Flat Stanley

I hope this is helpful!
We made big bulletin board in the hall. I made an oversized Flat Stanley on posterboard and we used the overhead to draw a giant map. We hung up each Stanley as they came in and stretched yarn from Stanley to the place where he'd visited.

:s):s):s) tracing template

Go to http://www.flatstanley.com/ and sign up to have your name on the list of participants. You may choose someone from the list to send your Stanley too and you may also receive requests from others that want to send their Stanley to your neck of the woods. If you choose to send it to relatives or anyone else, super! It's all up to you. I've never displayed what's come back from a Stanley. I just pass it around for the kids to take turns looking at. There are probably some suggestions at the website though. I've been meaning to let each kid make a Stanley and choose a state to send it. Maybe next school year. Good luck!

I had my students send their Flat Stanleys to a relative (preferably the one who lived farthest away, or in an interesting place). We wrote letters explaining the project, and sent SASEs along with Stanley so that he could be sent back along with pictures, maps, letters, etc. We received some very interesting things and learned so much about our country and our world. Stanley was pictured with Santa, Yoda, riding a camel, making dinner, riding a roller coaster in the West Edmonton Mall, etc. One recipient even created a website for our Stanley.

We mapped where Stanley went, calculated how far he had travelled (the equivalent of 3 trips around the world...), and graphed the countries he visited.

Once we were finished, we wrote thank you letters to his "host" and gave them a copy of the information we gathered.

My kids loved this project and insisted that I read the rest of the Stanley books...there are quite a few.

Hope your project is a great success! If you would like, I can e-mail you the letters we sent along with Stanley. Unfortunately, my Stanley template is a photocopy.

Melissa

The way we got started was just by reading the book and getting to know Stanley. When we got to the part where Stanley gets mailed to his friends house, I had my principal come down to our class with a special delivery! It was a huge envelope! Inside was a Flat Stanley that we had made using the overhead (about 4 feet tall!) I wrote a letter that introduced Stanley as if he was talking. It said that I had invited him to visit the class, and that he was very excited to be here with us. It also had Stanley's idea that we would make Flat Friends to keep him company. The students then created there own Flat Friends and named them. We sent the flat friends home to learn about their parent's occupations. They are now almost all returned and ready to go out on their next adventure. It has been fun and exciting so far!

HI! My 4-6th grade special ed. class did Flat Stanley last year and it was a great success. Each student had a Stanley they sent out. I would love to host a Stanley from your class and would love to send you a Stanley us! We live in southern Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
I would also be interested if anyone else would like to participate with us.
We kept a bulleton board in the hall with a map of the U.S and one of the world. We put little Flat Stanleys from every place we received mail. The whole school would stop and check out our board. Also, we have a Flat Stanley web page and each student has a page to post information about the travels of their Stanely. Each student also keeps a scrap book with the mail and pictures they receive.
Please email me if you would like to have our address and web page address!

Dear friend,
I am a third grade teacher from the United States.
I live in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Our current Social Studies/Core Knowledge unit is of Canada.
I have taught 18 years and this is my first year to do the Flat Stanley project. Would you be interested in sending Flat Stanleys to America and we could send some to you? We would love to have pictures of your beautiful country and learn all we can about it.
Please respond as soon as you can. Thank you for your time.
Gretchen Rideout
Raymond Orr Elementry
Fort Smith, Arkanasas
3rd grade

I used to do "Flat" at the beginning of the year as an introduction. It gave me an opportunity to see their writing styles and to start the year off with something fun. It also told me a little about the child. There will always be a child that cannot find someone to write to for their project. I suggest the President. They send out a nice package. Last year was eventful. Some of our Flat letters were at the White House during 9-11. Needless to say our Superintendent questioned receiving mail from the White House. It all worked out nice and the superintendent even became involved in the process. This year I am going to send out the letters in connection with Letter Writing. Hope this helps.