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Our Post - What's it all about?

Our Post - What's it all about?

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Lesson and activity ideas



English / English - Literacy

  • Write a story from the perspective of a stamp.
  • Write an acrostic poem about writing and posting a letter and / or Australia's postal service using the words "AUSTRALIA POST".
  • Ask your teacher to make contact with a class of students at another school in your state so that you can exchange letters. You could either exchange one letter written by each class, or individual letters by each student.
  • Discuss the advantages of receiving a card or a letter in the mail versus receiving an email.
  • Write a letter to your favourite actor, musician, sportsperson or other public figure. Visit auspost.com.au/education and use the "Letter Writing Interactive" to learn more about writing letters.
  • Write a letter to your local council giving your opinion about a community issue that is important to you.
  • Create a word search for your classmates using postal key words.
  • Write a letter to your teacher saying what you like about school and your classroom. Suggest any improvements or other ideas you can think of.
  • Write a letter full of deliberate mistakes and give it to a friend to correct.
  • Set up a class postal system, including a class stamp design, a class letterbox, a sorting system and daily postal delivery.
  • Explore stamps on the Australia Post website auspost.com.au/stamps and select your five favourite designs. Write a short piece saying what you like about each design.
  • Pick up a free Postcodes booklet from your local post outlet and check through the postcodes to see if there are any places that include your, or a friend's, name. Which place do you think has the most amusing name? Research the history of that name.

Mathematics / Mathematics - Numeracy

  • Compare the weight and cost of sending a parcel to different parts of Australia.
  • Record the number of postal items you receive in your family letterbox over a period of two weeks. Sort the items into groups: letters, cards, magazines, bills etc. and graph your results.
  • Brainstorm why stamps cost money, and why mail needs to have stamps.
  • Use the postage calculator on the Australia Post website auspost.com.au/pac to calculate the cost of posting letters of various weights and sizes to different destinations.
  • Investigate postcodes. What are they? Why does Australia Post need them on envelopes? How are postcodes allocated?

SOSE / Society & History / The Humanities / HSIE / Social Sciences / Civics & Citizenship

  • Australia Post employs almost 35,000 staff. Investigate and write a report on one of the many jobs within Australia Post.
  • Every Christmas, thousands of cards are sent between families and friends around Australia. Did you know that these cards can be recycled and turned into cardboard packaging and other paper products? Find out more by going to www.planetark.com and following the link to "Cards 4 PlanetArk".
  • Research the "Biodiversity" category (sponsored by Australia Post) of the "Junior Landcare Grants Program". If your school is already involved in projects relating to energy, waste / recycling, air, biodiversity, water and land you may be eligible for a grant to support your efforts. Otherwise, your class could brainstorm some ideas for school projects. You can find out more about how to be involved by going to www.landcareonline.com
  • Make some sheets of writing paper from recycled paper and cards.
  • Research the history of Cobb & Co. in Australia.
  • Australia first introduced street posting boxes in 1844. Research what these street posting boxes looked like and what they were made from.
  • Brainstorm ways in which we can encourage people to recycle their old cards, letters and bills.

Science & Technology / Design & Technology / Technology & Enterprise / ICT

  • Design and draw a machine to bring your mail from your letterbox to your front door.
  • Check out "Phiggles the Flying Scientist" and what he does by visiting the Australia Post education website auspost.com.au/education and clicking on the Phiggles icon on the home page. What is Phiggles' real name? What does Phiggles do? Can you think of a cool science experiment that outback kids might enjoy and that would be easy for Phiggles to transport around outback Australia? Why not send your idea to Australia Post?
  • Use the on-line post office locator on the Australia Post website auspost.com.au to find the nearest post office or postbox to your home, school, interstate relative or friend, local hospital etc. (Remember to click on the "Reset" button after each search).
  • Before 1971 email did not even exist, but it is now an enormously popular means of communication. Investigate how email works and then brainstorm possible communication technologies of the future.
  • Design the perfect postie-friendly letterbox. Check out the Primary section of the auspost.com.au/education website to find a checklist of useful hints.
  • Research the technology used to sort letters and parcels. How does this affect the way we address our envelopes?
  • Choose one form of postal transport on which to do a mini project.
  • Go to the Powerhouse Museum website www.powerhousemuseum.com to explore and research early letters, postboxes, letterboxes, the post horn, roadside mail boxes, stamp vending machines, mailbags / pouches, and postal helmets and hats. Prepare a project outlining the details of some of these early items and comparing them with the postal items of today.
  • Australians throw away more than 18 million printer cartridges every year. This amounts to over 5,000 tonnes of material that will eventually end up in landfill. The "Cartridges 4 PlanetArk" program has collection boxes in post offices around Australia. All types of cartridges can be placed in these boxes for recycling. Investigate the technology and processes involved in recycling printer cartridges. For more information on "Cartridges 4 PlanetArk" visit, www.planetark.com/cartridges

The Arts / Creative Arts

  • Australia Post is a proud sponsor of OzOpera. What is OzOpera? Are they coming to a theatre near you? Has the Schools Company ever visited your school? Go to the Primary Students section at auspost.com.au/education and follow the link to OzOpera to discover more about OzOpera and what they do.
  • Design a stamp for your class or school, using a theme of your choice.
  • Design your own writing paper.
  • Create your own greeting card.
  • Write a play about a day in the life of a postie. Working in groups, perform it for the rest of your class.
  • Design a postcard showcasing your favourite part of the Australia Post education website auspost.com.au/education
  • Look at the various letterboxes in your street, or in the area around your school. Sketch one of the more interesting ones.

Health & Physical Education / Health & Wellbeing / PDHPE / Interpersonal Development / Personal Learning

  • In groups, brainstorm what you think are some of the dangers and hazards your local postie might face every day while delivering the mail. Then, with your parents or carer, check out your letterbox, the area around your letterbox, your front yard and the area outside your house where your postie rides, walks or drives to make sure it is safe for your postie to deliver your mail.
  • Some posties walk when they deliver the mail. Walk up and down your street with an adult and count how many letterboxes you pass after 100 steps, 500 steps and 1000 steps. You may need a pedometer to help you count your steps!
  • Play a mail run relay game. Form groups, with half of each group lined up at one end of the playground and half at the other. Students then take it in turns to carry a letter or parcel from one end of the playground to the other and pass it to a waiting friend, who walks, runs, hops, or skips back and passes it to the next person in line, until everyone has had a turn.

LOTE / Languages

  • Create a letter using only pictures and symbols.
  • Where does the word "letter" come from? What about "communication", "email", "post", and "mail"? Research the origins of these words and of any other postal keywords you can think of. Why not check them out in some other languages too?
  • Try to write and / or read a letter in another language. What problems do you face? How might you find solutions to these problems?
  • Try writing a letter with the hand you do not usually use to write. Some people have to write with a pen or pencil held between their toes. Try to do this yourself. How difficult is it? Would you find it easier to use a simpler language to communicate with other people if you had to use your toes to write? What might some of this language be?

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