Unit (FLAT STANLEY COMES ALIVE) Overview

Flat Stanley is an excellent book for beginning novel readers. It provides a bridge between picture books and early novels. The book is a great read aloud or a good choice for an independent reader.

This unit was done in a self contained classroom and some days we spent the entire day on the project.

The story "Flat Stanley" served as the basis for this project that improved student's letter writing and geography skills through drama, reading, writing and research.

Story Summary:
Flat Stanley is a humorous tale of a boy who becomes "flat" when his bulletin board falls on him. Stanley realizes that there are several advantages to being flat, such as the ability to slide under doors, through bars, and yes, being mailed in an envelope for long trips. Stanley's older brother becomes jealous of him, and Stanley offers himself to his brother as a kite. The best part of Stanley's "flat" period is when he is able to catch some thieves in the local museum. People eventually begin to make fun of Stanley, and he tires of being flat. A solution is found by his brother. His brother uses a bicycle pump to make Stanley round again.
 
 

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Unit Objectives

SUBJECT ONE (Language Arts)
State Goal-3 CAS-A, CFS-4 and 5

Through the study of the book "Flat Stanley", students will learn to write letters and address an envelope to a friend or relative, who will write back.

Students will complete a story map by recalling and sequencing the events in the story.

Students will colloborate and use the basic drama skills of mind, body and voice to dramatize Stanley's adventures.

SUBJECT TWO (Social Studies)
State Goal -17, CAS and CFS- A,1 and B1, and C1

Students will use the returned letters, photographs, and other interesting mailings by placing a push pin on a map to track Stanley's travels.

Using a large map, students will develop an understanding of cardinal directions, distances, and locations by tracking, graphing, and recording Stanley's travels in their portfolios.

Unit Outline


Week One
Activities/Lessons

• As a class, read and discuss the story Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.
• Each child will receive his own Flat Stanley paper doll to mail anywhere he/she wants.(Stanley will visit this person for about a week).
• Each child will learn the parts of a letter and write his/her own letter to a friend or relative.
• Students will address their own envelopes to mail their letters and Stanley dolls
Drama Lessons
• Throw a ball to develop concentration (see lesson)
• Pass the pencil to develop imagination (see lesson)
• "I lost my lunch" to speak clearly in front of a group (see lesson)

 
Week Two
Activities/Lessons
• Complete a classroom story map of events that took place in Flat Stanley.
• Students will sequence the adventures that Stanley had in the story independently.
• Write a newspaper article about Stanley.
• Drama integration lesson with Jackie Samuels.
Drama Activities
• Character walk focussing on emotions of characters in the Stanley story
• walk like a jealous person, scared, angry. Students can form one large circle around the room or they can do small groups walking around their desks.
• Students individually imaged what it would be like to move under the door.
• Students in groups acted movements under the door, flew like kites, into a sewer grate, in a picture as a shepardess.
• Group acted out ways of portraying Flat Stanley (one group was FS-- one person might be the arms, another the legs or the head).

 
Week Three
Activities/Lessons
• Drama integration lessons with Jackie Samuel.
• Students will act out the scenes of the story in small cooperative groups.
• Students will be videotaped during the performances.
• Students will view video at home with family members to assess performance.
Drama Activities
• Students worked on choosing who would be the leader in the group.
• Students started to work in small groups to act out a situation which appeared in the story. Each group was given a scene from the story.

Week Four
Activities/Lessons
• Drama integration lessons continue with Jackie Samuels.
• Students will orally give a class presentation sharing their Flat Stanley adventure.
• Reading letters sent by those who have taken Flat Stanley to new places.
Drama Activities
• Students finished working in small groups to act out a situation which appeared in the story (see previous week).


Week Five
Drama Activities

• "Prove It." Students in groups had to act out the context of a scene. Tell students a fact (draw from piece of paper See attached list of facts) students have to act out the scene that proved a statement. Students provided the context for the statement. Example: fact: "mother lost her ring". Students act out the scene from the book where the the mother lost her ring down the sewer. Students add details and props and describe setting.


Week Six
Activity/Lesson

• Student Assessment :
• Students will complete an assessment answering questions about characters, plot, problem, and conclusion of Flat Stanley.
• Students will complete a post-test on creative drama techniques and tools used during lessons.
• Students will be videotaped to evaluate comprehension, sequence and recall of story events.
• Students will be assessed on cardinal direction using a map and a globe.
• Students will track Stanley's travels by graphing the different locations.


All assignments should be kept together in portfolio. 


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Lesson Plans
 
 



Reporting on the Whereabouts of Flat Stanley










Subject One (Language Arts) Objective(s):

• Students will exhibit engagement in reading by responding to text orally, in writing and/or through the arts.
• Students will write with focus, coherence, and clarity.
• Students will speak clearly and coherently in formal and informal settings.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Subject Two (Social Studies) Objective(s):
• Students will demonstrate a basic understanding of direction, size, shape, distance, relative and absolute location, and other geographical representations.
• Students will use maps, globes, graphs, photographs, other geographic tools and technology to acquire, process, and report information about Chicago and other places and regions in the United States.

 
 
Subject Three(Drama)
• Students will demonstrate the ability to use appropriate volume and pitch when speaking aloud.
• Students will use appropriate audience/listener responses.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vocabulary
bulletin board
flat
jealous
rude
grate
round-trip
blushed
trousers
swoop
museum
expensive
disguise
thieves
sensational
capture
pump
 
 
 
 

Materials List
Book: Flat Stanley by: Jeff Brown
Flat Stanley paper doll
envelopes
stamps
large U.S. map
hand-outs/work sheets
video camera
video tape
computer/internet
 

Lesson Procedure Outline:
Introduction
Read the story again, orally to the class. Discuss all the adventures Stanley was able to have just because he was flat. Students could imagine being Stanley for a day.
What would it be like to be flat for the day?
Would you like to be flat for the day?
Why or Why not?
What could you do?
What couldn't you do?
 

Body
By using the information they learned, students will sequence the events and outcomes in the story. Students will write and illustrate the adventures Stanley had in the story.

As a class, students will create a story web to follow the story sequence. Students can pretend to be news reporters covering the story about the museum robbery and write the news story for the paper.
 

Conclusion
Students will imagine that the character, Flat Stanley is real. They will write letters to Stanley asking him questions that relate to the story events. These letters can actually
be sent to Jeff Brown, the author of Flat Stanley.

Each student will orally present their Stanley project to the class and display the paper doll, letter, photos, etc. on the U.S./world map on the hall bulletin board where the whole school can see Stanley's travels.

In the end, Students will break-up in groups of 6-8. They are given a specific event from the story in which they act out for the class. The groups are given about 20 minutes to assign characters and practice their performance. After each group has performed, the class critiques the performance and the groups perform again in front of the camera.
 

For more information:
check out the Flat Stanley Project at:
http://flatstanley.enoreo.on.ca/index.htm
here you will find an introduction from Jeff Brown, a list of participants from
all over the world, and photos of Flat Stanley with many famous people.
 

Extension Activities

Social Studies

• Create travel brochures
• Time line of mail service
• Plan a field trip to the Post Office

 
Science
• Study the climate of cities visited
• Use Yahoo/AOL to chart weather daily
• Experiment blowing balloons up with a bicycle pump--compare difference in sizes.

 
Math
• Estimate the distance Stanley traveled
• Measure actual distance traveled
• Measure distance between cities
• Measure height and weight of students and compare to the size of Stanley
 
Language Arts
• Predict Stanley's fate if he were to stay flat 
• Suggest ways Stanley can adjust to his new state of being flat
• Write a new adventure for Stanley
• Prepare a photo album describing Stanley's adventures
• Make a suitcase for Stanley to take on his adventure
• Write a tourist's itinerary for Stanley's trip

Character Ed

• Help students develop an understanding of their feelings and the feelings of others
• Role play to show examples of positive character traits
• Suggest ways the characters in Flat Stanley could have been more caring and kind to Stanley

Resources

TEACHER REFERENCES 
Brown, Jeff (1972). Flat Stanley: New York: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc. 

STUDENT BOOKS 
Required Books: 
Brown, Jeff (1972). Flat Stanley: New York: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc. 

OPTIONAL BOOKS
Brown, Jeff (1983). Stanley and the Magic Lamp: Harper Trophy Publishers. 

Brown, Jeff (1983). Invisible Stanley: Harper Trophy Publishers. 
 
 

• Chicago Connection Resources

Click here to visit a Cybrary that Chicago sites.

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Project

Activity in MediaSpace
View student photos of Flat Stanley's travels and students acting out scenes from the story.
 

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Assessment
 

Objective one 

Evaluation Ideas 
Students will be assessed on comprehension by completing a list of questions from  events take place in the story of Flat Stanley.
A portfolio of all the activities completed on Flat Stanley. 
 

Objective two

 Evaluation Ideas 
 A post-test of Creative Drama techniques and tools. 

     Video-tape of story events.