Postcard from a habitat: a 2nd grade informational writing activity
What it is: a 2nd grade informational writing activity where students imagine visiting a habitat (desert, ocean, rainforest, arctic, grassland) and write a postcard home with three true facts about the weather, plants and animals there.
Time: about 40 minutes. Grade: 2nd grade.
Materials: index cards or postcard templates, short fact sheets or books about 5 habitats, crayons, and pencils.
- Show a real or pretend postcard. Read the message and point out the greeting, the facts and the closing.
- Students choose a habitat and read its fact sheet with a partner, noting 3 facts.
- They draw the habitat on the front of the postcard, including one plant and one animal.
- On the back, they write to a family member, starting each fact with a sense word: "I see... I feel... I hear..."
- Pin the postcards on a world map at the right habitat.
Differentiation: students who need support write 2 facts with the sense-word frames. Students who are ready add one way an animal is adapted to the habitat. English learners can label the drawing with habitat words first.
Quick check: read one fact from a student's postcard and ask where they found it.
Save this activity to your library so it is ready when you need it.
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About this resource
- Shared by
- @UpOnlyLearning · Curriculum team
- Posted
- Oct 30, 2026
- Type
- Lesson plan
- Grade
- Grades K–2
- Subject
- Writing, Science
- Language
- English
- License
- Free for classroom, co-op and tutoring use. Please don't resell.