Waldo has nothing on Flat Stanley.
Waldo, the well-traveled little guy who hides in the most obvious places, probably will not make it to President-elect Barack Obama’s Inauguration Platform on Tuesday, but Flat Stanley will.
No, Flat Stanley is not some yellow and black paper-thin tool used for lifting chewing gum up off a floor. Although, if you ask St. Patrick School third-grade teacher Lori Robbins, she may tell you it is a paper-thin tool she is using to teach children about geography, math, creative thinking and handwriting.
“Flat Stanley is a cross-curricular template we use to help students with lessons,” Robbins said Friday afternoon.
“Boys and girls in our class each prepared a Flat Stanley that they sent to friends and family members,” Robbins said. “And, no, the girls could not make Flat Stanley into a Flat Sarah,” she mused.
Children in Robbins’ class have read a book called “Flat Stanley,” by Jeff Brown. Students cut Flat Stanley from a template and color him to suit them or the locations they intend to send him.
The book is about a young boy named Stanley who “is accidentally squished as flat as a pancake” when a bulletin board falls on him. Stanley is very flat but otherwise fine.
The story goes on to tell how Stanley discovers some real advantages to being flat. He can slide under doors, go down into sidewalk grates, and even fold himself up small enough to fit into an envelope and be mailed to California for vacation as author Brown describes or to Washington, D.C., for the Inauguration of President Obama, as 8-year-old Ben Leach did with his Flat Stanley.
Ben’s uncle is Bob Tapella, the Public Printer of the United States. Tapella will be seated on the Inauguration Platform right near the Supreme Court Justices.
Tapella’s status is a rather dubious one, a post that was once held by Benjamin Franklin.
Tapella is the CEO of the Government Printing Office, and he oversees a $1.2 billion in government printing jobs, of which about half are printed by the governement and the other half is contracted to private printing companies.
“We print just about everything but the money,” Tapella mused Thursday afternoon.
Asked about young Ben Leach, and Tapella said “he’s the youngest nephew of my sister’s children,” he said of Lisa and Dave Leach’s third-grader.
“They were out to visit this summer, and I gave him a tour of D.C.,” Tapella said. “I think I was just on his mind. Although, I think it’s pretty cool he thought of me. I spoke to their class the last time I was in Rolla,” Tapella said.
Tapella said he’d carry Flat Stanley to the Obama Inauguration, and Ben colored him dressed for the occasion, in a tuxedo.
“I’m taking him. He’s coming with me to the inauguration,” Tapella said.
Part of Ben’s assignment is to send explicit instructions on how to care for Flat Stanley.
“Dear Uncle Bob, My class is having a cool project. It’s is called Flat Stanley.
“Here are ways to take care of him. He will eat most anything, but he is allergic to cheese. He can only play video games two hours in the morning, but at night he may tell you different,” Ben writes.
“He can not watch inappropriate movies, and his bedtime is 10:00 p.m. Wake him up at 11:00 a.m. He likes to watch basketball.”
Love, Ben ... the letter concludes.
For his part, Tapella must reply on a separate prepared sheet how he cared for Flat Stanley and then send him back to Ben.
All students in Robbins’ class are doing the project and each will subsequently send their Flat Stanleys to two subsequent locations.
Logan, one of Ben’s classmates, sent his Flat Stanley on a sky-diving adventure. Another, Rachel sent her’s on a ski trip, and a third student, Jared, said his Flat Stanley “can only cook stuff.”
Ben just thinks his uncle Bob is “pretty cool.”
Lisa Leach said it’s important for children to get excited about their studies.
“It’s a great lesson for the students, and they’re excited about it” Leach said. “It’s a chance for students to learn about different places all across the country and even abroad.”
For Robbins, it’s just the second year her students have used Flat Stanley as a teaching technique.
“It’s a great project,” Robbins said. “It can stretch throughout the school year.”