Postcrossing: A great way to help kids (and grownups) learn about real people all over the world.

 

 

Teachers:  This would be a great class project.

I've sent 2 postcards so far.  This is fun and easy and international postage for a postcard is $1.05 no matter where it goes (I didn't know this).  I can't wait to receive my first one.

Here's the link:

Postcrossing

 

How does it work? First, the short version: request an address from the website mail the postcard to the address wait to receive a postcard register the received postcard in the system The first step is to request to send a postcard. The website will display (and send you an e-mail) with the address of another member and a Postcard ID (e.g.: US-786). You then mail a postcard to that member. The member receives the postcard and registers it using the Postcard ID that is on the postcard. At this point, you are eligible to receive a postcard from another user. You are now in line for the next person that requests to send a postcard. Where the postcard comes from is a surprise! You can have up to 5 postcards traveling at any single time. Every time one of the postcards you send is registered, you can request another address. The number of postcards allowed to travel at any single time goes up the more postcards you send! Still have questions? Check out the help section, or the forum. Postcrossing blog News, updates and all kind of goodies Postcrossing as a school project We like to see Postcrossing has a hobby for the whole family. It might sound strange, but it's true that very few hobbies can be done by such a wide age group. We have Postcrossers of all ages and we believe it's quite special that Postcrossing can reach everyone, independently of it's age, gender and, of course, geographic location. Today we have learned from a Postcrosser and its use for the postcard exchanges: Postcrossing as a school project. She is a teacher in a school which used Postcrossing as a tool for teaching geography and history to the students. We couldn't be happier about this so we asked if we could share the story with everyone. Here's the transcript of what she told us: In my second grade classroom, we have been Postcrossing for most of our school year. Recently, our 100th postcard arrived! Each student, myself (teacher), and 3 adult helpers prepared reports about an assigned country from which we received a postcard. Projects from my class of 7 - 9 year olds included powerpoint presentations, dioramas, posters, travel guides, fact books, and more. Each student took turns sharing and teaching the other students about their assigned country. Then last Friday, with help from parents, we had our party. We sampled food from different parts of the world, match Moomin and Miffy on-line, revisited our projects, and played a geography trivia game. I want to thank everyone who may have sent us a card! This has been such a fun and exciting project. My class has not only learned about their world, they have learned that different cultures, languages, thoughts, and ideas are what makes our world more FUN! This project was also a very unexpected lesson in history. Other Postcrossers who sent us cards did an EXCELLENT job of providing information about where they live. Because of your information, my second graders know a wealth of information from all over the world. It helped sharpen their problem solving and research skills. For the last day of school, my students will each take home a few cards from different countries and US states. They are already starting to pick out their favorites. I will, without a doubt, do this again with next year's class, and every year after that! THANK YOU POSTCROSSING for being the best geography-teaching tool a teacher can have! And all we can say is thank you! And thank you for sharing this story with us all. If you know of other interesting uses of Postcrossing, we would love to hear from you!