Postal Program Delivers Real-Life Lessons To Durham Students

The

United States Postal Service

program, called Wee Deliver, is helping students at Lakewood Elementary develop their reading and writing skills.

The program also makes learning fun by showing the students how to put what they learn to use every day.

For months,the school's first- and second-graders have been practicing to begin operating the post office in their school.

"They go out and pick up the mail. Then, when they're done, they sort the mail in the classroom and then go from classroom to classroom and deliver the mail. If the letters are wrong, they return them," said Martin Fisher, a Durham letter carrier who brought the program to the school.

Lakewood Elementary has decked its halls with mail boxes and drop boxes; each classroom has its own address.

"The kids learn everything about it and they use stamps, addresses, zip codes. They learn everything about writing letters," Fisher said.

Teacher Lisa Herndon is excited about all the skills this project is teaching her special needs students.

"It has helped in their behavior, helped them to work as a team. It's helped in their language skills, in writing skills and reading, because they're able to read letters, notes and they're learning how to write letters," she said.

It is a job that the students take pride in.

"They don't always get the recognition they deserve for the hard work that they do. I wanted to make learning fun for them. When I suggested it to them, their faces lit up," Herndon said.

Each classroom at Lakewood has a master mailing list so that any child can write to another student at the school.

Parents are also getting involved by dropping off letters in the mail box in the school office.