The American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS) now offers dozens of downloadable lesson plans centred on first-day covers (FDCs) via its website, afdcs.org.
FDCs and their informative cachets often highlight the people, places and events featured on stamps, opening the door to learning opportunities for teachers and other educators. The AFDCS website includes eight booklets, each with at least a dozen lessons using FDCs. The lessons cover U.S. and Texas history from the colonization of North America through Barack Obama’s presidency, which ended in 2017, and include discussion prompts, quizzes and reviews.
“First-day covers are primary sources that can add diversity in a teacher’s tool kit,” said AFDCS director Kris McIntosh, a retired high school teacher with nearly 40 years of education experience, who developed the lessons.
AFDCS membership is not required to use the lesson plans.