Welcome to the third year of Learning through Literature’s Homeschool Co-op Curriculum. If this is your first time here, this book: Mailing May, is the seventh of 13 books that will be covered as part of our homeschool co-op year, Learning through Literature: Exploring the United States. The class has been created for 1st – 4th graders and is the culmination of three years of Learning through Literature together. If this is your first time looking around, please check out our first year, Learning the ABC’s through Literature. Or the second year, Learning through Literature for Homeschool Co-op.
Each year was inspired by Jane Lambert’s Five in a Row Curriculum and uses many of the same books, but with lessons, discussion questions, and printables reworked to be more useful for a homeschool co-op.
For this third year, Learning through Literature: Exploring the United States, we will take TWO classes to cover each book. If you are using this for a co-op, you will find “Class One” and further down the page, “Class Two”.
Thanks for stopping by!
Mailing May
by Michael O. Tunnell
If you’d like to preview the story, a great read-aloud version can be found here:
Class 1
Things I Need:
- The Mailing May Book
- Map of the United States, especially showing the Western States*
- Learning the USA through Lit Journal – Mailing May Add-In Pages 1st Class
- Paper lunch bags, mail tag or other tag, envelopes, paper for letter writing, stamps
- Scissors, Gluesticks, Pencils
Before the class: set out the new journal pages and the Mailing May copywork page on their desk as you are setting up the class. Have your class helper(s) help the kids get their new journal pages added into the binder.
Homework:
- Write a letter to a grandparent or friend.
- Address the envelope (or get a parent to help)
- Fill their paper bag with a small gift to be “delivered” to a friend next class (in our co-op, this was the last class before our long winter break)
- Put the name of your address on a label, and attach it to the paper bag
- Bring everything back to class for the next week
As the Class is Arriving:
Encourage the students to complete the copywork on their desks. Those who are more proficient can trace and copy. Beginners, just trace. Usually, I give the class about 5 minutes (during which we play the quiet game), and just see how much they can get done.
Use this time to hang up maps, familiarize yourself again with the lesson, or set up any final notes or props.
Review:
Take a moment to ask the class what region we have been studying (The West). Remind them that this region also sometimes goes by other names (The Northwest, The Pacific Northwest).
What do we know about this region? (mountainous, beautiful, rivers, Yellowstone Park, many mountain ranges. Cooler temperatures, large evergreen forests. Not very populated.
Go through the states in the West region together as a class, saying them out loud together – don’t forget Alaska and Hawaii (this was something I frequently did in class)
If you’d like, feel free to review the Midwest and Southwest regions.
Introduce the Story:
- Our story today takes place in: Idaho.
Who can find Idaho on the map?
We also quickly mentioned that Idaho is frequently mixed up with both Ohio and Iowa. They all sound a little bit similar and are states that are not as commonly known as Texas or Florida or California. Take a minute to find them together. Remind the class that I-daho, is tall and can hold a cursive uppercase I in it. (written sideways)
What do we know about Idaho?
Potatoes. :), Similar landscape to Montana.
Our story takes place about 100 years ago, during a time when they were using trains to move the mail.
It is a mostly true story. (familiarize yourself with the note inside the book to find out the real story behind the story). There are a few parts that were added in, we don’t know if these actual conversations took place, but we do know there was a real girl named May, just like the girl in this story.
Read the Story:
Stop to point out things you may want to discuss later.
Class Discussion & Review the Copywork:
In addition to any questions that came up as you were reading the story, you may also ask some general ones like this:
- Did you all like this story?
- What part did you like?
- How would you have felt going on a train by yourself?
Have one of the better class readers read the verse out loud, and discuss “a million miles away” (was it really a million miles – no, but as a kid it may feel like it)
Lesson: Writing a Letter
We took a few moments to discuss the parts of a letter. These days, we can’t mail ourselves to Grandma, but every Grandma (or Grandpa or friend, if they don’t have Grandparents) loves to receive a letter.
At this age, it’s good for kiddos to start becoming familiar with writing their own addresses and writing a letter. Some families do this naturally, others do not. Either way, the review is good for everyone:
We discussed that a business letter (to your boss, to a company) was different than a friendly letter (to your friend or grandma or someone you know well)
We reviewed the 5 parts of a friendly letter …and talked about when you might use different parts (you probably wouldn’t say “hey grandma”, but you may start a letter to your friend that way):
- Header (the date)
- Greeting (dear / hi / hello / etc)
- Body (tell them something about you, ask something about them, share something interesting that happened to you recently, something you have done, something about your family, etc)
- Closing (see you soon / I miss you / sincerely / love you / etc)
- Signature (your name)
You can show them quickly how to write their address, but I’m expecting most parents should help kiddos with that as part of the homework.
Homework:
To make it easier, I sent home a paper, an envelope, a mail tag (which I had on hand, but you can make your own), and a small lunch bag with each kid. I asked them to get a stamp, but also had a few extra on hand for those parents that don’t keep stamps in the house.
Because the next class after this (Mailing May Class #2) was the last class of our co-op semester, and close to Christmas, we wanted to do something a little more fun. The kids were encouraged to fill their paper bag with something small (matchbox cars, a homemade lego creation, a small game, small bubble bath or soaps, cookies, etc) and label “girl only” or “gluten-free” on their mailtag, along with their address.
- Write a letter to a grandparent or friend.
- Address the envelope (or get a parent to help)
- Fill their paper bag with a small gift to be “delivered” to a friend next class (in our co-op, this was the last class before our long winter break)
- Put the name of your address on a label, and attach it to the paper bag
- Bring everything back to class for the next week
Class 2
Things I Need:
- The Mailing May Book
- Map of the United States, especially showing the Western States*
- Learning the USA through Lit Journal – Mailing May Handwriting Verse Class 2
- Paper lunch bags, mail tag or other tag, envelopes, paper for letter writing, stamps
- Scissors, Gluesticks, Pencils
- Something to use as a mail box
- Laptop if using the video option
- Bluetooth Speaker if playing a song during the package exchange
- Buzzers/Lazer Lights for trivia
Before the class: set out the Mailing May Bible verse copywork on their desks. Have your class helper(s) help the kids punch the pages and add them to their binder.
Copywork
I gave the class about 5 minutes to complete their copywork, while I finished setting up things needed for the class. If you have more advanced writers, encourage them to both trace and copy, struggling writers can trace only.
Once they finish, go ahead and review the copywork. Ask one of the students to read the verse and ask why this verse may be relevant to the story we read last week? (The father noticed his daughter’s heart to visit, the father went out of his way to look after his daughters’ heart and help her get to her grandmother’s house.)
No need to spend much time on the discussion as today is a full class
Cut out and glue Northwest States.
While binders are still open, if you have not yet cut out and glued the Northwest States in, take a moment to do that.
Help them find the colorful USA map (which was in the Journal Starter), given out at the beginning of the year.
Cut out the Northwest States, and glue them onto the map in their Northwest States Packet.
Everyone can put away binders, but place their paper bag gift (hopefully with tag tied on), and their letter (hopefully in an addresses envelope) on their desk.
Review All States
Before we started all the fun and review, we took 5 minutes to review all of the states learned so far. This should cover the Midwest, the Southwest, The West (also called The Northwest, which includes Hawaii and Alaska). Have the class say they with you out loud, as you point to the states. By this point, the class should know most all of the states.
This also serves as a great last-minute review for the trivia games at the end of class.
Take out and share homework (Letters, Packages)
Take a moment to ask about their letters:
- Who did they write to? What did they write? Did anyone write to someone outside of your state?
- Do they remember the 5 parts of a letter?
- Does anyone want to read their letter (you may not have time for this, but if so, let a few people share what they wrote)
What does every letter need to get somewhere? (A stamp)
How are the letters going to get where they’re supposed to?
During the time of Mailing May, (early 1900s), letters often traveled by train. You can see a good example of this in the video below. We showed this video in class, pausing here and there to point out different places in the train, how this worked (hanging out the mail) how fast they had to work (to sort it before it got to the next town)
We then talked about delivering mail in general. The mail train does not exist anymore. Nor does the Pony Express (a service that delivered mail across the USA by a highly organized system of horse riders), but as the video shows below, the post office played a huge role in the developing of towns and cities and in the success of the USA in general.
Since we have discussed many of these themes already in class, and since this shows the expansion of the USA, much due to the US Post Office, this video was not only interesting but very relevant.
Being the last day of class before the break, this seemed like a good time to show a video. Preview the video before to see if you want to show all of this or just a clip. We showed most of it.
Watch Post Office Video
“Mail” Letters
If you have a mailbox nearby, you can walk your class to the mail box. Otherwise, you can collect the letters or let them “mail” the letter in a box you provide. (We had a pretend fisher-price mailbox that worked perfectly)
Make sure the letters all have stamps (I had a few on hand for those who didn’t have stamps at home)
Review and Games:
Finally … its time for games 🙂 In our class, they’d been waiting all class for this. Below is a list of trivia/review questions on topics covered over the last 3 1/2 months.
Game One: Where’s that State?
This is one you’ve probably already played many times.
- Split the class into two teams, lined up single file
- The first kid in each line holds the laser pointer
- You ask “point to __state__”. The first kid to point to the state gets a point for his/her team. At this point in the year, Midwest, West, and Southwest states are fair game to use.
- After each play, the first kid in line gives the laser pointer to the person behind them and goes to the back of the line
- One point for each correct answer
- Play as long as you’d like.
Game Two: Region and States Trivia Game:
These questions go back through all the books you’ve covered this year. You can use the same method as the states game, or you can go back and forth between teams, and let them discuss among themselves to see if they can come up with the answer. We chose the second.
- What state is known as the “Gateway to the West” (Missouri)
- How many Landmarks can you name from Cowboy Charlie? (1 point each one)
- What state does Cowboy Charlie take place in? (Montana)
- Which state did Cowboy Charlie begin in (Missouri)
- State where Yellowstone is located? (Montana, and states southwest of Montana)
- Continent where Pumpkin Runner took place? (Australia)
- About how many miles was the race? (580)
- 4 states in the southwest region?
- 4 states from the Midwest region?
- 4 states from the West
- What is a tall tale? (exaggerating true facts)
- List the 5 parts of a letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature)
- Where was Roxaboxen located? (Arizona)
- Who can recite one of the verses they have learned so far this year?
- What is a Tall Tale and List 1 book we read this semester that would be considered a Tall Tale?
- What does the Midwest look like? (plains, flat, grasses, windy, tornados)
- What does the Southwest look like? (dry, desert, cactus, scorpions, spiders, canyons)
- 2 foods mentioned in The Gullywasher (popcorn, hot peppers)
- Gullywasher took place in what area of the Country? (Southwest)
- What states did Wagon Wheels take place in? (KY, Kansas)
- What state did the Raft take place in? (Wisconsin)
- How far did the boys travel to see their dad (150 miles)
- What is a Pioneer? (go west, start new life in unsettled area)
- What was the Homestead Act of 1862? (set apart land for settlers to go and claim)
- Tell me your favorite book and why?
Musical Package Delivery:
For us, this was the last class of the year. We were swapping presents. We wanted to do something fun. And … I specialize in crazy 🙂 We saved this as the LAST of the LAST things for this reason. 🙂
You may have a better idea about how to swap presents … this is just how we did it.
I had all the kids stand up and back away from their desks with their present.
I played MercyMe “Happy Dance” (below)
Everyone was supposed to go from classmate to classmate, switching presents, until the music stopped.
When the music stopped, the present they were left with was their. (you can make exceptions for those who got a present that was theirs or for a girl/boy etc).
If you want to prolong the excitement, you can play the music – stop. Play the music, stop. Play the music, stop. Etc.
Have fun! Enjoy the break 🙂
Optional Homework:
Save the mail tag that was attached to your letter and write a thank-you note back to the person who gave you your gift.
