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PCs for Back To School Project

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PCs for Back To School Project
Swap Coordinator:jj9jj (contact)
Swap categories: Postcards 
Number of people in swap:126
Location:International
Type:Type 2: Flat mail
Last day to signup/drop:July 31, 2016
Date items must be sent by:August 15, 2016
Number of swap partners:1
Description:

The middle school I teach in is planning all sorts of exciting projects for the new 6th graders next year that involve getting to know more about each other and our neighbors near and far. Many of our kids have never been out of New Jersey, many have not been far from this town even, and this will give them an opportunity to hear first hand about other places!

For this swap you will need to send a postcard to your assigned Swap-bot partner, as well as sending one to the address listed below telling something interesting about where you live. Ideally the postcard would feature a picture of a historic landmark or place of interest from where you live, though if you are vacationing (or have vacationed) somewhere else interesting, a PC from there would be great, too! It doesn't have to have a historical tie-in either. The idea is for them to learn something about another place - past or present, either through the picture on the postcard or through your message.

It can be store bought or handmade, new or old. In return you will receive a postcard from your assigned Swap-bot partner, as well as a handwritten postcard from one of the new 6th grade students at our school when the students get back to school in early September. (I will apologize ahead of time for some of their handwriting!!) I have asked their 5th grade teachers to ask the students to buy an extra postcard when they are on vacation this summer to use for this project and I will have postcards from around our town also available.

I can get your mailing address from the Swap-bot participants list - but it would be helpful if you included it on the postcard to the school, too. The student’s postcards will be sent out by the end of September. There are close to 100 sixth grade students that will be new at our school. It will be great to have all of them sending postcards to you! Get your friends and family involved, too! More than one postcard would be great to the school - but not necessary. I can only promise that you will get at least one postcard in return from the school. If we have extra-enthusiastic students who want to write more, we certainly will let them! I have hosted a Back-to-School PC swap like this several times in past years and we have had an awesome number of Swap-Bot participants each year.

Send 2 postcards - 1 to your Swap-bot partner and 1 to: Lakeside Middle School, 316 Lakeside Ave. Pompton Lakes NJ 07442

I am leaving sign-ups open until the end of July - but you can send your PC to the school any time after you sign up. It is a small school - so you do not need to include my name in the address. There will be a box in our office for the postcards that I will check periodically throughout the summer. This project involves a lot of prep time to get the PCs tallied, assign student partners, proofread student writing, buy stamps, send PCs, keep participants informed, etc. so I want to get a head start.

Remember to get the PCs sent no later August 15th so they get here in time for the opening of school in September. You will have to wait until mid-July for your Swap-bot partner’s address. The students will NOT be going on Swap-bot to read your profile. They will only know what you write about yourself (if anything) on the PC.

If you have any questions - post them here or email me! Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you!!

Discussion

deesides 05/18/2016 #

Question! Would it be okay to just send a card and not participate in the swap? Might skip the return address as well because I'll probably move some time during summer and have no idea where I'm in Sept. I'd be fine just sending a card without expecting anything in return, though it is a fun idea to get kids acquainted with the art of snail mail!

jj9jj 05/18/2016 #

That would be fine - but you might as well include your name and address - even if you don't get the postcard until whenever you return from your travels!

deesides 05/20/2016 #

Okay, that's great! Will definitely send a card then.

Lonestarchild 05/30/2016 #

Sending card to the school. Nothing needed in return -- we'll be in transit in August. Great project!

Magali 05/31/2016 #

What a wonderful idea!!

widelo123 06/ 2/2016 #

I just read through the whole swap. What a wonderful idea for students. I live in a place where there are so many interesting things that happened or are happening. Would it be okay to sent more than one? I'm thinking around 6. I would only need one swapper to send me a postcard.

stkirsch 06/ 3/2016 #

I absolutely love your swap idea! And can't wait to join.

Momskii 06/ 9/2016 #

I love this idea also. More teachers need to participate in activities such as this. The students not only learn about different parts of their country, but realize that snail mail is a GOOD thing. Please let me know if you need me to send more than one postcard so that all the students can participate.

jj9jj 06/12/2016 #

Widelo123 - More than one would be awesome! Thanks so much!

venzo2b 06/12/2016 #

Great idea ! I'm going to send more than one poscard. So, the students will discover France and Corsica. I hope they will understand my "poor" English !!! Thank you for this swap !

MargotBond 06/12/2016 #

As a middle school teacher, I love this project. 💟 If my Admin approves, may I adapt this style swap for my district's needs? @jj9jj 👏👌👍👍

jj9jj 06/12/2016 #

@MargotBond - Absolutely! If you get it approved I will email the protein this swap to alert them!

LiMorris 06/13/2016 #

Hi, i would love to join in on this. We are from Trinidad & Tobago.

Would you mind if i got my daughter to send the postcard to the school ( i think they are in the same class, most students are 11 to 12 years old).

Also, i would love to take this idea to my daughter's teacher - would you mind?

Marsha907 06/13/2016 #

I travel lots and have postcards from all over the world. I will send a few to the students. Not joining the swap tho.

thebragal 06/13/2016 #

I'm sure we'll be in Toronto this summer so I'll look for a PC. Not joining either tho. I'd rather send two PCs to the school rather than one to a partner.

Gabrielle 06/13/2016 #

Hooray! I found you -- I wish there were some way your class and my daughter's classes could do something together. She teaches in a middle school on the outskirts of DC -- should be something they could share in the way of a project.

petaluda 06/14/2016 #

Yes ,,I would love to participate :) I am looking forward to this . I live in the US but was born and raised in Greece I have some PCs from there

jj9jj 06/14/2016 #

Awesome. Thanks, @petaluda

ScrapHappyGabi 06/15/2016 #

Should there be C/O ____________ (teachers name) so that the school knows which mailbox to pop the cards in when they start flooding in?

jj9jj 06/15/2016 #

@ScrapHappyGabi It's not necessary. It's a fairly small school and I am the only one getting postcards over the summer!

Drachenfrau 06/16/2016 #

Sent a pc from Cologne today. Thank you for hosting such a wonderful swap! :-)

MissMargie 06/16/2016 #

Oooo This looks like fun. I love working with kids

jj9jj 06/16/2016 #

The postcards are already coming in at school. Can't wait to share them to the kids in the fall. Thanks!!

indigo68 06/22/2016 #

I think this is a fantastic idea! I've just mailed off 6 different postcards to the school, they might take a few weeks to arrive as they're coming from Australia. Hope the kids find them interesting. :)

jj9jj 06/22/2016 #

Sounds great indigo68! Thanks!

Pattysahli 06/23/2016 #

We live in Germany and will travel quite a bit this summer...so I'll send more than one PC of some interesting places! What a fun idea!

jj9jj 06/24/2016 #

Great, Pattysahli!

Omnomidon 06/25/2016 #

Sent one to the school! Might send another if I find a good one before the deadline :)

MrsAndrews 06/25/2016 #

I may not enter the swap but will send at least 1 card to the school. I have a special stockpile for things like this from my hometown. Great idea!

Houstonsgal 06/26/2016 #

Are you personally paying for postage? That's a big chunk of money. Would stamps help also?

jj9jj 06/26/2016 #

Sounds good @Omnomidon and @MrsAndrews Thanks!!

jj9jj 06/26/2016 #

@Houstongal I imagine the school will reimburse me for postage. But thank you for your offer.

CookieChops 06/30/2016 #

This is such an awesome idea! :) I've have joined the swap, but already written 4 cards to send to your school, I'll be mailing them tomorrow, all the way from England! Hope they reach you safely! :)

jj9jj 06/30/2016 #

Thanks @CookieChops

CookieChops 07/ 1/2016 #

@jj9jj plus I made sure they all had lots of unusual stamps on! :)

jj9jj 07/ 1/2016 #

Awesome, @CookieChops

pbcquiltlover 07/ 5/2016 #

Mailed one from Florida with an alligator and statistics regarding how rare attacks actually are regardless of the publicity...1.3 million gators in FL and about 12 attacks per year averaging 1 fatality every 2 years over 40 years time...lots of math in there for them!

jj9jj 07/ 6/2016 #

The kids will love that @pbcquiltlover Thanks.

churlann 07/ 6/2016 #

What a wonderful idea. I will be sending a couple of cards your way. This is such a great way to introduce kids to the US and the world.

Momskii 07/ 7/2016 #

Just a thought in case anyone here is close to Hallmark. Went to get a couple of CT postcards to send to you and none of the stores in CT have CT postcards. Sending just a regular one from here.

jj9jj 07/ 7/2016 #

Thanks @churlann and any PC is good @momskii The kids will be just as interested in what you write as what is on the front!

Karen65 07/ 8/2016 #

Hi i send 2 out today. Hope you get it soon. Great idea👍

Momskii 07/ 8/2016 #

So glad to see you are #1

Sammoning 07/ 8/2016 #

I've got 2 ready to send out on monday (since mail oesnt get picked up until then) I only signed them with my real name/country not sure if that's ok.

jj9jj 07/ 8/2016 #

That's fine. The kids don't really understand about swapbot nicknames anyway @sammmoning

mellyrose89 07/12/2016 #

I will be sending multiple postcards in an envelope to the school, but each will be written on and include my return address :)

jj9jj 07/13/2016 #

Great - @mellyrose89

papercaper 07/16/2016 #

You're a great teacher! Going to send some really cool PCs from Australia. One of them is round - as in, circular! ;)

jj9jj 07/17/2016 #

That's cool @papercaper The kids will love it!

titancia 07/17/2016 #

I have two postcards going out in the mail tomorrow! One from Cannery Row (I live in John Steinbeck's hometown) and one from Redding, CA about the new Sundial bridge.

jj9jj 07/20/2016 #

Great @titancia I will be interested in seeing them myself!!

Fabriqueen 07/21/2016 #

I'd love to tell them about Texas. I'll go to the Texas store and get cards with some of our monuments. They have some great ones. I wish all schools would do this with their students. My favorite class in school and the one teacher I still remember today did this kind of projects with us. He had spent every summer traveling to historic sites also and had all kinds of materials for us to study with, not just one boring schoolbook.

JenniferB 07/23/2016 #

Besides from myself, sounds like the students are going to be learning a lot about Australia! 😊🇦🇺

MiniQuilt 07/23/2016 #

When do we receive our partner's name and address. I have already sent to the school.

jj9jj 07/23/2016 #

Partners will be assigned after the last sign-up date - July 31. Thanks for joining! @MiniQuilt

jj9jj 07/23/2016 #

@Fabriqueen You should sent that teacher a note telling him that! The kids will love hearing about Texas from you.

KakaKenneth 07/24/2016 #

Hi from Indonesia! I will hv my 9y.o. write the postcard. So excited!

pkpeace 07/25/2016 #

I will send a postcard from the Jersey Shore but will not join the swap.

This is such a fantastic project for the kids! I did this on a much smaller scale with my Kindergarten class when our "Gingerbread Man" ran away while cooling from being baked! My friends (and their friends) had just as much fun sending the cards as my class had receiving and mapping the cards! Enjoy!

jj9jj 07/25/2016 #

@KakaKenneth that's great!

jj9jj 07/25/2016 #

@pkpeace - pm me your address so the kids can write back to you.

winterborn 07/26/2016 #

I will be sending directly to the school also and will include a return address. Fun idea!

wolfeagle 07/27/2016 #

Sent some PC's. Hope your project is a success! Sounds fun.

jj9jj 07/27/2016 #

Welcome aboard @winterborn @ @wolfeagle

ChrisAnne 07/29/2016 #

I'll be sending cards from the capital of Florida here in Tallahassee. Not joining the swap, but this former teacher loves this project!

jj9jj 07/29/2016 #

Thanks @ChrisAnne Be sure to include your address so the kids can send you one back!!

widelo123 07/31/2016 #

Wow! this is super. I'd love to be there with you in your classes when you do you start distributing these to the students. I am amazed how many different countries are participating in this . Good teaching tool for a boring geography class. Good luck and have a wonderful year with your student class. Shirley

Artistic 08/ 1/2016 #

Postcards sent out today to my partner and to the school. Enjoy!

carol 08/ 1/2016 #

As a former teacher myself, I absolutely LOVE this! I'd be interested in hearing about your students' response to all this mail!

Good for you!

jj9jj 08/ 1/2016 #

Thanks! @widelo123 @Artisric and @carol Stopped by school today to pick up the first batch! Got my work cut out for me! AM excited to get started!

scrappermama 08/ 1/2016 #

3 pc's sent out to the school last week... great project for the kiddos! Kudos to you!

jj9jj 08/ 9/2016 #

No @scrappermama - kudos to all of you!! Thanks for participating!

ScrapHappyGabi 10/ 5/2016 #

@jj9jj - How sweet! I got a postcard today from "Olivia" Just wanted you to know she sent a really nice postcard of the Emanuel Einstein Public Library! Really fun swap ! Gabi

Babsmomof5 10/ 7/2016 #

I received a postcard today from Jeffrey...love it! You have no idea how much your "project" uplifted me!

Sammoning 10/ 8/2016 #

I received a beuatiful card from Jenna, thank you for involving us all in this awesome project!

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