For those of you who have a lot of postcards, here is a rainy day activity for classrooms or families.

Create a “bingo sheet” with 25 blank cells.  The center cell is free/purrs.

Have each player chose from the list below and enter 24 choices into the remaining cells. You can add to the choices if you can think of other subjects which match the postcards you have. The countries, states and cities are just a few of many that Gulliver has visited.

Where the choice is a color, it can be the predominate color or just visible in the postcard.  If a card is drawn that can meet two or more subjects (i.e. red, San Francisco and boat) only one subject can be marked out.

Put the cards in a box or bag and draw one at a time. The first student to make “bingo” wins. You can continue with the same bingo cards for second and third winners, or start over with new sheets.

1. Color blue
2. Color green
3. Animal (land)
4. Water (ocean, river or pond, waterfall)
5. Building  (other than a house)
6. Flower
7. Person
8. Iceland
9. Hawaii
10. Ship or boat
11. Tree(s)
12. Poem
13. China
14. Bird
15. Flag
16. Map
17. Germany
18. Color yellow
19. Snow
20. Food
21. Color red
22. San Francisco
23. France
24. Scotland
25. Egypt
26. Cambodia
27. Bicycle
28. Ukraine
29. Castle
30. Russia
31. Sky
32. Bridge
33. Sea creature
34. Lighthouse
35. House

Cat sails the world

I love hearing about other cats having adventures. Amelia is a rescue cat who lives with her owner on a sailboat, sailing along the coast of Mexico and Central America and clear over to the South Pacific!  With all the fish in the ocean, she probably doesn’t go hungry very often.  Can you imagine living on a boat year round? You can see pictures and read more by clicking on the link above.

Welcome back to a new school year! If we haven’t met before, I am Gulliver, an orange and white cat who loves to travel and learn about new people and places. My friend, Bubba likes schools so much he has been going to the high school across the street from his home in San Jose since 2009! Bubba is often the first one to school, waiting for staff and students to arrive. He strolls in and out of classrooms as much as he likes, has no plans to graduate and often watches the athletes on the sports fields. Did I mention he is also an orange and white cat?

Purrs, Gulliver

Digital image

We all enjoy getting mail, and Gulliver enjoys sending postcards.  Since February 4 is a special day for postal workers, Gulliver thought you might enjoy this article about how a foreign exchange student learned the American system of postal service.  Enjoy!

Purrs, Gulliver

A Post Office Experience

Gulliver is continuing to explore technology as well as the world, so he is posting some of his postcards on Instagram.  Follow him for more adventures!

Ahoy, me hearties! I went sailing through the Monterey Bay on the tall ship Lady Washington looking for pirate, but found none.  We did see dolphins and whales, and learned what it was like to live on a ship in the 1880s. I helped raise the sails from the yards (cross beams), and the crew taught me nautical words like port, starboard, tiller and quarterdeck. Then the crew sang sea shanties, songs to keep spirits up and synchronize timing. Since the Lady Washington was a trading ship, not a pirate’s ship, no one was forced to “walk the plank” or join in a sword fight.  I didn’t even get seasick from the rolling waves!

Purrs, Gulliver

I thought I was adventurous until I read about a young man who spends an average four hours on a plane each day, and takes at least one international flight each week.  Always on the move, Ben rarely stays more than 3 days in one place.  He has circled the earth about 16 times a year flying in airplanes. He is called a Hobbyist – someone who uses airline and credit card bonuses to reduce the price of his tickets.  He said for the past 18 months, he hasn’t had a home, but lives out of airplanes and hotels.  I like some routine, so I think I would get very confused on what day it is and where I am with all that travel!

Purrs, Gulliver

Recently Gulliver’s mom went to some local classrooms to read to students and answer questions.  The number one question was “why was Gulliver grounded?” from the postcard below.  Gulliver is still able to travel but his magic carpet is on time out, so he has to figure out other sources of transportation.  The story behind the punishment remains between Gully and his mom, but trust me, it was bad behavior!

Hello! I am Sasha, Gulliver’s little sister. He asked me to write to you because he has been grounded and is not travelling. He apologizes for not sending postcards. Look at today’s postcard – – the address is always on the right, under the stamp. First the name, then the street address, next line is city and state, and finally a postal or ZIP code.  Some countries use a different order where the city is listed before the street name. Each piece of mail requires a stamp which is postmarked from the area it was mailed from, along with the date it was mailed.  What would you write on a postcard?

Meow, Sasha

I’m so excited about celebrating National Postcard Week with classrooms exchanging hand made postcards with each other. One class used their skills to type their research of San Juan Bautista Mission, another wrote about their favorite books.  Here is one teacher’s comments:

Hopefully, it was okay to add a fake address and a general name like cool kid or lucky student. Writing out the postcards was a teaching tool for me today. Only 3 students had wrote postcards before so this was an excellent teaching time for me. I was teaching them if they ever had to write a postcard in the future they would know what to do. We even drew a fake stamp on the postcard.  Ms. H.

Purrs, Gulliver