April is National Card and Letter Writing Month. Celebrate with your family!

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1 PARENTS, INVITE YOUR CHILD TO CREATE A DRAWING ON THE ABOVE POSTCARD. April is National Card and Letter Writing Month. Celebrate with your family! Tear out this postcard and share it with your child. Invite them to use their imagination to create a drawing and design the front of the postcard. Help decide who should receive the postcard and write a message on the other side. Then help address the postcard, add a stamp, and visit your local Post Office or drop it in your nearest mailbox United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. All images Getty Images: top: Martina Vignatelli; bottom: David Franklin.

2 FROM PLACE FOREVER STAMP HERE TO HELP YOUR CHILD WRITE A NOTE ON THE POSTCARD, ADDRESS, STAMP, AND PUT IN THE MAIL. Don t forget: the U.S. Postal Service has a wide-variety of appealing stamps to choose from for every occasion and expression including the new From Me to You Forever stamp in celebration of National Card and Letter Writing Month. Invite your child to send this postcard to someone they care about. Encourage them to draw a picture of something that is important to them on the front of the card. Discuss what the message should say. Help them stamp and address the postcard. Then take it to your local Post Office to put it in the mail. To see more stamps, visit usps.com 2015 United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved.

3 April is National Card and Letter Writing Month See for yourself how a simple piece of mail can make someone smile. A letter or card sent through the mail provides a special and personal way to connect with others, and is a tangible testament to how much the recipient means to you. Celebrate the connections you and your child make with others with a special stamp designed just for the occasion. Look for the new From Me to You Forever stamp at your local Post Office or visit USPS online. For a full range of services, go to usps.com 2015 United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. Image Jason Merritt/Getty Images.

4 It s a Delight to Write! Dear Parents, April is National Card and Letter Writing Month. In celebration, Scholastic and the U.S. Postal Service have teamed up to provide a program specifically designed to encourage letter writing and show kids the delight and power of writing and sending letters through the mail. Your child s teacher has a set of classroom activities to help promote letter-writing skills and practice. We hope that you and your child routinely experience the joy of receiving (and sending) hand-written letters. While sending texts and s is a convenient way to communicate with family and friends, electronic notes can sometimes feel impersonal. Receiving a letter in the mail is a tangible way to show someone how much you care. The activity on the back of this sheet is something you can do at home to help your child connect with family and friends through the mail. Your child will soon see how a simple piece of mail can make someone smile. Dressing up the mail! Choosing stamps can be as much fun for children as playing with stickers. The USPS has a new From Me to You Forever stamp and many more stamp themes for every occasion and expression that your family will enjoy. Visit the Post Office or usps.com with your child to select stamp designs that they can use to dress up the envelopes they use to send letters and cards United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. ISBN Image Jason Merritt/Getty Images.

5 TRY THIS ACTIVITY AT HOME WITH YOUR CHILD Family Writing Night Celebrate National Card and Letter Writing Month together as a family. Set up an evening of letter or card-writing fun! Discuss who each family member will write to. Use the thought-starters below to help determine what each letter or card will include, or choose your own topic(s) and write from your heart. You and your family are sure to bring smiles to the people receiving your letters and cards! Share details about a recent family vacation. How would you describe the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that you experienced? Describe how school has been going. Have there been any special events that you participated in recently? Ask the person you are writing to write you back and let you know how school has been going for them. Connect with an old friend and mail a picture of your family. Provide an update as to how your family is doing today. Has anyone just graduated, had a birthday, or other milestone? Reference a conversation you recently had, and provide an update. Ask about mutual friends or relatives, and share personal news. Talk about the weather and the impact it has had on you. Was there an incredible thunderstorm last night? Did it keep you awake? Writing about weather events can provide ample content for your letter. Write a letter or card of support for a friend or relative who might be going through a tough time. What will you write to help make them feel better? Take time to think through this letter to make sure you say what you really want to United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. TM & 2015 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved.

6 CLASSROOM LESSON COMPLETE WITH STUDENTS Destination: Post Office Take a look behind the scenes at your local Post Office to see how the mail gets from here to there! Before Your Visit On most tours of the Post Office, students will observe how retail associates serve postal customers, clerks sort and distribute different types of mail, and letter carriers make preparations to deliver their routes. They ll follow a letter from the point of entry into the office to its departure for delivery. The experience will show students how the mail touches each of our lives almost every day. They ll leave with a better understanding of how the local Post Office binds the community together and connects local citizens with the nation and the world. 1. Have each student prepare a short letter to a family member that will be mailed home. 2. Help students fill out self-addressed envelopes for their letters. 3. Tell students that you are going to visit the Post Office where they can put their letters in the mail. 4. If possible, give or have students bring in $0.50 so they can buy a stamp for their letters. 5. Ask students to predict how many days it will take for their letters to arrive at home, once mailed. Consider making a chart to graph everyone s predictions. 6. Can your students name one way that their letters may change while in the mail? During Your Visit 1. Invite each student to line up at the Post Office window to purchase a stamp for his or her letter. Then have students drop their mail in the mail slot. 2. While on your behind-the-scenes tour, ask students to carefully observe what they see and hear. 3. Copy and distribute the My Visit to the Post Office checklist and have students fill it out on the ride back to school. My Visit to the Post Office I met the postmaster, whose name is. I bought a stamp. I mailed a letter. I watched mail being sorted. I saw mail carriers prepare for their delivery routes. I watched people collect mail from their P.O. boxes. I saw postal workers weigh boxes. I observed:. I heard:. After Your Visit 1. Copy and distribute the 5 Things below and give students a few minutes to jot down their thoughts. 5 Things I Learned About the Post Office As a class, discuss your visit and have students share things they learned that they didn t know before the visit. 3. Ask students if they have a better appreciation for the work that goes into delivering the mail. Consider sending a class Thank You Card to your local Post Office to show your appreciation. 4. Encourage students to take their checklists and 5 Things notes home to share the details of their field trip with their families. It s a Delight to Write! Hello Educator, You and your class can celebrate National Card and Letter Writing Month in April and gain practice writing letters using the enclosed activities and lesson plan materials. Scholastic and the U.S. Postal Service have teamed up to provide It s a Delight to Write! a program specifically designed to encourage letter writing and show kids the satisfaction and power of writing and sending letters through the mail. For many of today s tech-savvy students, the art of hand writing letters has been cast aside for more immediate digital forms of communication. A whole generation is growing up without ever writing a thank-you note to grandma for that bike, or a friendly letter to a pen pal in a far-flung land. While s, texts, and chats are quick ways to communicate with family and friends, electronic notes can feel impersonal. This program can help students return to a more personal and meaningful way to reach out. How to Use The Enclosed Materials Classroom Poster Copy the 4 activity pages on the back of the poster before displaying it in your classroom. Use the poster to help show students how to write a letter and provide reasons to write. Classroom Activities Copy and share the 3 pages of lessons and reproducibles from this booklet with your students. Parent Send Home Sheets Inside this booklet are 30 identical send home sheets. Inform parents of National Card and Letter Writing Month and the It s a Delight to Write program. Send homes also include an activity that families can do together to connect with relatives and friends through the mail United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. TM and Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Image Tom Carter/Getty Images United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. TM and Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. ISBN Image Steve Debenport/Getty Images.

7 CLASSROOM ACTIVITY & REPRODUCIBLE PHOTOCOPY & COMPLETE WITH STUDENTS CLASSROOM ACTIVITY & REPRODUCIBLE PHOTOCOPY & COMPLETE WITH STUDENTS Post Pocket Pals Use the mail to make new friends in faraway places and keep them in your pocket! Pocket Pals are like personalized emojis that you can send through the mail. Recipients can carry them in their pockets as a personal reminder of their far away friends. Ideas for Pocket Pals include drawings of your classroom pet, school mascot, teacher, best friend, favorite book character, and most importantly, a drawing of YOU! Mystery Mail How well do you know everyone in your class? Write a letter and find out who s who! Write a mystery letter addressed to your class with facts and details that describe you. Sign off with a made up name and drop your letter in a Mystery Mailbox that your teacher creates. Then take turns reading letters aloud to see if the class can guess each Mystery Mail letter writer. Dear Class, I hope you are having a delightful day today. I decided to add some mystery to your day by writing you this letter. It is filled with clues about me to see if you can guess my name. My favorite color is. My favorite food is. My favorite sport is. I have brothers and sisters. The color of my hair is. My eye color is. If I could have any animal in the world as a pet it would be a. The person or thing that makes me laugh the most is. Sometimes people describe me as. Here is one more clue about me.. Can you guess who I am? INSTRUCTIONS: Jot down a few words to label or describe yourself, then mail it off to a pen pal that your teacher or parent helps you find. Ask your pen pal to send Pocket Pals back to you so you can carry memories of your new friend with you in your pockets too. Sincerely, Your Mysterious Classmate TM and Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Image lushik/getty Images. TM and Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Image Er Ten Hong/Getty Images.

8 CLASSROOM ACTIVITY & REPRODUCIBLE PHOTOCOPY & SHARE WITH STUDENTS FAN MAIL Write a letter to your favorite author and send it in the mail! How To: 1. On a clean sheet of paper, write a letter to your favorite author. Be sure your letter has a date, salutation, body, closing, and signature. ln the body of the letter, mention specific books you ve read and tell why you enjoy them. Be sure everything is spelled correctly, neatly written, and makes sense. Since this will be read by an important person, you ll want to show off your best and neatest writing. 2. Have a classmate or teacher proofread your letter for you to make sure the letter is mistake-free! 3. On another sheet of paper, draw a picture of your favorite scene from one of their books. Be sure you draw main characters from the book in your picture. lnclude lots of color and detail. 4. Find the address of your author. Sometimes you can find the address written in one of the author s books. lf not, an adult may be able to help you look up this information on the internet. Many authors have a special address for fan mail. lf you can t find the address, send it to the publisher. Most publishers will forward fan mail to the author. 5. Address the envelope. lnclude the author s name and the full address. Also be sure you have your return address written on the envelope. 6. Place a stamp on the envelope and drop it in the nearest mailbox or visit the Post Office with an adult to put it in the mail. TM & 2015 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Images : top: GraphicHive.net; bottom: RussellTate.com/Getty Images. CLASSROOM ACTIVITY & REPRODUCIBLE PHOTOCOPY & SHARE WITH STUDENTS POST OFFICE PERSONALS Tips for personalizing your letters and cards to make them uniquely yours. Individually Sealed On Point! Create your own custom design to mark the seal of all your letters. Use this space to practice your doodle. Need ideas? Consider drawing a symbol of something you enjoy (like a favorite sport, food, or animal). A colorful geometric shape or a creative version of your initials works well too. Envelope Etiquette It s probably best to keep the front of your envelopes doodle free. Here s what the Post Office needs to deliver your mail. The Return Address goes in the upper left corner. The Mailing Address goes right in the center of the envelope and includes information about the person you are mailing. A Postage Stamp goes in the upper right corner of the envelope. Personalize your message by choosing stamps with themes that you or the person you are writing to will enjoy. There are dozens of stamp designs to choose from at usps.com. Remember: adding that personal touch to your mail is what makes it extra special. From Me to Me What could be more personal than a letter to YOURSELF! Start simple by writing a short letter to your future self at the end of the school year. Write about what you think you ll do over the summer and how the last month or so of school will go. Write your name on the outside of your letter and save it until the last day of school. If you re up for a real challenge, write a letter or Birthday Card to your future self in 5, 10, or 20 years. Include 3 wishes that you have for your future self. Mail your letter home, making sure you put an Open On date on the back of the envelope. TM & 2015 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. ISBN Images GraphicHive.net. CLASSROOM ACTIVITY & REPRODUCIBLE PHOTOCOPY & SHARE WITH STUDENTS NO-REASON NOTE CARDS Sending (and receiving) letters, cards, and packages in the mail for holidays and special occasions is always appreciated, but you don t have to wait for a reason to send warm thoughts through the mail. Try these ideas out for no reason but to put a smile on someone s face. Just copy, clip, and personalize. Then put them in an envelope, add your favorite stamp, and pop them in the mail. SIGNATURE SIGNATURE SIGNATURE SIGNATURE TM & 2015 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Image GraphicHive.net. CLASSROOM LESSON COMPLETE WITH STUDENTS DESIGN YOUR OWN CLASS STATIONERY Make pen pal letters and other classroom correspondence more personal by creating customized stationery that the whole class helps design. What You Need: 1 ream of plain 8 1 /2 x 11 copy paper pens and markers ruler color copy machine What You Do: 1. Draw a rectangle on one sheet of plain copy paper to create a 1-inch border. 2. Invite students to take turns drawing designs, pictures, class slogans, and positive words and messages outside the border using colorful pens and markers. Make sure everyone contributes to the border design. 5. Encourage your students to write a short From Me to You note to a classmate or teacher. Students may also choose to use the class stationery for their From Me to Me letters, for Thank You notes, and for letters to friends, family members, pen pals, and other outside mail. Paper-saving Tips: * If their letter is long, remind students to use both sides of the page rather than two separate sheets of paper. 3. Consider adding horizontal lines to the blank area to help guide students writing. Use more lines * Use recycled paper. The U.S. for older students and fewer lines for younger ones. Environmental Protection Agency provides guidelines for finding recycled paper. * Get creative. You can choose a spot in your classroom for collecting paper that can be reused. Try cutting it up and make post card mosaics. 4. Copy the finished stationery design on a color copier. Plan to make enough copies so that each class member has a few sheets of the class stationery to start. Keep the original in a safe place so you can make more copies as needed United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. TM & 2015 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Image : katyakatya/getty Images.

9 FRIENDLY LETTERS! Imagine if one day your friendly letters were discovered by a historian and made public. Would we find that your letters adhered to the conventions of letter writing? What purposes of your letters would be revealed? Any occasion or no occasion at all is a great reason to write a friendly letter to someone! CELEBRATE NATIONAL CARD AND LETTER WRITING MONTH! t Send your grandparents a card for No Reason at all! Mail yourself an encouraging word or phrase it might just make your day. u HEADING: Includes the address and the date. In some cases, it s okay to just write the date. GREETING: The greeting usually starts with "Dear" and is followed by the person's name and then a comma. BODY: After skipping a line, begin the body, which is the main text of your letter. CLOSING: Includes a short capitalized expression such as Sincerely or Love and is followed by a comma. Skip a line after the body before writing your closing. SIGNATURE: Sign your name directly below the closing. Sometimes you may add a POSTSCRIPT at the end of your letter. You write P.S., add a note and then end it with your initials. Don t forget to address your envelope and add a stamp then your letter will be ready for the mail! t Send your BFF a list of reasons why you are friends it might just make his or her day! IT S A DELIGHT TO WRITE! t Sending and receiving mail makes you feel good! Choosing stamps is as much fun as playing with stickers! u t Visiting your mailbox every day is a healthy routine. Receiving hand-written letters feels more personal than texts and . u 2015 United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. TM & 2015 Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. Images, clockwise from top right : GraphicHive.net, Servet Gürbüz/Getty Images, MerggyR/Getty Images, GraphicHive.net, dumayne/getty Images, RussellTate.com/Getty Images.

10 NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE NEW YORK, NY IT S A DELIGHT TO WRITE! TEACHER SURVEY 557 BROADWAY, TL SPACE 512 NEW YORK, NY

11 We Want to Hear From You! Your feedback is important to us. Please take a moment to respond to this brief survey and drop it in your nearest mailbox. For questions or comments, contact Scholastic at P&CConnects@scholastic.com. Thanks so much for your input! 1. Do you consider Letter Writing to be an important topic to teach? 2. Would you teach Letter Writing again? 3. Did you find the materials provided by the USPS and Scholastic useful? 4. Did you or do you plan to hang the poster from the USPS and Scholastic in your classroom? 5. Did you or do you plan to complete the classroom activities with your students? 6. Did you or do you plan to take a class field trip to the Post Office? 7. Did you or do you plan to distribute the send home sheets to the parents of your students? 8. Did the children you teach write letters as a result of the lesson plan? 9. Did you write a letter as a result of teaching this lesson plan? Other comments: YES! Please send me other materials in the future from Scholastic. Your Name: School Name: Address: City: State: Zip: Address: Grade You Teach: TM and Scholastic Inc. All Rights Reserved. ISBN Privacy Notice: Your responses to the survey questions will be provided to the USPS in aggregate form and will be anonymous. For more information regarding USPS privacy policies visit