Children's Book Series Flat Stanley Summer Project



Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2008

by Janell Carmody
llenajenterpriseLLC

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Flat Stanley. My children came home from school one day raving about a character they had learned about in school called Flat Stanley.

In a nut shell, the story about Flat Stanley is that he was flattened by a bulletin board that fell. (Don't get upset yet, it turns out ok!) Anyway, so Stanley, who is a cartoon type character by the way, can do all these really cool things now, that he couldn't do before he got flattened. For instance, his mother dropped her ring down a vent, and Stanley slipped right in and got her ring back. Not only can he do all this cool stuff, he uses his new flatness to help people whenever he is able. The most interesting thing about Flat Stanley is that he has become somewhat of an icon, standing for good values and responsibility.

 Each child was given their very own Flat Stanley to color anyway they choose. They were cut out and sent home with an optional summer assignment. The assignment was to keep Flat Stanley all summer long and allow him to have the same experiences as the child who brought him home.

The children are encouraged to take photos of Flat Stanley and write about his new experiences. When the children return to school, of course, so does Flat Stanley, along with photos, memory books, journals, videos, etc. of all of Flat Stanley's adventures. They can share them, not only in class, but also on thte school website.

This is a wonderful project for many different reasons. It encourages responsibility, because they have to keep up with Flat Stanley ALL summer. It helps children be good, because Flat Stanley always goes with them reminding them to be helpful like he is. It gets the children excited about going back to school, because they have something fun to look forward to, whether they personally chose to do the assignment or not.

I will be helping my children document Flat Stanley's adventures as we go through the summer. As of right now, we plan to put each in the form of short story. At the end of summer, I will probably compile the adventures and pictures into a children's book. I have not decided if we should use actual photos of Flat Stanley, or if it will be illustrated by hand drawn pictures. Either way, it should be a fun, interactive project that the whole family can enjoy.

I would love to here your feedback. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please post them on my blog at http://llenaj.squarespace.com



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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by straight talk
 4 years 2 days ago.
112 fans. Follow straight talk on twitter!
I guess one has to go through the approval process to get these type of books into schools? Now some of the worst seem to have no difficulty yet oterhs well for whatever reason never make it through the process. It depends on the school system, location, etc. Good reading. thanks i'll pass it to some of my teacher friends.
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