Capsun's Corner – by Capsun M. Poe

Flat Stanley eating a plate lunch from Kakaako Kitchen

Here’s some background information on Flat Stanley:

Stanley Lambchop is flattened when a big bulletin board (which Dad gave Stanley and his younger brother, Arthur for putting pictures and posters) falls on him in the night while he is sleeping. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is sliding into rooms through the opening at the bottom of closed doors and being kind to his younger brother by playing as a kite for him. Stanley even helps catch some art museum sneak thieves by posing as a painting on the wall! But one special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope.

The Flat Stanley Project provides an opportunity for students to make connections with students of other member schools who’ve signed up with the project. Students begin by reading the book and becoming acquainted with the story. Then they make paper “Flat Stanleys” (or pictures of the Stanley Lambchop character) and keep a journal for a few days, documenting the places and activities in which Flat Stanley is involved. The Flat Stanley and the journal are mailed to other people who are asked to treat the figure as a visiting guest and add to his journal, then return them both after a period of time. The project has many similarities to the Travelling gnome prank except, of course, for the Flat Stanley Project’s focus on literacy.

One of my co-workers brought Flat Stanley to the office because her husband agreed to serve as a host family.  So on his one day visit, we did a bunch of things:

• Flat Stanley learned about Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines
• Flat Stanley learned about Kau Inoa and Native Hawaiians
• And most importantly, Flat Stanley got to enjoy a plate lunch from Kakaako Kitchen

While we didn’t have time to do it, we were planning to create a girlfriend for him, dubbing her Flat Leilani.  This project didn’t go past the brainstorm phase because we couldn’t find an artist on such short notice.  But that would have been hilarious.

This visit by Flat Stanley was such a fun project and I hope someone sends something like this again.  It really does remind me of pen pals from elementary school.  Maybe if my fiancee teaches an older, more appropriate grade, I can encourage her to take this on as a project.  And some of our other co-workers were visited by Flat Stanley in previous jobs.  The most interesting was the one who was an Air Force officer and took her niece’s Flat Stanley in a fighter jet – now that’s an interesting story worth writing about!

Do you know of other projects that promote learning like this, but for a Kindergarten audience?  It might be great for my fiancee to use in her class.

Note:  If you are my friend on Facebook, pictures that accompany this post are available in my “Flat Stanley Visits the Office” album.

Mahalo!

Tags: flat stanley