Volunteer for Passport Day!

2024-2025 Passport

The Passport Club is an optional PTA-sponsored geography enrichment program for first through fifth grade students. It has been one of Puesta del Sol’s Educational Enhancement programs since 1999. At the start of the school year, students are issued "passports". There are five levels, or itineraries, to choose from. If a student chooses Level One, they will learn the location of 40 countries and the 7 continents by the end of the school year. If they choose Level Five, they will learn the location of all of the world’s countries, 40 capital cities, the continents, the oceans, and some of the major seas, deserts and mountain ranges. Extra games and projects called Special Itineraries are available for any student who would like more challenge or who wants to delve deeper into a country or culture. Students working at any level can opt to do Special Itineraries.

Each month parent volunteers quiz students on their selected level at the Passport Check Day. Students identify the countries on a blank map, the checkers mark off all the correctly identified countries in the student’s passports. For each level a student passes, they earn a stamp to paste on the visa page of their passport.    

Participate in CultureGram

If your child wants to participate in Special Itinerary for Passport, Culture Grams is a kid-friendly geography research website they can access.

CultureGrams Login Process
The best way to access Culturegrams is to have students go to "Destiny Library" on their laptop and click on “Databases” then find Culturegrams on the top row.

Then students use their KCLS student logins:

KCLS student login
Library Card Number:
District ID(405) + Student ID Number
PIN or Password:
last 4 digits of student ID number
Example:
Student with ID Number: 234567
Library Card Number = 405234567
PIN or Password = 4567

Program Goals

• The Passport Club’s main purpose is to help students learn the continents, main bodies of water and the location of some or all of the world’s countries and capitals over the course of the school year.
• With this fun and engaging program, students learn to use maps and start to understand how a map is used to communicate information.
• We encourage participation by all students in the 1st through 5th grade classes. 
• We also aim to foster interest and awareness in our global community and to help students gain an appreciation for how they fit into our international world.

Passports / Stamps  

• Students are issued passports at the beginning of the school year.  Teachers keep the passports in the classroom, distributing and recollecting them on check day. Passports are returned to the students at the end of the school year to keep as a memento of their journey.
• Passports are organized by months, September through May. Each month focuses on different geographical items to identify.
• Each month different stamps are available to be pasted in the passports.  Students earn one stamp for each level completed.  

Choosing a Level

1st graders are encouraged to study the Level 1 itinerary each month; 2nd graders -- Levels 1 and 2; 3rd graders -- Levels 1, 2 and 3 and so on, through 5th grade. Each year the countries remain in the same level, so the geographical knowledge gained is a natural progression which builds upon itself from year to year. If your child would like more of a challenge, please encourage them to study as many levels as he/she would like. Students do not need to achieve beyond their grade level unless time and interest allows. The goal is to provide a positive opportunity to learn about our global community.

Levels Defined    

Levels are cumulative with different countries every month. Students doing Level 1, 2 and/or 3 may miss one country during the check and still complete or "pass". Students doing Level 4 and/or 5 may miss a total of two countries during the check and still complete or "pass".

At the Check Day students will:

• Identify the countries on the map for the level they have elected to study.
• Earn stamps to paste in their passport 'visa page' for each level they complete.

At the Check Day parent volunteers will:

• Highlight correctly identified countries in the student’s passport.
• Stamp each level completed and when the student has achieved his/her grade level or above stamp the passport with the official Passport Club seal.
  
  

Check Day Make-Ups

If your child is absent or unable to make one of the check days, no problem. Parents can test their children at home with this Check At Home Form. Once the Check At Home Form is complete, parents can take a photo or make a scan of the form and send it to [email protected]. If that is not possible, your student can turn their completed Check At Home Form at the next Check Day.

Special Itineraries

• Students can earn extra stamps by completing Special Itineraries.
• Special Itineraries are offered for those students who would like more challenge and who would like to delve deeper into various countries and cultures.
• Students working at any level may complete Special Itineraries.
• Students can also submit their own Special Itinerary projects that demonstrate special work related to geography, culture, and foreign language. Click here for some ideas.

Remember to check out the Special Itinerary (SI) bulletin boards in the cafeteria each month for great visual displays that contain the answers to the activities. Special Itineraries are a great way for your child to learn more about one country on each month’s check list. There will be several copies of the Special Itinerary handout at the bulletin board or you can print them out using the link at the top of this page. At each Check Day, there will be a small prize for completing a Special Itinerary project.  

Questions about Special Itinerary?  Contact:  [email protected]

Passport Awards

Students who successfully complete their grade level or above for each month between September and May will receive a certificate of recognition at the end of year. Students who successfully complete Levels 1 through 5 and 9 Special Itinerary Projects will receive special acknowledgement at the end of year assembly. 

Passport Presentations in the Classroom

All first grade teachers and many 2nd-5th grade teachers welcome in-class Passport Presentations to help reinforce and motivate their students’ Passport geography lessons. Become a Passport Club volunteer and present on a country in your child’s classroom during the year!

Check out the classroom Presentations that Puesta del Sol parents have created and graciously shared with the Passport Club. Please keep in mind that these presentations have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Passport Club or PTA. Feel free to download a copy and then make changes or additions as you like. If gross errors are discovered, please email [email protected] with your corrections so we can update the master files – thank you!

Passport Study Resources

At the beginning of each school year, students new to Puesta del Sol and incoming first grade students will receive the Passport Club map packet. The packet includes general information, a blank laminated study map, and a study guide for each month’s itinerary. We encourage families to save the study map packets and re-use them each year through 5th grade. If your child needs a new map packet, please email your child's name and teacher to [email protected].

You can access the map packet online:

Passport Club Maps - Download guide

If you need the PASSWORD to access the Passport Club Maps, please send an email request -- including your child’s name and teacher to confirm that you’re from our school -- to [email protected]. The Passport Club Maps are copyright protected and should NOT BE SHARED with others outside our school.  Thank you for your consideration.

In 2013, Bob and Chris Manning bought the Passport Club from its founder, Olympia teacher Lynn Erickson. Over the past couple of years, they have been updating materials and expanding resources. We encourage parents to check out their website. The Mannings have created monthly Pinterest boards, have a presence on Facebook, have a resource-filled newsletter, and produce a monthly on-line quiz kids can use to test themselves.

Passport Volunteers

Passport is an amazing PTA-sponsored activity because of all our parent volunteers! We couldn’t run the program at Puesta without so many of you! If you’d like to help check students once a month, please email [email protected]. It’s a fun way to meet other parents, interact with the kids, and see what Passport Club is all about. We use Sign-Up Genius to manage our volunteers. The schedule will be posted quarterly.  We train new volunteers each month and pair them up with experienced checkers. If you would like to come observe before you check, just let us know via email.

How can every parent help with Passport Club?

• Practice with your child -- a few minutes a day is all it takes.
• Help with Check Day or other Passport Club activities and preparation.
• Give a Passport Presentation on a country to your child’s class.  Past Presentations
• Complete or create a Special Itinerary project with your child or his/her entire classroom.
• Please send your ideas or any questions to [email protected].
• Email us at [email protected] to volunteer with Passport Club today!