo; Barn Dance; Borreguita and the Coyote; Mama Don’t Allow; Ty’s One Man Band; The Wall; Berlioz the Bear. Stamps can be the springboard for listening to a variety of types of music and discussing the differences, becoming familiar with composers and musicians and their contributions, and differentiating musical instruments and their functions in bands and orchestras. ✉ Dance and dramatic arts on stamps. Dance and the dramatic arts have been featured in stamp series through a variety of issues, including Classic Films, Comedians, Perform- ing Arts, Stars of the Silent Screen, Theater Dance, and individual performers. !Reading Rainbow program tie-ins: The Bionic Bunny Show; Duncan and Dolores; Ludlow Laughs; Barn Dance; A Chair for My Mother; Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; Silent Lotus; Sophie and Lou. Use these stamps to inspire creative dramatic activities in the classroom, such as pantomime, role-playing, creative movement to music, and plays. ✉ Parent involvement. Invite parents to work with their children to design a family stamp. They will need to make decisions as to who or what will be depicted on the stamp and what the stamp will say, if anything. Send a copy of the reproducible stamp outline home for this project. Students may bring their stamps to school to share with the class. Their stamps could serve as the basis for a bulletin board on families.

H A I L T O M A I L 44 T h e A r t s

H A I L T O M A I L 34 S o c i a l S c i e n c e

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Social Sciences-Geography Through experiences with the Hail to Mail curriculum guide, students will have opportunities to: • utilize map reading skills • become familiar with cities in their own state • become familiar with cities and states in the United States • become familiar with selected world locales Reading Rainbow program tie-ins allow “video visits” and live action sequences that provide further enrichment to your study of these topics. Geography Activities ✉ Learning U.S. cities. On the first page of Hail to Mail, a rhyme about the contents of Mr. Tim’s (a New York mail carrier) bag lists several U.S. cities. Have students locate these cities on a map. Some of them will be familiar names to many children (e.g., Boston, Pittsburgh), and some may require minimal assistance (e.g., Austin, Reno) to locate. Others will likely be unknown, such as “Roundup” and “Pondicherry.” Brainstorm some strategies with the students for locating these on the map. The reference to “L.A.” is an opportunity to discuss the abbreviation for Los Angeles. A few pages into the book, postal clerks are sorting mail, and several other U.S. cities are mentioned. ✉ Learning U.S. cities. Have students search the mail they brought in to identify the different places from which it came. Locate these places on the map. Have available a state, U.S., and world map for this activity. ✉ State stamps. Stamps depicting the state bird and flower for all 50 states are shown in The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps. Almost all of the states have a special statehood commemorative stamp as well. Using the reproducible stamp blackline on page 63 in the Appendix, have students design a stamp with symbols that they think represent their state. ✉ Using a world map. Refer to the story and have students trace the route of John Peck’s letter on a world map (Schenectady, New York City, Boise, Zurich, Brazil, and back to New York City.) ✉ Understanding climate. Using the illustrations in the book, have students note the different ways that each of the mail carriers in the story is dressed. Discuss how the mode of dress relates to the climate in which they live. Have students consider why appropriate dress is important in the occupation of mail carrier and locations where a mail carrier might need more than one outfit (e.g., summer and winter).

H A I L T O M A I L S o c i a l S c i e n c e 35

H A I L T O M A I L 36 S o c i a l S c i e n c e

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Other Social Science Topics Through experiences with the Hail to Mail curriculum guide, students will have opportunities to: • become familiar with various types of transportation • explore a variety of careers • recognize contributions of different cultures to our world community Transportation Activities ✉ Delivering the mail. Refer to the video and the Hail to Mail book and have students identify the many different means of transportation used in the delivery of mail, e.g., airplane, boat, truck, train, etc. Discuss why different types of transportation may be needed for mail delivery, as well as why the different means of transportation are appropriate for vary- ing geographic locales. ✉ Then and now. Have students compare current ways of transporting mail to historical means of mail delivery. ✉ Mail delivery stamps. The Future Mail Transportation issue, as shown in The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps, poses four ideas for ways that mail might be delivered in the future. Have students draw pictures of their ideas of future mail transportation. ✉ Aviation history. The Aviation Pioneers stamp issue and the Bessie Coleman stamp commemorate the history of flight in the U.S. Have students make a list of these famous flyers and then watch Reading Rainbow programs, Ruth Law Thrills a Nation and Bored—Nothing to Do! for more information. What other aviation pioneers can they add to their list? Career Activities ✉ Postal careers. After viewing the program, have students brainstorm a list of careers in the postal service that they no- ticed on the video. Keep this list available so they can add to it after they have read books and visited the post office on a class trip, or from their own experiences. ✉ Role playing. Role play different postal jobs through the operation of a classroom postal system. ✉ Occupations. The Hail to Mail book showed many other occupations in addition to postal careers. Have students examine the text and illustrations and discuss other occupations that appear in the book. ✉ Occupations shown on stamps. Many careers have been depicted on stamps over time. Have students search The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps resource and make a list of the occupations they find on stamps. Working in small groups, have them classify the occupations according to skills needed for their work, such as “uses math in their work,” “writes a lot in their work,” “uses books in their work,” “works mostly with people,” etc. Have them think of a way to show that many of these skills are needed in more than one classification. H A I L T O M A I L S o c i a l S c i e n c e 37

The Pony Express The Pony Express grew out of a necessity to deliver the mail in a timely and dependable manner. By the mid-1800’s, the gold fields and the promise of land had drawn people to the West and the Plains regions of the U.S. Mail, however, could be effectively transported only as far as St. Joseph, Missouri. William Russell proposed to his partners in the shipping business, Alexander Majors and William Waddell, that they establish a means of delivering mail by horse on a route from St. Joseph to San Francisco. Their claims for delivery were dramatic—1840 miles in 10 days—and the Pony Express made its first run in April, 1860. Pony Express riders carried only letters, no packages. The initial cost was $5.00 for a 1/2-ounce letter, but was later reduced to $1.00. The riders rode at top speed, changing horses every 10-20 miles at places called “relay stations.” The riders rarely spent more than two minutes at a stop, just long enough to move the saddlebag that held the mail (a “mochila”) to a new horse. There were also “home stations” along the way, where a new rider jumped on a horse to continue the run. Two runs took place each week, one going east and the other, west. Riders passed through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. The mail was delivered to Sacra- mento where it was placed on a steamboat for the remainder of the trip to San Francisco. Barriers such as rivers, mountains, the desert, the weather, Native uprisings, and wild animals threatened the riders. Because of the ex- treme danger involved, only young, healthy men without families were sought as riders. Posters seeking riders were placed all over the West: “Wanted— young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25.00 per week.” The Pony Express was in operation for approximately 18 months, until the telegraph was in place. It began with 80 riders, 420 horses, and 190 relay and home stations. At the conclusion of its service, 308 runs had taken place, 34,753 letters were delivered, and 616,000 miles had been covered. Only one mochila was lost during this time. See Bibliography for fiction and nonfiction sources on the Pony Express. 39

✉ Sorting and graphing. For a more challenging activity, students might sort the mail according to first through fourth class. (See page 7 in the “Language Arts and Literature” section of this guide for descriptions of these classes.) They can then graph these findings to determine what classes of mail are delivered in the greatest amounts. ✉ Money values. Research postal rates in other countries of the world. For example, how much does it cost to send a first class letter? Make a chart of these costs for comparison purposes. For more sophisticated math calculations, have students figure the equivalent in American money for each of the foreign first class rates. (These rates change frequently. Contact your local post office for an up-to-date listing.) ✉ Parent involvement. To involve parents further in the Hail to Mail unit, conduct a survey of mail that families receive at home for a period of one week. An appropriate time to do this project is about mid-way through the unit after children have become familiar with different types of mail. Provide these directions for parents: Begin with predictions of how many pieces of each type of mail the family will receive that week. Then count the number and record it on the survey sheet. (A reproducible copy of this survey sheet may be found on page 31 at the end of this section of the guide.) The following categories of mail are included in the survey: personal mail (letters, postcards, greeting cards, etc.), “junk mail” and advertisements; newspapers and magazines; parcel post (packages); and business mail (financial statements, bills, etc.) At the end of the week, have students bring their survey sheets back to school and graph the results to determine what types of mail we receive the most of at home. ✉ Estimation and counting. Put a variety of cancelled stamps in a jar or bag. Have students estimate the number of stamps in the container. Then have them group the stamps by 10s and count the actual number. ✉ Sorting and classifying. Using the stamps brought from home, students can sort and classify stamps. Possible theme categories include: animals, states, flowers, presidents, LOVE stamps, Christmas stamps, stamps depicting the U.S. flag, transportation, and others. Students will likely find their own categories as they sort the stamps. ✉ Money values and classifying. Working within categories, students can arrange the stamps in order according to monetary value. Have them think of other ways they can arrange the stamps in the categories and allow opportunities for them to describe the reasoning behind their arrangements. ✉ Making a timeline. Students with higher abilities might put stamps on a timeline, according to a date printed on the stamp or the date of issue. This activity would require students to use the comprehensive resource, The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps.

H A I L T O M A I L 24 Mathematics

sample stamp card sample coin card 25

Reading Rainbow Stamp Game

Directions for Playing:

This game is designed for 3-4 players and requires 12 pairs of cards plus one Reading Rainbow Stamp Card. Samples of the cards are shown on page 25. Use 4 stamps of different values for players to determine who starts the game. Each player draws a stamp from an envelope, and the player who has the highest stamp value gets to start the game. The game is played like the familiar game of “Old Maid.” All cards are dealt to the players. The first player draws a card from the hand of the player to the left and attempts to make a pair by matching the value of the pictured stamp with the value on a coin card. All matched pairs are displayed, and play moves from player to player until all pairs are matched and one player is left with the Reading Rainbow Stamp Card.

reproducible Reading Rainbow stamp card

Note to teacher: Letter Writing Activities Certified mail—provides a mailing receipt, ✉ Writing for different purposes. Search for opportunities and record of delivery is kept at the in which students can have authentic letter writing experi- recipient’s post office; a return receipt may ences. Once they have been presented with a variety of also be purchased. possibilities for writing letters for different purposes, the op- Registered mail—provides protection for tion to write should always be available. Maintain an area valuable and important mail; it is placed where letter writing supplies are kept. Make letter writing a under tight security from mailing to deliver. routine activity by encouraging it often. For example, stu- Postage due—insufficient postage was dents can write: placed on the mail by the sender, and the • thank-you notes—to the school secretary, the cooks, the recipient must supply the additional crossing guards, the school bus driver, a visiting speaker, the postage. tour guide at a field trip site, etc. Priority mail—first-class mail weighing • invitations—to parents and other visitors for special more than 11 ounces, with faster delivery occasions, to other classes in the school and school person- at the least expensive rate. nel for a special program, to school and non-school people to share a talent, to a guest story reader, etc. Special delivery—provides delivery of the • business letters—to companies requesting free items, to mail beyond normal delivery hours, local businesses where children shop (offering a compliment, including Sundays and holidays. asking a question, or voicing a concern), to the editor of the Returned to Sender—mail is undeliverable local newspaper, government officials, etc. for several reasons, including incorrect • get-well letters and letters of congratulations, as appro- address or no forwarding address for the priate—encourage children to write letters congratulating recipient. classmates on small accomplishments in addition to larger events. • notes—establish note writing as an important and frequently used means of communication in the classroom. For example, if another class has decorated a hallway bulletin board or assembled a display, have a student write a compli- mentary note on behalf of the class. When your class needs to borrow a book, a certain material, and the like, from another class, have a student write a note instead of writing it yourself. Use notes to invite a student to have lunch with you or sit with you during quiet reading time. Encourage students to write you a note when they need special materials for a project on which they are working. Keep several notepads made from recycled paper readily available in the classroom for such purposes. • “fan” letters—Fan letters may be directed to well known figures in entertainment and sports, to authors of favorite books, to local heroes whose achievements have been published in hometown newspapers, to friends who do “good deeds.” Discuss with children the expectations of receiving letters from celebrities. Messages in the Mailbox by Loreen Leedy, a review book from the Hail to Mail Reading Rainbow program, gives examples of letters written for many different purposes. (A more detailed discussion of this title appears later in this section.) Two source books of addresses that might be useful for letter writing are: Levine, Michael (1994). The Kid’s Address Book This volume contains 2000 entries, primarily athletes and entertainers. Levine, Michael (1995). The Address Book This volume contains 4000 entries, primarily corporate executives, VIPs, and celebrities. Both may be obtained from: H A I L T O M A I L Perigree/The Berkeley Publishing Group L a n g u a g e A r t s 8 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Letter Writing Activities (continued) ✉ Writing to pen pals. Have students write to pen pals. Possibilities include: students in the same grade in another school, town, state, or country of the world. (Teachers can often find requests from other teachers for pen pals on the Internet.); university students in education classes; residents of retirement communities, and others. ✉ Using abbreviations. Use letter writing as an opportunity to reinforce the concept of abbreviations. Common abbreviations appropriate to letter writing include: Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Ave., St., Rd., Apt., Rt., P.O., R.R., the names of the months, and p.s. Discuss the function of a p.s. (postscript) on a letter. Some students might notice an R.S.V.P. on an invitation. Explain that it is actually an abbreviation for a French expression (répondez s’il vous plaît), which means, “please reply,” and discuss why that might appear on an invitation. ✉ Addressing envelopes. Introduce addressing envelopes to the students. As shown in the program, addresses on letters are read by machine. Therefore, the U.S. Postal Service has a desirable format for envelopes: all letters are written in upper case, letters and numbers should not touch, no punctuation is used, no non-address information (such as logos, company names, or names of a person) should appear below or on either side of the address, lines in the address should be horizontal and spaced evenly apart, addresses should be complete, the entire address should be visible through a window in the envelope, and two-letter state abbreviations should be used (see page 57 in the Appendix for a list of these abbreviations). For example, students interested in writing Reading Rainbow would address their envelopes as follows: READING RAINBOW GPN P O BOX 80669 LINCOLN NE 68501-0669 One point that will require clarification with the students is that punctuation used in abbreviations in all other situations should not be used on an envelope. At the end of this section of the guide, there are four examples of improperly addressed envelopes. Discuss these examples with students. Have them sort through mail brought in from home for examples of properly addressed envelopes. ✉ Letter writing stamps. Have students look at the commemorative letter writing issue of stamps in The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps. The messages on these stamps are reminders of the purposes for writing letters.

✉ Schoolwide postal system. Investigate the possibility of Note to teachers: participating in “Wee Deliver,” a program that involves stu- Two samples of reproducible stationery are dents in a schoolwide postal system. Contact the Office of located on pages 57 and 59 of the Appendix Literacy, U.S. Postal Service, 470 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Ste. for use in letter writing activities. 4102, Washington, D.C. 20260-3110 for free information.

H A I L T O M A I L L a n g u a g e A r t s 9

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Letter Writing Activities (continued) ✉ Parent involvement. Have a primary caregiver of each student keep a letter writing journal, in which the child and the caregiver write to each other every day, for a period of one week. The contents of these letters can be each other’s news of the day, family news, or any topic they choose. En- courage the adults to keep their letters short and in readable writing. These journals can be easily made by placing blank sheets of paper inside the reproducible journal cover (located at the end of this section of the guide), folding it in half, and stapling it in the middle. One side of the journal cover should be addressed by the child to the caregiver. The other side should be addressed by the caregiver to the child, as if the two sides were envelopes. The child can decorate these “envelopes” and design the stamps, making sure that there is adequate space for a visible address. Other Language Arts Activities ✉ Writing style. Discuss the style in which the text of Hail to Mail is written so students recognize that the story is told in rhymed text, instead of the narrative style of most stories that they read. ✉ Story setting. Discuss whether the time setting of the story is the present day or in the past. Have the students search the illustrations for clues about the time setting. ✉ Critical thinking. The book never tells what was in the letter to John Peck, other than we know it was “certified.” Have students speculate about the contents and who wrote the letter. ✉ Familiar expressions. Discuss the persistence of the postal system in trying to deliver John Peck’s letter. Why did they never give up? Share with the students the familiar slo- gan, “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail,...” and discuss its relationship to this story. Students may notice the multiple meanings of the word “hail” in this discussion. ✉ Language study. Discuss with students different terms for the person who delivers mail. Have them consider why the most common terms, “mailman” and “postman,” might not be appropriate. Have them brainstorm a list of equitable terms. ✉ Stamp illustrators. Occasionally, stamps are designed by illustrators of children’s books. Jerry Pinkney, for example, has done 13 different stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, including the Black Heritage series. Leonard Everett Fisher designed the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” stamp and the Colonial American Craftsmen set of stamps. Have students locate these stamps in The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps and compare the artwork on the stamps to pictures in books illustrated by these individuals. (Pinkney is the illustrator of Reading Rainbow feature book, The Patchwork Quilt, and review books, Half a Moon and One Whole Star and Turtle in July.)

H A I L T O M A I L 10 L a n g u a g e A r t s

✉ Choral reading. The title, Hail to Mail, sounds like a cheer Note to teacher: or a chant. Use the poem below as a chant for choral reading. In a choral reading, students read sections Shout, “Hail to Mail!” of a poem in unison or individually without Let’s shout, “Hail to mail!” memorization. The goals are fluency, “Hail to what?” expressive reading, and enjoyment. The “Hail to mail!” same poem may be read several times in “What’s that?” different ways. Once students have read it Letters from pen pals, a couple of times at the teacher’s Packages for you, suggestion, they will enjoy creating their Postcards from a place own ideas for reading the poem chorally. with a beautiful view, Magazines to read, Papers with news, Ads selling lots of things people can use, Cards with greetings for a special day, Bills you wish you didn’t have to pay. So...let’s shout, “Hail to mail!” Go get paper and pen. Think of some news you can share with a friend. Then seal, stamp, and send it by boat, truck, or rail, and wait for your reply... That’s “Hail to mail!”

(A reproducible copy of the poem is included on page 19.) ✉ Studying biographies. Commemorative stamps honor im- Note to teachers: portant people, special events, or anniversaries. Famous When introducing biographies to younger personalities from the past and present, representing a vari- readers, it is a good idea to spend some ety of backgrounds and occupations, are depicted on time on what constitutes a biography and commemoratives. These people pictured on stamps can how to gather information from one. Dis- serve as a springboard to studying biographies. cuss with the students what type of book a Categories of existing commemoratives that might spark biography is and brainstorm kinds of infor- interest in biographical study include: mation they expect to find in a biography. African Americans—Benjamin Banneker, Mary McLeod Before they set out to read a biography on Bethune, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, James their own, read one to the whole class and Weldon Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie compare the information they learned about Robinson, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and others. the subject’s life with their brainstormed list of what they expected to learn. Refine their Presidents—all through Lyndon Johnson original chart as needed. Since even pic- Authors—Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, Joel ture book biographies will likely pose a Chandler Harris, Carl Sandburg, Mark Twain challenge to younger readers, their efforts Great Americans Issue—Sitting Bull, Rachel Carson, Mary at locating information might be more suc- Cassatt, Buffalo Bill Cody, Crazy Horse, Sequoyah cessful if they work with a partner or in small cooperative groups. Other famous Americans—Johnny Appleseed, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Helen Keller, Pocahontas, Eleanor Roosevelt, Betsy Ross

H A I L T O M A I L L a n g u a g e A r t s 11

✉ Write to Reading Rainbow. Students are invited to write Reading Rainbow about which of the activities in the Hail to Mail guide they enjoyed the most, about their favorite Reading Rainbow programs, to suggest ideas for new programs, about what they enjoy reading, or topics of their own choosing. All mail to Reading Rainbow may be addressed to GPN, P.O. Box 80669, Lincoln, NE 68501-0669. ✉ Write a "friendly" postcard. Students may wish to use postcards to write to pen pals or family members. If they wish to have a postcard to keep for themselves, each student can write to one other member of the class and keep the postcard she/he receives.

H A I L T O M A I L 12 L a n g u a g e A r t s

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. Other Language Arts Activities (Continued) Getting to Know the Author and Illustrator. Hail to Mail was translated from Russian. Discuss what “translated” means with the students. It was written by Samuel Marshak, a well-known Russian author who lived from 1887-1964. He organized the Soviet Union’s first publishing house for children’s books and played an influential role in shaping Russian literature for children. Hail to Mail was first published in 1927 and became a classic in Russia. The translation by Richard Pevear, a poet himself, made this book a possibility in the United States. Very little of Marshak’s work has been available to children in the U.S. One other poem by Marshak has been translated into a picture book, The Pup Grew Up!, and published in this country. This book was also translated by Pevear. The illustrator of Hail to Mail, Vladimir Radunsky, was born and educated in Moscow, but now lives in the U.S. His ideas for the artwork style and design came from European commercial art of the late 1920s and early 1930s, when this book was originally published. Radunsky also illustrated The Pup Grew Up! If possible obtain a copy of this book and read it to the children. Have them compare and contrast the two books in style and illustration. Locate other books set in Russia for students to “browse.” Some of the more familiar books might be Caldecott winners, Baboushka and the Three Kings retold by Ruth Robbins, illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov, and The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship retold by Arthur Ransome, illustrated by Uri Shulevitz. Folk tales, including “The Month-Brothers,” “The Bun,” “Salt,” and “The Great Big Enormous Turnip,” have been published in several picture book versions. Characters such as Vasilisa (the Russian Cinderella) and Baba Yaga also appear in many stories. Reading Rainbow feature book, Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco, is set in Russia. Using Reading Rainbow Review Books The three review books in the Hail to Mail program can serve as a springboard for many activities. ✉ Messages in the Mailbox by Loreen Leedy is an informational book about letter writing in which a class of children and animals write a variety of types of letters under the direc- tion of their teacher, Mrs. Gator. Some of the kinds of letters modeled in the book include: friendly letters, invitations, thank-you notes, get-well letters, love letters, sympathy letters, fan letters, and business letters. The parts of a friendly letter, how to address an envelope, and a list of state mailing abbreviations are also part of the book. In addition to trying their hand at writing letters for different purposes, students might enjoy some of the creative ideas in the text, such as writing on shaped paper, writing on the back of a painting or drawing, and cutting a letter into a puzzle and mailing the pieces.

H A I L T O M A I L L a n g u a g e A r t s 13

✉ Stringbean’s Trip to the Shining Sea by Vera B. Will- iams and Jennifer Williams is a natural introduction to postcard writing. In this book, the story of Stringbean Coe’s trip to the ocean with his brother Fred is told in a series of postcards sent back home. The book is assembled as a scrap- book of the trip including the postcards and photographs taken along the way. Read the book to students leaving ample time to examine each page. Discuss both the illustration and the message side of the postcard, noting the stamp, the way it is addressed, the placement of any information about the picture, and the note from Stringbean and Fred. Have students pay particular attention to the kinds of messages people write on postcards they send home. Look at some actual picture postcards. (Sort through the mail brought in by the children for postcards.) Have students compare these postcards with the drawings of postcards in the book. After students have had the opportunity to examine several postcards, invite them to write their own, using a 5 x 7-inch index card. These postcards may be done by individual location or a group theme. They can be bound into a class book of postcards and entitled, for example, “Room ____’s Vacation Trips” (for a collection of individual cards) or “Room ____’s Trip to Brazil” (for a group theme).

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Let’s shout, “Hail to mail!” “Hail to what?” “Hail to mail!” “What’s that?” Letters from pen pals, Packages for you, Postcards from a place with a beautiful view, Magazines to read, Papers with news, Ads selling lots of things people can use, Cards with greetings for a special day, Bills you wish you didn’t have to pay. So...let’s shout, “Hail to mail!” Go get paper and pen. Think of some news you can share with a friend. Then seal, stamp, and send it by boat, truck, or rail, and wait for your reply...

That’s “Hail to mail!”

©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. 19 Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. ©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. REPRO PAGE #5 JOURNAL COVER - PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Acknowledgments Curriculum Guide HAIL TO MAIL

Writer Karla Hawkins Wendelin, Ph.D.

Instructional Development Ann Michaelis

Project Director Nan Schweiger

Editor Dick Spence

Special Thanks to: Teresa Hruska Terese Johnson Kay Klechka Jamee Kline Ann Wubbels Communication Design, Lincoln, NE

Special Appreciation to: Renise Rosenboom, Philatelic Clerk, United States Postal Service, Lincoln, NE

GPN P.O. Box 80669 Lincoln, NE 68501-0669 (800) 228-4630

Reading Rainbow is a registered trademark of GPN/WNED-TV

Reading Rainbow Director/Executive Producer Twila L. Liggett, Ph.D.

Reading Rainbow Associate Project Director/ Executive Producer Anthony Buttino

H A I L T O M A I L G e t t i n g S t a r t e d 1

Dear Families:

In our classroom, we are beginning a new unit of study on the U.S. Postal System and letter writing. We have planned our unit around the book, Hail to Mail, and the Reading Rainbow program of the same name, but we will be reading many books and using a variety of materials as we learn about mail.

We do need your help! We are collecting the following materials: • mail—postcards, greeting cards, letters, junk mail, invitations, any mail you have received that you don’t need any more, in the envelopes, if possible; • used stamps—these can still be on the envelopes, or just cut off the corner of the envelope with the stamp on it; • envelopes to add to our letter writing center—these might be unused return envelopes, envelopes enclosed in junk mail, recyclable (in usable condition) envelopes, leftovers from stationery sets in which the writing paper has been used; • stationery odds and ends that you no longer want.

We also have a family project involving mail that will help us with our math. Watch for news about that later!

Thank you for your contributions! Feel free to drop in anytime and help us celebrate mail!

Sincerely,

The Hail to Mail book and program videocassette, provide opportunities for students to engage in a variety of activities that will lead to a greater understanding of the U. S. Postal System. ✉ Field trip. If possible, take a trip to a post office. You may wish to show the video before the trip so that students have some information about various jobs people have at a post office. You may also wish to show portions of the video after the trip, so that they can compare the operations of their local post office with the one in the video. ✉ Classroom postal system. Set up a postal system in the classroom. Use a mailbox as the place to mail letters. Brainstorm the jobs that are needed in order to operate the system. Students will need to decide what they will use for their individual mailboxes. Half gallon milk cartons work well. Students can decorate their own mailboxes. Discuss the importance of having their name prominently displayed on their mailbox. A tagboard flag can be easily attached with a brass metal fastener. Assign job roles and change them weekly. ✉ What happens to a letter. Have students make a mural tracing the path of a letter from the point of mailing to delivery. The video will provide some information. Here Comes the Mail by Gloria Skurzynski (see Bibliography) is a helpful source for adding details. ✉ Large and small post offices. Have students compare and contrast the operation of a large city post office to that of a small town or rural post office. Depending on where they live, firsthand visits to both may be possible. If not, books such as Mr. Griggs’ Work by Cynthia Rylant and Toddlecreek Post Office by Uri Shulevitz (see Bibliography) provide insight into a small post office. Students might also brainstorm a list of questions they would like to ask the postmaster of a small town post office and write a letter to that person. ✉ World Wide Web. Consult the U.S. Postal Service site on the World Wide Web for information on history and workings of the postal system and views of current stamps and future issues. This site may be found at: http://www.usps.gov/

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©1996 GPN/University of Nebraska-Lincoln. All rights reserved. Teachers who have purchased this READING RAINBOW Curriculum Package are granted permission to reproduce from this book pages for their own classroom use (notice or copyright and source must appear on all copies of pages). In all other cases, no part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of GPN. ✉ Working with stamps. Studying stamps allows students Note to teacher: to become familiar with the many varieties and purposes of The first postage stamp was issued in 1840 stamps and provides numerous opportunities for activities that in Great Britain. It was printed in black ink on cross the curriculum. Have students research the origins of white paper. It showed a picture of Queen the first postage stamp and the first United States postage Victoria with the words “postage” and “one stamp. penny.” ✉ Stamp collecting. Invite a stamp collector to the class- In 1847, the United States government issued room to discuss his/her hobby and show the students a its first two postage stamps. The five-cent variety of stamps. stamp showed Benjamin Franklin and the ten- cent stamp showed George Washington. ✉ Stamp collecting. Have students select some of the more interesting stamps from the mail brought from home or from your collection of cancelled stamps (see order informa- Note to teacher: tion on page 1.) Using the method described in the program October is National Stamp Collecting Month. and by a stamp expert (see page 55 in the Appendix for a More new stamps are issued during that reproducible guide to stamp collecting) for removing a stamp month than any other month of the year. from an envelope, experiment with removing stamps and Promotional materials from the U.S. Postal mounting them. Have students devise an organizational sys- Service celebrating this special month are tem for this class available upon request. Check with your local stamp “album.” post office. ✉ Commemorative stamp project. For a large-scale activity that may involve more than one classroom or even an entire school, explore the possibility of initiating a movement for a commemorative stamp. Contact the U.S. Postal Service for current guidelines. Subjects of stamps have to be of national interest and have historical perspective. All proposals are reviewed by a special Stamp Advisory Committee. To begin the project, brainstorm possible subjects or persons for the commemorative. Discuss reasons why these are good possibilities. Narrow the list using additional research, debates, persuasive letter writing and other strategies to strengthen support for some commemorative “candidates.” Once a subject has been identified, have students prepare a rationale and begin the process of convincing the national committee that your topic is worthy of a stamp. (For ideas, see the September 1995 issue of Learning magazine for a description of one teacher’s third grade class’s campaign for a stamp honoring grandmothers.)

✉ Use a mailbox. At the end of the Hail to Mail curriculum unit, a mailbox can still serve as the place where students and the teacher leave messages for each other. Individual students can alternate taking the responsibility for checking the mailbox and seeing that the “mail” is delivered. The mailbox might also be the place where a new book waits for the teacher to take it out and read it to the students. The flag up will be a sign to the children that there is some- thing special inside. If the mailbox is placed by the door, other teachers, students, and school personnel may be encouraged to use it to leave messages and materials for your classroom.

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