Suppose you were only half an inch thick and could travel by mail. Where would you go? What would you do? Whom would you see?
These were questions asked by Stacey MacDonald’s second grade class at Leonard Elementary after finishing the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.
In the story, Stanley is flattened by a bulletin board in the middle of the night and awakens to find he is only half an inch thick. The creative youngster decides to visit some friends in California, so his parents put him in an envelope and mailed him across the country. Stanley enjoys his adventures and his parents can’t wait for his return to hear of them.
“My second graders absolutely adored hearing this story,” said MacDonald. “As a classroom project, the students made their own Flat Stanleys in class and decided with their families whom they would mail their own Stanley to.”
The students wrote letters with a summary of the book and explaining that Stanley was sent as a guest to have a big adventure. The hosts were asked to write down everything Stanley did in a journal, possibly including photographs, and mail him and his adventures home after one or two weeks.
The second grade students took a trip to the Leonard Post Office before Christmas break and mailed their Stanleys across the U.S. and even to Germany. After break, several of the students received letters and a few of the Stanleys returned home.
“I enjoyed the project a lot because you get to make your own Stanley,” said Robby Theobald. “I sent him to my grandma and grandpa in Texas. He must be having fun because he’s still gone. He’s going around to a lot of places like the grocery store.”
Zachary Kessler sent Stanley to Tennessee to visit his cousin.
“He made hot fudge while there and when he got there they made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” said Kessler. “He must have ate it because it didn’t come back with him.”
Some of the many activities other Stanleys have written home about include going to bingo, Alan Jackson’s home, bike riding, skateboarding, the hospital and New Year’s Eve parties. Jaclyn Comparoni’s Stanley took a trip to the beach with her grandma and grandpa in Florida.
“He got buried in the sand,” she giggled. “I sent him to them because they are the farthest people away that I know. They go there during the winter.”
“I thought it was pretty cool to do this because you can send him anywhere you want,” said Haley Astrino, who sent her Stanley to visit a friend in Hawaii. “He got covered with flowers while seeing my friend.”
As the letters arrive at school or the Stanleys return home, the students share the journals with the class and then attach them to a map of the U.S. hanging outside the classroom.
“The rest of the school is then able to read the letters and see the various places Stanley has visited,” explained MacDonald. “As the students wait for more letters, they are already discussing other family members and friends who Stanley may visit next!”