Flat Stanley

This past school year Ella’s first grade teacher (the fabulous Mrs. Harris) read the students a book called Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  The book is about a young boy who gets flattened when a bulletin board falls on him.  Seriously…I don’t make this stuff up.  After he gets flattened he gets mailed all over the place to have adventures.  The children then made their own Flat Stanley dolls and mailed them to someone they know who lives far away.  Ella mailed three flat Stanley dolls…one to my cousin Anna and her husband Steve in Madison, Wisconsin, one to my cousin Brian in Dublin, Ireland, and one to my Uncle Tom in Washington DC.  Her Stanley dolls had some fun adventures and then were mailed back to her school with postcards, letters, maps, pictures, books, and more.  My cousin Brian’s package just happened to arrive on St. Patrick’s Day!  This wonderful literacy-based lesson helped the students learn about the world around them, as each Flat Stanley package was shared with the students as they arrived.  Ella got such a kick out of this project.

Ella has been a bit blue because her daddy has to go on a business trip this week and will be out of town for her birthday.  While he was packing she came out with one of her Flat Stanley dolls and asked him to take him along on the business trip so she would know what was going on during his trip. Michael packed Stanley and the digital camera and away they went. Stanley has already checked in with Ella via pictures on the cell phone, and she was so tickled by that.  I thought this was a fabulous idea that she had, and thought I would share it with my friends, in case they have a trip coming up and a sad child.