You can introduce your upper elementary students to famous illustrations associated with fairy tales you are reading to the class by sharing some artistic renderings of the story's characters and events. The website Artsy Craftsy, for example, lists illustrators of fairy tales and provides copies of some of each artist’s illustrations. Included are: Edmund Dulac’s “The Little Mermaid,” Arthur Rackham’s “Cinderella” and some of Maxfield Parrish’s images from “The Arabian Nights.” Once the students have seen the illustrations, have each student use watercolors to paint his own fairy tale image on a blank index card or postcard-sized piece of card stock. Each student can complete his postcard by addressing a short note to one of the fairy tale's characters.
First and second grade students can create photo montages to show their knowledge of words that begin with the same letters, rhyming words or words that share similar sounds such as “sh,” “ch” or “th.” Ask the children to help you point out items in the classroom that have the same beginning letter, endings that rhyme or common consonant blends. Use a digital camera to photograph these items, printing out copies of the photos for the children to use. Allow the children to select and cut out images, using them to create a postcard collage of, for example, words that begin with the letter B. Have them glue their collages onto blank index cards or postcard-sized pieces of card stock, using their postcards' blank sides to list the items in their collages.
Many fifth grade classrooms study U.S. geography. To help bring the 50 states to life for your classroom, join in a postcard project that offers students from across the country a chance to create and exchange postcards with students in other communities. Let each student select a state with which they’d like to establish contact. Using a blank piece of card stock, students begin by drawing an outline of your state and a star or dot indicating your hometown on the postcard, adding whatever other representative images of your community they’d like to include. The children could, for example, draw a local tourist attraction, a food or manufacturing product your area is known for or a famous person who grew up in your community. Have the students mail their completed postcards to program participants in the state of their choice.
You can help your elementary students get over their “new school year” nerves by having them create a back-to-school superhero postcard. Introduce the project by asking the children to tell you how they feel about starting a new school year. Encourage them to talk about what excites them and what makes them nervous. Tell them that they’ll each get a chance to create a superhero with the special ability to fight off concerns about school. Let each child use markers or crayons and a blank index card to create a picture postcard of his superhero persona. Help them to break the ice with their new classmates by having them address and give their postcard to another student, chosen at random.