Meet
Dale
Hubert, Creator and Designer of the Flat Stanley Project.WHAT'S
IT ALL ABOUT?
The idea for this project
originates from the adventures of the main character in the book "Flat
Stanley" by Jeff Brown. In the book Stanley is a little boy who gets
squashed flat when his bulletin board falls on him. In spite of this
he leads a very "full" life and has many interesting adventures including
being mailed in an envelope to visit a friend. This unique idea has
prompted hundreds of readers of this book to begin sending Flat Stanleys
to the author and to other people. Many teachers have seized the
opportunity and have used Flat Stanleys to motivate their students to write
and share experiences with others.
The main purpose of
the Flat Stanley project is to encourage children and teachers in schools
around the world to interact with each other to exchange information about
different cultural backgrounds and/or geographical regions.
HOW
DOES IT WORK?
The best part of this project is that teachers can choose or create any activities they wish for their students in conjunction with exchanging flat visitors with other schools. To receive Flat visitors from other schools, join the project and add your school's name to the list of flat schools. To send Flat people to other schools, contact one from the list and make arrangements with the classroom teacher. The possibilities for multi-graded, curriculum connected, fun-filled activities are endless.
FLAT
STANLEY NOVEL STUDY UNIT
CREATED BY JOAN GROVER
Chapter 1 WRITING A FIVE W'S POEM
In chapter 1 Stanley becomes flat. Write
a FIVE W's poem telling how this happened. You do not have
to write sentences.
Line 1: Who it is about
Line 2: What is happening
Line 3: Where it happened
Line 4: When it happened
Line 5: Why it happened
Here is an example of a five w's poem:
MATILDA WALDNER
WAS LATE FOR SCHOOL
AT HER COLONY
YESTERDAY
BECAUSE SHE FELL ASLEEP
Write a FIVE W's poem about how Stanley becomes flat.
Who? ___________________________________________
What? ___________________________________________
Where? __________________________________________
When? __________________________________________
Why? ___________________________________________
Chapter
1 Art Activity
When the doctor measured Stanley he was four feet tall, and about a foot wide. Get a long piece of paper and have a friend trace around you while you lay down on the paper. Cut out your body shape and use construction paper to make your clothes. Try to make your paper clothes match the ones you are wearing today. Measure your paper body and write how tall and wide you are on a piece of paper. Put your name on your paper. Then attach it to the bottom of your paper self!
Example
FLAT GEORGE STAHL
150 cm tall
30 cm wide
(Teachers: Display everyone's
flat body on the wall in order from shortest to tallest.)
CHAPTER
2
1. When Stanley got used to being flat, he enjoyed it. He could go in and out of rooms, even when the door was closed, just by laying down and sliding through the crack at the bottom.
Think of all the neat things that you could do if suddenly you woke up tomorrow and you were flat. Write a story about your adventures starting when you woke up in the morning.
"THE DAY I WAS FLAT"
CHAPTER
2 LETTER WRITING
In Chapter 2 Stanley receives a letter
from his friend Thomas in California. Pretend that you are Thomas
and write the letter that he sent to Stanley. In your
letter tell Stanley about all of the fun things that you will be doing.
You might want to find out some interesting things to do in California
before you write your letter.
Dear Stanley:
From your friend Thomas
CHAPTER
2 QUESTIONS
1. Why do you think that Arthur
was jealous of Stanley?
2. In three or four sentences tell how Stanley helped his mother in Chapter 3.
3. What did the policeman think that Mrs. Lambchop was playing with?
4. What does the sentence 'people should think twice before making rude remarks' mean?
5. What things did Mrs. Lambchop place in the envelope with Stanley?
6. Why didn't Stanley get a ticket on a plane or a train?
7. Why was Mrs. Lambchop nervous about Stanley going to California?
8. When did Stanley take his trip to California and where was he going to stay?
SENTENCE
WRITING
When I first got in the envelope I felt
___________ and _________________.
The first thing I did was ______________________.
Next I ______________.
After a while I felt ____________________.
Finally ________________.
CHAPTER
3 QUESTIONS
1. Mr. Lambchop liked to take the
boys out with him on Sunday afternoons to a park or to a museum.
What do you do on Sunday afternoons?
2. What did Mr. Lambchop worry about the most on these afternoon trips? (pg. 17)
3. How did Mr. Lambchop solve his problem ? (pg. 18)
4. What did Ralph Jones think Mr.
Lambchop was carrying with him?
5. Why do you think Arthur tried to make
himself flat too?
CHAPTER
3 ORDER OF EVENTS
Number the following events in the order that they happened in the story.
_____Arthur tries to make himself flat.
_____Stanley got stuck in a tree
_____Mr. Lambchop takes the boys out for the day
_____Stanley would not speak to his brother
_____Arthur flew Stanley like a kite
_____Arthur apologizes to Stanley
DIARY
WRITING
Pretend that you are Stanley. Write
what he would have written in his diary or
journal about his adventures in the park.
Make sure you tell how you felt when you
were a kite and when you were trapped
in the tree.
Dear Diary,
I had the most amazing day. Arthur
and I went to the park. ______________
CHAPTER
4 QUESTIONS
1. Who was Mr. Dart and where did
he live?
2. Why was Mr. Dart upset at the beginning of the chapter?
3. Name two reasons why the museum was hard to guard. (pg 32)
4. Using a piece of white paper draw
a picture of the famous painting in the
museum. Use page 34 and 35 in your book
to help you. Make sure your drawing is
like the one described below:
"The painting showed a bearded man, wearing a floppy velvet hat, playing a violin for a lady who lay on a couch. There was a half -man, half-person standing behind them, and three fat children with wings were flying around above."
5. What did Stanley want to wear in the picture? (pg. 36)
6. List 4 things that Stanley wore for a disguise. (pg. 36)
7. How did the thieves get into the museum? (pg. 41)
8. Why did Stanley get mad at the thieves?
9. Did Stanleyís plan to capture the thieves work?
10. How was Stanley rewarded
at the end of the chapter?
FLAT
STANLEY - ENDING ACTIVITY
Title of the Book______________________________
Author of the Book____________________________
Illustrator___________________________________
Publisher___________________________________
Illustrate your favorite scene from the book on a separate sheet of paper.
The
Ending: Chapter 5
1. Reread the last chapter of the book. Write at least 5 sentences telling how the book ends.
2. Could the story have ended differently? Think about a new ending for the book. Instead of using a bicycle pump what else could Arthur have used? Rewrite the end of the story starting from the part where Arthur gets his good idea. Use this as a beginning:
And then, suddenly, though he was
not even trying to think, Arthur had an idea...
VOCABULARY
STUDY TO ACCOMPANY NOVEL UNIT
(CREATED BY ANGELA PIFFER)
VocabularyWords:
Chapter One:
politeness (pg. 1)
enormous (pg. 2) examination (pg. 5)
experience (pg. 5)
marvel (pg. 5)
altered (pg. 5)
Chapter Two:
jealous (pg. 7)
grating (pg. 10) cuckoo (pg. 10)
apologized (pg. 11)
rude (pg. 11)
recently (pg. 11) realized (pg. 11)
valuable (pg. 15)
fragile (pg. 15)
Chapter Three:
jostled (pg. 17)
volumes (pg. 21) manage (pg. 22)
soared (pg. 24)
probably (pg. 24)
wedged (pg. 26) tangling (pg. 26)
patient (pg. 28)
Chapter Four:
director (pg. 29)
ordinarily (pg. 29) museum (pg. 31)
excitement (pg.32)
permission (pg. 33) explained (pg.
34) disguise (pg. 35)
disgusted (pg.37)
cleverly (pg. 38)
supposed (pg. 38) absolutely (pg. 40)
especially (pg.40)
Chapter Five:
pleasant (pg. 48)
impossible (pg. 49) regular (pg. 50)
brave ( pg. 51)
rummage (pg. 52) bulged
(pg. 53) inside
(pg. 54) strode (pg. 55)
occasion (pg. 57)
tiring (pg. 57)