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Postie Kate in the Community

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Lesson and activity ideas

Write a story pretending that you are a letter or a postcard.
Learning how to correctly address an envelope is very important. Why not try to correctly address an envelope on-line at auspost.com.au/education You can also have fun with the "Postie Kate in the Community" interactive.
Write a thank you letter for your postie.
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 fill your letter with "class news" and ask your teacher to send it to the other school.
Brainstorm all the words you can think of about writing and posting a letter. Some of these could be your spelling words for the week!
With a friend, jumble up some of the words in your list about writing and posting a letter. See if your partner can unscramble your words before you unscramble theirs.
With your family's permission, bring in a postcard that someone has sent to you or to your family. Discuss what sort of things people write on postcards. How do postcards differ from letters?
Discover all you can about how to write a letter. Visit auspost.com.au/education and use the "Letter Writing Interactive" to learn more about letter writing. Write a letter to someone in your class. Make a class book of students' letters.

It costs 50c to post a standard-sized letter within Australia. How much would it cost you to write to two, three, five, ten, thirteen and twenty-one people? Can you think of a quick way of working out the answers to these questions?
Why do you think stamps cost money? Why do you think a letter needs to have a stamp?
Go for a walk with your teacher and count how many letterboxes there are in three or four of the streets around your school. With your teacher, create a simple graph or chart showing the number of letterboxes in each of the streets.

Think about the different seasons. What do posties wear in Australia? What do they wear in other countries around the world? Find some photographs or pictures of posties from various countries and make them into a "Posties from Around the World" poster to display in your classroom.
Talk about how the weather could affect how your postie does his or her job. Investigate how your postie copes with different weather.
Investigate the different types of transport used by Australia Post to deliver letters and parcels. How is each of the vehicles used?
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".

Draw a machine that might carry your mail from your letterbox to your front door.
Write a letter about what is popular today (eg music, TV shows, magazines), put your letter into an envelope, place a current 50 cent stamp on it, and, as a class, place all the letters into a "time capsule" and bury it at school. Decide how long you are going to wait before you open it and read the letters again. Perhaps it would be fun to open your time capsule during the week in which you finish primary school.
Posties wear bright clothing with reflective stripes. Discuss why this is important. Who else might need to wear bright clothing or a special uniform to do their job?
Investigate how technology has made the job of sorting the mail easier and faster.
Australians throw away more than 18 million printer cartridges every year. 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 how printer cartridges are recycled. For more information on "Cartridges 4 PlanetArk" visit, www.planetark.com/cartridges

Build and decorate a class letterbox. Write letters and postcards to your classmates and teacher and take it in turns to be the postie who sorts and delivers the mail.
As a class, choose a theme (eg dogs or boats or flowers). Then, using that theme, each draw or paint a design for your own stamp.
Design your own writing paper.
Draw or paint a picture or take a photograph of your letterbox at home. Design a new letterbox for your house. Make sure that it is large enough to hold all your mail.
Create a birthday card for someone special.

How many different ways can you "groove and move" from your front door to your letterbox? Try out as many different ways as you can think of and share them with your class the next day.
Talk about the good feelings you have when you send a letter, card or gift to a friend or family member, or receive a letter, card or parcel. Why do you think those feelings are so good?
Arrange an excursion to the local post office or mail sorting centre (if they allow visitors).
Write a card or letter to yourself, or to a friend, and then walk as a class to post them.
Investigate the various items of safety equipment used by posties. Then visit the Australia Post website: auspost.com.au/education to see how Postie Kate stays safe, in the fun "Postie Kate in the Community" interactive.

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?
Investigate how to write and say simple greetings like "Dear Mum", "Dear Dad", "Dear Gran", "Dear Grandpa" etc. in some other languages. Why not investigate how to write and say some other simple phrases that you might use when writing a letter?
Do you have a friend or relative who lives overseas? Ask your family if you can bring their address, and perhaps a letter from them, to school for your classmates to see.