2009 Celebration Project - Thanks for your postcards - Initial Update posted!

[JeMarie6]

2009 Celebration Calendar/Map Project

In anticipation of our fast approaching trip to Disney, we came up with a fun, budget-friendly and educational project for my kids to focus on. We are hoping to get a number of volunteers to send us a post card, birthday card or even just short letter or note while we are at Disney. My daughter loves getting mail and since we'll be celebrating her 5th birthday it will make her visit even more magical to get mail WHILE we are on vacation! In the card/note, can you answer three questions for our project?

1. Where do you live and/or where were you born? [City/state, or whatever]

2. When is your birthdate [month/day] and what are you planning to do to celebrate it? (Or do you have a favorite birthday celebration memory or something esle special you'll celebrate? Tell us about it!)

3. Name something interesting you've seen/would like to see at Disney World.

Keli (turning 5) is creating a birthday calendar marking everyone's birthday's on the various dates. It will help her learn her months and practice her numbers. We can also learn a lot about how other people celebrate birthdays

Joshua (who will be 6 almost 7) is plotting the locations on the map. I think it will be a fun way to learn the states (maybe even a few countries!) and improve his map reading skills.

From the Disney World question, we'll create scavenger hunt/check list type activity.

PM me and I'll send you our information! Or let me know if you have any questions! Our stay is 09/19/09-09/26/09

Thanks,
Julie Marie


As per the recent request, here is the list of states. I started a list at work and forgot to bring it home so this may not be exact, but here goes. States in BOLD I've received a response on. States not in bold I still need. I'm happy to get a couple from the same state, too but it would be nice to get a good number of different states (or even countries!). Let me know if I missed anyone obvious!


Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado (Birthplace Only!)
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia ?
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Countries
Canada (Ottawa/Ontario, Saskatchewan, Toronto)
UK (Orkney,)
Italy

 

[Booknut]

It's great that you're doing this project with your child but to be honest I don't think a lot of people are going to give you that info as its quite personal information which could be used in a negative way. Sadly that is just how things are nowadays.

You'd be better off just asking for postcards and what people love about DisneyWorld etc and dropping the request for birthplace and birthdates.

 

[mrsklamc]

That info is public record, so if they were up to no good they would just go look up random strangers instead of strangers on the dis. No reason to be secretive about it at all.

 

[denisegold]

I think this is a great idea- I hope you get a lot of people to participate. You are not asking for any personal info (plus, the people sending cards could just totally make up the info for the sake of the postcard, how would a 5 year old know the difference?) Whatever- I will gladly PM you. I think it sounds like a great kid friendly project. Kudos to you.

 

[omghidanielle]

Hey! We will be at POP around the same time!

 

[JeMarie6]

It's great that you're doing this project with your child but to be honest I don't think a lot of people are going to give you that info as its quite personal information which could be used in a negative way. Sadly that is just how things are nowadays.

You'd be better off just asking for postcards and what people love about DisneyWorld etc and dropping the request for birthplace and birthdates.

Certainly understand not everyone will want to participate. But I have tons of faith in people, especially the people on the Disboards! I'm not asking for street addresses or even years of birth, don't even need a last name, so not sure how much harm a city/state with a birth month/year could do, but I respect people's right to be cautious. I like the educational aspect of the calendar & map so I'm glad I'm getting lots of positive responses already!

 

[JeMarie6]

That info is public record, so if they were up to no good they would just go look up random strangers instead of strangers on the dis. No reason to be secretive about it at all.

Thanks! Glad that there are lots of people out with the same kind of optimism and faith in people that I have. People are free to share as much or as little of the information on the card as they like. Like I said above, I don't even need a last name!

Julie Marie

 

[JeMarie6]

Hey! We will be at POP around the same time!

Cool, I PM'd you!

 

[JeMarie6]

I think this is a great idea- I hope you get a lot of people to participate. You are not asking for any personal info (plus, the people sending cards could just totally make up the info for the sake of the postcard, how would a 5 year old know the difference?) Whatever- I will gladly PM you. I think it sounds like a great kid friendly project. Kudos to you.

Thanks! Definitely off to a good start so far. I love it that fun and educational don't have to be mutually exclusive! I'll send you a PM!

 

[JeMarie6]

Thanks to those who have responded! I sent a couple more PMs

 

[JeMarie6]

Awesome we have at least 10 different states now and a couple of different countries! Any UKer's out there?

 

[SeansMom]

Sounds like fun! Sending a PM

 

[GoofItUp]

PM'd you!

 

[JeMarie6]

Sounds like fun! Sending a PM

PM'd you!

Thanks guys. I Pm'd ya both!

 

[worm761]

Sending a PM! I love your idea. I homeschool and taught my son some great mapping skills while at Disney!

 

[JeMarie6]

Sending a PM! I love your idea. I homeschool and taught my son some great mapping skills while at Disney!

I Pm'd you. Thanks!

Julie Marie

 

[mousetravel]

I sent you a PM.

 

[JeMarie6]

I sent you a PM.

Thanks! I Pm'd you back. I think that brings us up to at least 15 states! Any Pacific Northwesterners out there?

 

[oregonmommyof2]

I can take care of Oregon if you want!

And we will be at pop the same time too! The 15th to the 28th!

 

[JeMarie6]

I can take care of Oregon if you want!

And we will be at pop the same time too! The 15th to the 28th!

Perfect! I think we're over 15 states now!