Huron Expositor, 2006-06-21, Page 10Pose 10 June 21, 2006 • The Huron Expositor
News
FIatStanley.takes Seaforth Public, St. James
students to locations around the world
Ben F o r r e s t
Grade 2 students at Seaforth
Public and St. James School have
been exposed to the traditions and
characteristics of a number of loca-
tions around the world thanks to a
little paper cutout named Flat
Stanley.
Stanley is- a fictitious character
from a series of children's books who
is "squished flat by a falling bulletin
board," according to flatstanley.com.
In the original Flat Stanley book,
the title character is able to travel
through the mail to visit friends
around the globe.
Using this premise, a number of
elementary school teachers since
1995 have undertaken the Flat
Stanley Project, which sends paper
versions of Stanley to foreign loca-
tions, seeking information about the
areas in which Stanley ends up.
Each paper version of Flat
Stanley was accompanied by a let-
ter and a journal page that allowed
the recipients of the SPS and St.
James mailings to recount the vari-
ous activities Stanley was
"involved" in while "visiting" other
locales.
Students were encouraged to find
the addresses of people they know
outside of Canada, or at least in dif-
ferent cities or provinces.
They began the project in January
and have been receiving a number
of responses ever since.
"It's been pretty great," said
Jennifer. Hewitt, one of the Grade 2
teachers at SPS.
"(The purpose is) to promote our
social studies program. Part of the
curriculum is finding out about tra-
ditions and cultures from all over
the world and within our own area.
It's kind of a fun way to do that
instead of looking at textbooks all
the time."
SPS students sent Flat Stanley to
places all over the United States,
Germany, England, Holland, Mexico
and Egypt, to name a few.
Returned mail has included pack-
ages with photos, postcards, maps
and letters, Hewitt said.
"It's been a nice way for (the stu-
dents) to see that even though peo-
ple are different in some ways all
over the world, that we're still kind
of the same," she said.
"We got incredible packages back
with just tonnes of stuff — way
more than I ever expected," she
said. "I've done it in the past, but we
got an amazing response this year."
The response was just as over-
whelming for the Grade 2 students
of St. James School, says teacher
Marg Pavkeje.
Grade 2 teacher Mike Lobb sits with students from left
Brandon Williamson, Megan Harrison, Brandon Lindeman and
Ethan Kropf as they display Flat Stanley and some of his
adventures at Seaforth Public School(above) while at right, St.
James student Kristy Metzger is with Flat Stanley at a dance
competition in London
She says her students sent their
Flat Stanley to South Africa,
Portugal, Scotland, Cuba,
Dominican Republic and Italy, to
name a few.
"The participation was absolutely
amazing," says Pavkeje. "I couldn't
believe how small the worlds got-
ten."
Perhaps the most extraordinary
development in this year's project
was that one of the Flat Stanley
mailings from SPS ended up in the
hands of MXP, a motocross maga-
zine. The magazine published a full-
page set of photos with Flat Stanley
with various motocross personali-
ties.
The project was full of other sur-
prises, however.
"I think in every (returned pack-
age) we actually found out some-
thing that we were kind of sur-
prised at," said Hewitt.
She added that learning about an
area near Nunavut was likely the
experience that struck her students
most.
"It's a very different part of
Canada," she said, but students
were able to look on a map and see
that Nunavut, different as it is, is
still part of the same country where
SPS students reside.
Some of the souvenirs that were
sent back to St. James students
include fridge
magnets from
Portugal, coins
from the
Philippines, a
cotton plant and
some red soil
from Georgia and
chocolate from
Switzerland.
Mike Lobb,
another of the
Grade 2 teachers
at SPS, noted
that one of the
school's mailings
ended up in
Switzerland and
the package
'returned allowed
the students to
have an experi-
ence of the Swiss Alps that they
wouldn't have had otherwise. -
It would seem that Stanley has
seen more of the world in the past
six months than most of us, will in a
lifetime. Thanks to him, Seaforth
area students can say the same
thing.
"The Grade 2s learned many
things from Flat Stanley's travels.
The same themes kept repeating
themselves everywhere he went,"
says Pavkeje.
"No matter where in the world
that you travel or live, we may look
and act differently, but we all need a
place to live, clothes to wear, food to
eat and someone to love."
Pavkeje says her students had no
idea they would learn anything
from sending a cut-out Flat Stanley
around the world, but it turned out
they did.
"It was fun and turned out to be a
great way to learn about the world."
For more information about the
Flat Stanley Project, visit www.flat-
stanley.com.
With files by JefHeuchert