Amanda Simon's fourth-grade class transforms into Pine View Post Office

At Pine View School for the Gifted, Valentine’s Day is about more than flowers and chocolate — it’s a learning experience.

This year, the school’s fourth-grade classrooms were transformed into working post offices, where students delivered more than 12,000 valentines to each other.

Each classroom was assigned a zip code, which was used to sort the mail. Student “runners” collected the mail and brought it to their classroom’s post office, where each letter received a sticker, stamp and signature confirming its delivery.

Fourth-grade teacher Amanda Simon formed the first post office 10 years ago in her classroom. Since then, it has grown to involve every fourth-grade student in the school.

Simon says, at first, students may find their job uninteresting, but by the end of the day, they walk away with appreciation for their role and a fun lesson in teamwork.

“They quickly realize every job is important and necessary for the post office to operate,” she says. “It is a great exercise in teamwork and problem solving.”

Contact Harriet Sokmensuer at [email protected]