Thursday, May 15, marked the grand opening of the Pink Cluster Post Office! Taking place in the Yvette Siegel-Herzog Performing Arts Center (PAC), the Pink Cluster Post Office was full of visitors waiting their turn at different stations spread throughout the space, all with the goal of mailing letters to members of the Gaynor community.
As part of the Pink Cluster’s social studies curriculum, students learn about various community helpers in the neighborhood community. After focusing on the “goods” and/or “services” that community helpers provide, students also learn that community helpers do not work alone, but rather work in teams called “businesses.” To explore the idea of what a business is, the Pink Cluster visited a local post office. “On their field trip they learned that mail carriers work with other community helpers (e.g., clerk, monitor, processor, sorter), and this enables the business to effectively collect and deliver mail in our neighborhood community because everyone has a job they are in charge of,” said Pink Cluster Head Teacher Morgan Conlon. The students mirrored the different community helpers that make up a business in the stations within the Pink Cluster Post Office.
As visitors entered the post office in the PAC, they were greeted and handed a map of the post office’s layout. There were six stations to visit; the post office workers were working hard to make sure visitors went to each station in order, and were very helpful with directions. After picking up a wallet with 25 cents inside, the first station was buying supplies. The supplies available were a stamp for 10 cents, an envelope for 25 cents, and a box for 80 cents. Luckily, visitors had just enough to buy both an envelope and a stamp! The use of coins as a means of “purchasing” items from the post office is a prime example of how multisensory education can be used to enhance learning. By providing students with a physical representation of currency, they are better able to understand the concept of buying and selling, and how it relates to the services being provided by the post office. It is also a great way to practice real-world math skills!
Once supplies were purchased, it was time to move to the second station, where Pink Cluster postal workers helped address letters. Students who visited the post office already had their letters written and ready to go into the envelopes; for employees visiting, this was also the station where they could write their letters.
After each letter was properly addressed and placed into an envelope, it was time to move to the processing station. Postal workers at the processing station sealed the envelope, and then marked it with a sticker saying “N” or “S” for North Building or South Building. This way, the letter would be delivered to the correct building.
Then it was time for the inspection station, where postal workers made sure the letters were addressed correctly, stamped, and sealed. Once everything was corrected and any problems were swiftly taken care of, the inspector stamped the letter with a check mark, and it was time for the letter to be mailed! Visitors could drop their letters in the mailbox on the PAC’s stage, and postal workers gathered the letters and placed them in bins for sorting.
Finally, after the letters were sorted and ready to be delivered, a postal worker would place the letters in a cart to wheel around the Gaynor campus. Deliveries were made quickly and efficiently!
A project-based, multisensory approach is a hallmark of the Gaynor curriculum, and it allows students to not only gain knowledge about the subject matter they are studying, but also to actively participate and engage with the concepts being taught. In this case, students expanded on their knowledge of businesses by creating one of their own and experiencing its operations first-hand.
Through creating their own Gaynor “neighborhood business”, Pink Cluster students used their math and reading skills, followed multi-step instructions, and experienced the importance of community helpers working together. The Pink Cluster Post Office ran smoothly, and the postal workers did a great job at directing visitors, selling supplies, administering instructions, checking their envelopes, and delivering letters. One Gaynor employee remarked, “This was the best experience at the post office I’ve ever had!”
