1. Learning U.S. Geography with The Great Mail Race Shelli Junkel, Jill Strong, and Janna Hannon Shenandoah Valley Elementary Parkway School District Chesterfield, MO

3. Missouri

4. St. Louis

5. Shenandoah Valley

6. The Great Mail Race Geography Where in the world am I? Concept of letter writing

7. Choosing States and Communities Introducing the students to a road atlas Using a state road map key Identifying types of communities

8. Creating a Community Survey Brainstorming a list of possible questions Selecting questions that will give us the best picture of each community Organizing questions into categories: school and community

9. Creating a Cover Letter Heading Greeting Body Closing Signature Friendly Fred

10. Selecting Schools http://50states.com Name of the state Name of the community Find a school with a third grade Copy and paste the address

11. Addressing and Preparing Envelopes Cover letters Blank survey Completed survey with our answers

12. You’ve Got Mail

13. Discussing Responses