50 States Postcard Swap
I am working on organizing a 50 States Postcard Swap. The idea is that people from all over the United States will both send postcards from their state, and receive postcards from many other states. This could be used as a great learning tool to “travel” the United States. For instance you can study each state as you receive a post card; including finding and mapping it’s location on the map, learning the state capital and other symbols, finding out what major landmarks and tourist attractions there are in that state, learn the state song, and so much more. I have compiled a short list of great resources for studying the 50 States:
http://www.50states.com/
All the facts you ever wanted about each of the 50 States broken down into easy to find categories.
http://www.squidoo.com/50-states
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/
Black-line maps, facts, quizzes, flags and more!
http://www.addictinggames.com/50states.html
An awesome click and drag 50 States puzzle!
http://www.teachersfirst.com/share/states/index-net.html
http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/50sq_program/?action=designs_50sq
Learn about the 50 States through the 50 States Quarter Collection.
I am compiling a master list of people who wish to participate. (As of July 1st, 2011 the swap was closed and post cards were being sent and received. If you like this idea I suggest you try to organize one. It has been a fun, enriching experience for all involved.) What will happen is that in a couple of weeks I will take the compiled list (if there are enough states represented to make it worth doing), and e-mail everyone on the list a master copy. You will then mail a post card that represents something from your states to each person on the list. In return, each person on the list will do the same. In the end, the hope is to have a nice collection of post cards from many different states.
If you would like to join in on the fun please send me a message (heidi@startsateight.com) including your name, email address, and mailing address.
May 20, 2011 @ 4:35 am
Sounds like a great idea I would join in but we live in UK right now. Thanks for linking up to the NOBH:)
May 20, 2011 @ 5:18 pm
Hi! Following you from the Friday blog hop! Hope you visit
My Cajun blog and return the follow!
– Jessica @ http://cajunlicious.com
May 24, 2011 @ 10:07 am
Hi! Just “hopping” over from the HHH. Your idea sounds great! We live in PA, right outside of Philadelphia. It would be fun to participate! Count us in. 🙂
May 27, 2011 @ 1:17 pm
Just hear about this on Twitter. Sounds like fun. We love our study of the US and would love to grow our postcard collection. We are from Washington State.
May 27, 2011 @ 2:02 pm
Awesome Debbie! We are happy to have you on board!
May 27, 2011 @ 5:45 pm
Not sure how this works but we’d love to participate, we’re in NM. thanks!
May 27, 2011 @ 5:58 pm
We would love join up….
Thank you!
May 29, 2011 @ 8:17 am
We are in GA and would be happy to participate. We also live right on the border of SC – so if you’d rather have a participant from that state – we’d be happy to oblige.
May 29, 2011 @ 9:23 am
Jen we would love to have you partipate. We do already have Georgia (but that does not mean you cannot join in as Georgia), but we do not have SC yet. Send me your information (whichever you would like) and I will add you to the list!
May 29, 2011 @ 10:03 am
I’d be interested too but we are also in GA!
May 29, 2011 @ 11:31 am
That is alright Kathy. We will be happy to have you! We have a few states with more than one person. Just send me your information!
May 29, 2011 @ 5:16 pm
This sounds like a fun addition to the state studies we will be starting in the fall! We are in Florida and would love to join in.
May 30, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
Saw the link about this over at Children Grow, children Explore, children learn. I have participated in something similar (a bit over a year ago) so I will not be participating right now. Sorry. (Besides we are in Pa and you already have someone from Pa) We still haven’t gone through all our postcards as I signed up RIGHT before giving birth to my baby. I got my cards sent out and then just sort of tucked the postcards away as they came in. I hope you have a great turn out. I just wanted to let you know about another resource if anyone is interested. There is a state unit studies section at about.com’s homeschooling.
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/unitssubjgeog/a/susindex.htm
They have some great ideas and printables for each state. In addition you can sign up for their Our 50 Great States Email course
http://homeschooling.about.com/c/ec/1.htm
They go through the states in the order they were added to the union, instead of alphabetically, so that is the way the swap was set up that I participated in.
Blessings
June 2, 2011 @ 4:26 pm
We’re also in GA but just across the stateline from TN. We could participate for either state.
June 5, 2011 @ 10:59 am
We are from Wisconsin and would love to join! Great idea!
Thank you, Lisa
June 5, 2011 @ 4:40 pm
we would love to join we are in washington count us in
June 5, 2011 @ 9:33 pm
We are from NY and would love to join the postcard swap!
June 6, 2011 @ 11:09 pm
We would love to paticipate in this! Thanks for a great idea.
Warmly,
BlessedCP
June 7, 2011 @ 10:22 am
We live in Washington DC area, so we could cover that as well as VA & MD. Additionally, we are taking a road trip to TX this summer, so we could cover, TN, AR, MO, TX, LA, AL, MS!
Count us in! 🙂
June 7, 2011 @ 11:06 am
Wow! That is a lot of postcards to mail! Remember you have to send a postcard from your state to every person on that list (which is around 30 right now). We already have VA and MD, but that does not by any means imply that you can’t participate! We do not have TN, MO, LA, or MS. If you would like to choose to hit up one of those states on your trip and mail postcards from them that would fine as well. Let me know what you want to do!
June 19, 2011 @ 8:49 pm
Wonderful and fun idea! We live in MO so can help from our state.. lots of great things to see and do in the ShowMe State!
Susan
June 23, 2011 @ 6:11 pm
Do you have Indiana? I would like to be included!
June 25, 2011 @ 9:42 am
We do have Indiana but you are still more then welcome to join us! Just e-mail me the names, mailing address, and e-mail you want on the master list!
July 10, 2011 @ 12:20 am
I would love to join! We are from Texas and are beginning our studies this fall on the United States. I have so many lapbooks and things for their workboxes planned. I am stoked and cannot wait to start on it. This will be so fun. I was going to post a status on FB requesting memorabilia from friends who are from different states but this will be great!
September 20, 2011 @ 9:02 am
Looking for Postcards from Capitals of Every state with fun facts about your state sent to my daughter classroom they are learning all the states and capitals.. if you can help thanks
July 13, 2013 @ 1:50 am
Are you doing this project for the 2013-2014 school year? If so, I would be interested in participating.
July 13, 2013 @ 10:14 am
No we are not, sorry.
June 13, 2014 @ 11:58 pm
Are you doing this project for the 2014-2015 school year? If not do you know of anyone that is? How hard was this project to set up? I am a 3rd grade teacher from Baton Rouge, LA and would like to have my students participate in one this coming year.
June 14, 2014 @ 8:20 am
Frances, I am not doing this project for the 2014-2015 year. It wasn’t something that was too hard to set up, I just reaced out in online groups to find people who wanted to participate and kept a running master list which I sent to all the participants after the end date of gathering people. We did not fill all 50 States but had about half I believe. I think the most fun was making our own postcard for our state. Here is the link to it http://www.startsateight.com/2011/09/50-state-postcard-swap-niagara-falls-ny/