Goals:

1. The students will practice their writing skills. Postcards have a limited amount of

space so the students will learn to condense their information.

2. The students will review what they have learned about Hawaii.

3. The students will be able to connect literature from chapter seven of Blue Skin of the

Sea with real life applications. At the end of this chapter, the students read that Sonny

writes letters to his first girlfriend, Melanie so they will in turn write a postcard to

someone who they care about.

Resources/Materials:

1. Construction paper (cut to postcard size)

2. Pen/pencil

3. Crayons

4. Markers

5. Scratch paper

6. Sample postcards

Time:

This activity will take approximately one hour.

Procedure:

1. The students will write a postcard to their family. They should focus on the one or

two things which has impacted them the most throughout the "ALOHA" unit.

2. The teacher will start by modeling to the students the proper way to write a postcard.

Several sample postcards will also be available for the students to look at.

3. The students should write a rough draft of their short letter on a scratch sheet of paper.

When they have finished, the students will exchange postcards, and they will be edited

by their peers according to the writing rubric. In turn, every student will receive

feedback from a peer when their rough draft is returned with comments.

4. Once the postcards have been edited, the students can make any necessary corrections

and write the final draft on a piece of construction paper. With time permitting, the

students will also be able to illustrate the front of the postcard.

5. Once the students are done, collect the postcards and read through them to learn what

the students have retained from this unit so far. Also make sure the parents receive

these postcards - either send them home with the students or give them to the parents

at conferences.

Assessment:

1. The postcards will be assessed according to the writing rubric. (Criteria for Success =

The students will make no more than three grammatical errors since they have been

peer-edited.)

Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:

1. Language Arts - letter writing, & peer editing

2. Art - illustrations

3. Social Studies - Hawaii

4. Science - Oceanography

Possible Extensions:

1. The students could write to a pen pal in Hawaii.

2. The students could write a virtual postcard to Hawaii

- http://www.bestofhawaii.com/shopping.htm#postcard

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