Lit Block Blog

Flat Stanley, written by Jeff Brown, is about a little boy who wakes up one morning to find that he has been flattened by his board that fell on him over night. Stanley starts to discover that he can do some pretty amazing things that other children can't. He even get's to mail himself across the country to California. Stanley begins to go on lots of adventures such as, catching thieves, retrieving jewelry, and even being a kite. I would use the flat Stanley book as something that could be a first day of school activity. I could mail all of my students a flat Stanley or flat Stella over the summer and give them directions explaining to decorate their flat Stanley's or Stella, and to take them on adventures. They can either take pictures of all the places they go with their Stanley or Stella, or they can write about the adventures they went on. The first day of class they will share with the class everything they did together over the summer. This would be a great ice breaker and a great way for you to get to know your students. You can also display your students Stanley or Stella on the bulletin board for everyone to see, or you could have your students put their names on Popsicle sticks and then glue their Stanley or Stella to the sticks and use those as ways to call on students, or organize them into groups. I would use this for grades first through third.