Create a classroom letter writing center. Provide sheets of paper, postcard-sized piece of cardstock, envelopes and stickers for postage. Encourage kindergartners to write letters to classmates, friends and family members. Invite students to decorate a large cardboard box like a mailbox so they can mail their letters. Paint the mailbox blue, cut a mail slot at the top and write down the times the mail carrier will stop by to pick up letters.
Have kindergartners make mail carrier bags to help them deliver the mail. Use large paper bags, and fold down the top to the desired height. Paint a fun mail logo on the front, and staple on a ribbon handle. Let kindergartners use the bags when emptying the classroom mailbox. Student can also create their own shoebox mailboxes to place on the corner of their desks. Have students bring a shoebox from home and provide construction paper, markers and stickers to personalize mailboxes.
Ask parents to send in recycled envelopes from home. If envelopes are missing an addressee name, write in a pretend name and address. Invite students to sort envelopes by size, shape, color, addressee name, zip code, stamp design or other attributes. Encourage students to sort envelopes in alphabetical order. If you have a classroom letter writing center and mailbox, encourage students to gather, sort and deliver real mail into each student's personalized mailbox.
Fill the classroom library with books about mail carriers and the post office. Ideas include "The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters" by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, "A Day With a Mail Carrier" by Jan Kottke, "The Post Office Book: Mail and How It Moves" by Gail Gibbons and "Delivering Your Mail: A Book About Mail Carriers" by Ann Owen. Write songs and poems about mail carriers on pieces of chart paper, and hang the sheets at eye level on a wall. Let kindergartners use pointers to read songs and poems aloud with a partner.