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Do you ever wish that you could travel in an envelope to a different place?
Some students at Bradt had the chance to mail themselves — or versions of themselves — out to different parts of the country and around the world through the “Flat Stanley Project.”
The book “Flat Stanley” by Jeff Brown, is about a character named Stanley who was squashed flat when a bulletin board fell on him. Because Stanley is flat, he can do things that he could never do before, like slide under doors and cracks on the street, become a kite, and even be mailed in an envelope to different places.
Each class that participates in the Flat Stanley project shares the same adventurous concept, but puts its own twist on it.
 In Laurie Welch’s second-grade
class (shown at right), her students were learning about different communities as part of a Social Studies unit.
After reading “Flat Stanley,” they made flat paper versions of themselves, called “flat kids.” Throughout the year, students send the flat kids to their pen pals at Watervliet Elementary School, to their classmates’ houses for sleepovers, on trips with Ms. Welch, and to troops overseas to find out what it is like in another place.
One of Welch’s students, Curt Roscoe, has an uncle, Staff Sergeant Stephen Sieck, who is away in Iraq. In December, the class sent a letter along with five flat kids, a disposable camera to capture their adventures, a journal to record their findings, and supplies such as baby wipes, and toothpaste to Sieck’s troop.
“This is the second year that flat kids were sent to troops overseas, but this is the first year that the class got such an overwhelming response,” said Welch.
Sieck sent a package back to the class with four disposable cameras full of photos, a detailed letter, a folded flag that the troop flew over one of their planes, stickers, and a class certificate.
Melanie Weinlein’s first-graders color in “Flat Stanley’s” and send them out, along with letters, to family and friends around the country. This year, one student is mailing a letter to a friend in New Zealand!
 The project ties in with many academic areas — reading (reading “Flat Stanley” book), language arts (letter-writing), social studies (mapping) and mathematics (charting mailing costs).
Weinlein has done this project with her classes for four years now. In past years, a student made a paper teddy bear to go inside the letter so that Flat Stanley didn’t get lonely. Another student created a paper flashlight to be mailed with the letter, just in case Flat Stanley was afraid of the dark.
“This is the first letter that students are learning to write this year, and they’re so excited about it,” said Weinlein. “They really take ownership and responsibility for where Flat Stanley is going, and when they get the letters back, it’s like the world stops.”
Each student gets a letter back, usually with photos of Flat Stanley on his adventures. Sometimes students will even get a box of memorabilia, such as sand and shells if Flat Stanley went to the beach.
Weinlein is anticipating their letters to be mailed out on Jan. 22 to places in New York, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Virginia, New Jersey, Washington and New Zealand.
We hope Flat Stanley has some wonderful adventures!
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