Back in the late 1800’s, Owney was the most famous dog in the U.S.A. It all started when he wandered into a post office and became their mascot. He soon learned to travel on the trains with the mail. He wound up traveling all over the world.
Read all about the story of Owney here!
The Classroom Owney Project
In 1996, a teacher in California read the story of Owney to her class. They decided to send a stuffed animal, as Owney, to classrooms in every state. The object was for students to learn all about Owney and all about different areas in the USA. Mr. DiFiore’s class was one of the original participants.
This year, Mr. DiFiore is continuing the fun! Students just love receiving Owney in the mail and receiving postcards (electronic or paper) from all over the USA. It is a fun and easy project for you to do. We set a schedule, then when you receive Owney, you have the students send postcards to the other participating classrooms as if they were Owney. That’s it! Each classroom will get to hold on to Owney for a couple of weeks.
Note: We can all participate no matter what we are doing: in class, hybrid, or remote. (We will build in time for each class to quarantine Owney before opening. I have done Owney remotely with my class and they loved it!)
Instructions:
If you would like your class to participate (or if you know a teacher that might like to), please send the following information to: gdifiore@mssd14.org.
Your name
Your email address
Name of your school
School address
The dates your school begins, ends, and long breaks
Resources:
All About Owney – The Smihsonian National Postal Museum
USPS Owney The Postal Dog Sheet of 20 Forever Stamps
Owney the Traveling Dog book Lesson Plans
People and the Post, Postal History from the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
Books:
A Lucky Dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mail Mascot
The Further Adventures of a Lucky Dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mail Mascot
Owney: The Traveling Dog (Famous Animal Stories)
OWNEY: Mascot of the Railway Mail Service Pamphlet
A Lucky Dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mail Mascot
The Post Office Dog (Originally Published as Owney: The Traveling Dog)
All Aboard, Owney! The Adirondack Mail Dog
A Small Dog’s Big Life: Around The World With Owney
People and the Post, Postal History from the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
All images from the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
Mr. DiFiore’s Class & Owney
See the mail tag Owney received in the late 1800’s from our area here!
Our Owney postcards to other schools (2020/21):
Brody V’s
Carys’s
Brody J’s
Claire’s
Desi’s
Drake’s
Emile’s
Isaiah’s
Jacobi’s
Jax’s
Nadia’s
Olivia’s
Rozlyn’s
Ryder’s
Sage’s
Tanner’s
Tucker’s
Cayden’s
Mr. DiFiore’s trip to the U.S. Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., July, 2019
Mr. DiFiore's Class 
such a fun project! I have researched this famous dog over the years with my classes. We are researching Balto now.