One of my favorite activities at the beginning of the year is to have my students create and prepare travel journals. I have students provide an extra composition book on their supply list that we use as a travel journal that they prepare and send a family member out of state. (I always mail them myself through the district with my principal's permission.) The reliable family member then writes to the student in the journal all about their location (sometimes including pictures), sends a postcard to the student, and then sends the journal on to another reliable person. It's very similar to the Flat Stanley projects.
Over time, we collect all our postcards as a class and discuss where our journals are traveling. I have even created a big bulletin board display.
At the end of the year, the travel journals start returning and students start reading about the exciting adventures. Then volunteers share the parts they enjoyed and the things they learned. I'm always amazed at how great it turns out each year!
I have an information sheet for you that explains travels journals and gets you started - including the part that gets placed in the journal for the recipient. You can head over to my Travel Fever blog post read about it and then download that there!
It's definitely a fun activity you do not want to miss out on!
Happy Teaching,
