Davis Educators Teach Real-World Skills in Social Studies

Writing letters, addressing envelopes, and applying postage are three valuable life skills that Davis fifth graders are mastering in their social studies class.

“With so many students now having cell phones they can keep the information on instead of needing it in their brain -- like knowing where they live or how to contact someone if they cannot make a call or text,” social studies teacher Laura Fulenwider said. “We felt it was important to empower the next generation to hold onto some skill sets in case they find themselves without a device to rely on.”

While studying the Industrial Revolution, students learned how inventions changed the American way of life and one of those inventions was the U.S. Postal Service.

“We tied the letter writing in by comparing how communication was done before technology versus after,” Fulenwilder said. “By sending these letters through the mail they will know firsthand how long it takes to wait for information as opposed to having it at their fingertips instantly.”

They also discussed the added time it would take on horseback, before the invention of motor vehicles.

In this age of technology, children aren’t often exposed to hand-written communication. Fifth-grade social studies teachers used the Industrial Revolution unit as an opportunity to teach a life skill by having their students write and address letters to their parents.

After writing their letters, teachers realized that many of the students were unfamiliar with the proper way to address an envelope.

“Based on what we have learned over the years and the behaviors of our current kids, we knew addressing the letters would be a challenge,” Angie Peters, social studies teacher, said.

The learning extended beyond writing letters and addressing envelopes; this unit also provided an opportunity to teach students about courtesy titles.

Once all letters were written, addressed and stamped, they were mailed on the same day.

“We are using this ‘experiment’ to compare how long it takes to deliver a message to someone through the mail as opposed to instantaneously in today’s society,” Peters said.

Students also wrote letters to friends and family as far away as Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Turkey -- the country, not the town here in Texas!

Students will track and chart how long it takes for their letters to arrive at their destinations.