Geography lesson #2

Flat Stanley. Do you know the book? A bulletin board falls on and flattens a child but leaves him otherwise fine? And he finds that being flat has a few advantages, among which is being able to fold himself to fit into an envelope to mail to CA for a vacation ...

So over on the site where I found the postcard exchange I also saw an idea about using Flat Stanley to help kids with geography. It reminded me of when someone here had a bear for a school project and it was mailed from place to place ... Hope! That was the bear's name. Not sure she ever made it back, but I hope she did!

We can create our own 'Flat Stanley' or 'Flat Stella' (we're gonna use a picture of Sayer for the face and have a 'Flat Sayer') and mail it around to see where it goes and what adventures it has and the sites it sees.

The site where I found (ie stole :) this idea suggested sending Flat Stanley out in or with a small 'travel' journal or with a form to be filled out by his 'host' family. There were also suggestions of the kinds of questions to be on the form, or for the hosts to log in the journal. Stuff like:

What is the weather like in your city?
How big is your city/How many people live in your city?
In what state/country is your city located?
What are local sports teams/sites of interest/events in your city?
How far is your city from my city?
Are there regional foods associated with your city?

Here is a sample form to send with your Stanley.

There was a suggestion that you send your Flat Stanley dressed for your location, and have the host family re-dress him in clothing appropriate for their location. So if I sent a Flat Stanley to Erin in AK, he might be wearing paper jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. And when she sent him back, he might be wearing snow boots over his pants and a paper parka and hat! :) There were also suggestions of dressing him using paper or fabric scraps or other imaginative things ... just so that he is still flat and fits in an envelope :)

You could also ask the recipitant if they would consider taking some pictures (with Stanley and them in the picture) of where they took Stanley and email (or mail) them to you and you could add them to Flat Stanley's larger 'home' journal (ie scrap book).

Other things that a host family might send back with Flat Stanley might be local leaves, coins (if it's a foreign city!), stickers, post cards, local menus, etc.

It's set up such that Flat Stanley is sent out to a host family for a week-long-ish 'vacation' after which it returns home, so there is no chance of loosing several visits worth of forms or journals or extras if it is misplaced or lost in the bowels of the USPS. So after each trip Flat Stanley comes home and you'd get to discuss with your child where he'd been, what he'd seen and done, add the pictures and postcards and extras to the journal or scrap book, then send him out again.

This is the sample letter they suggested using for kids to send to the host families to explain the project.


Dear ____________________________,

I am taking part in a very fun and exciting project about a character from a book, Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. In the story, the main character, Flat Stanley, was flattened by a bulletin board. Although he wasn't hurt, he became flattened. When he wanted to go to California to visit some friends, his family folded him up, put him in an envelope and mailed him to California. What a way to travel!

To help me learn about our world in a new way, I am mailing Flat Stanley to you. I hope you will be a gracious host and show Flat Stanley around your town or city during his time with you. Please write about the places Flat Stanley visited and things you did together in Stanley's journal. Send the journal, Flat Stanley and any pictures you may have taken or postcards you may have collected, back to me after a week long visit. In the middle of the journal is a map. Please color in the state where you live. I can't wait to hear about Flat Stanley's "adventures" with you!

Thank you for helping me with this project. I wish I could fold myself up and visit you too!

Love,

Please send correspondence to:
(child's name)
Street Address
City, State zip

I'll probably get Sayer to work on her doll next week and send it to her cousins in Tucson. After that, though, I'd love to have some EM hostesses for our Flat Sayer :) Anyone else? I'm sure Sayer and Duncan would love to show some Flat friends around our neck of the woods :)