Flat Stanley Fun!

Book Loving Boys is hosting a virtual Flat Stanley exchange!  What a great idea, right?  My first instinct was to sign up to do this with Peanut but now I think I'm even going to sign up with one of my students as well.  I love the idea of Flat Stanley in general.  I think he's an elementary school staple that all kids should get to participate in at some point.  In case you aren't familiar with this fun-loving flat-man, Stanley is a boy who accidentally gets flattened when the bulletin board above his head falls on him one night.  His parents aren't sure what to do about it so he stays flat.  Being flat, he can travel all over the place by just being folded into an envelope.  Many teachers and students color their own version of Flat Stanley and mail them to friends and family all over the world, waiting to get back pictures of him visiting fun places and doing fun things.  Pretty cool, huh?

I think the mail aspect of the whole thing is super fun...but I think that's because I love getting mail.  I love how this can easily become a lesson in writing friendly letters, addressing an envelope, and even geography.  Virtually, this becomes a lesson in technology...how we scan material, how we attach it in an e-mail, how we compose an e-mail, how we download a file, how we upload pictures.  Seeing your own Stanley in faraway places is pretty awesome and learning about different places around the world becomes exciting and fun.  It never occurred to me that this could be done virtually, but now that I've read how it will work it all makes sense!

Last night, Peanut and I made our trip to the library and picked up Flat Stanley.  I went with the original version but I just found out they also have a picture book edition!  That might be more up our alley, although last night at bedtime we did read chapter one and Peanut was following along and thought it was funny that he was flattened!

Besides the original chapter book, the picture book (above), and the sequels: Stanley, Flat Again!, Invisible Stanley, and Stanley in Space, there is now an entire series based on Stanley's adventures starting with the first one: Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures #1: The Mount Rushmore Calamity and continuing now through six books, with the seventh coming out in April of 2011.  

If you want Flat Stanley, you got Flat Stanley!  Here's the link to the Flat Stanley Project page for more information.  Want to join up for the virtual Flat Stanley fun?  You can find out more about it and sign up at Book Loving Boys but hurry, because you have to sign up by February 20th, 2001.

Who's in?  Have you read any of these books?  I haven't read the adventures series yet so I would love to hear what you think.  Have you read and done the Flat Stanley project with your class before?  Any ideas or suggestions for making it successful?  Thanks for sharing!