Postcards from the Battlefield

I like to have the kids write historically from the perspective of someone who was at that event.  Meaning, when I want them to write about, say a battle of the American Revolution, I don't just have them list off facts, I like them to take on the persona of a person who witnessed the battle and is telling the story.

Such was the case when I had my students learn about the battles this year.  I had them research the battle using this form here.  It was basic, just asking them to fill in the blanks on basic information about the battle itself.

Then I had them create a postcard (I used this template in google slides...though if you have no access to tech you can print it off and have them handwrite it.)  They wrote a first person narrative in letter form to a relative explaining the details of the battle they researched.  

I asked them to make up an address and create a stamp. This could be any sort of picture they thought would make a good stamp during that time period.  Some kids drew one and took a pic to insert.  Others found pictures online that fit with what they were going for.

Next came the fun part.  The students created the picture portion of the postcard.  Some of them created a picture using clipart and the shapes tool on Google Slides. 

Others found several pictures online that would match what they described in the battle and used that.  

Then we cut the pieces out, glued them together, laminated them, and viola....a postcard was made!

And that is it.  It was a quick and easy way to have the kids research and write about the battles.  This could work for any historical event really, though since we were researching the battles, we went with that in my room :)