Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Hometown Tourist - Flat Stanley Visits NYC


My sister-in-law is an elementary school teacher and asked for my help for one of the kids in her class. Apparently, her students are learning about different communities in other states, and she was hoping that I would help one of her students who wanted to study New York. NO problem, except I didn't realize that I would have to tote around a friend...a paper friend that is.

My sister-in-law's students are learning about different states through the eyes of Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley is a children's book series that follows the global travels of a little boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board (sounds a little violent, LOL!), and his new easy to maneuver shape allows him to travel all over the world. The book has developed into a wonderful teaching tool for opening up the world of travel, geography and diverse notions of community life to kids.

Since I was running around doing some errands one day in Manhattan, I took Flat Stanley with me and snapped some pictures of him in places that someone might want to visit during their first time in NYC. I think Flat Stanley enjoyed it, too.

Here's what we saw and did that afternoon:

Flat Stanley reads the paper on the subway.


Flat Stanley liked seeing Radio City Music Hall from the outside.


Flat Stanley was a little disappointed to not see too many people ice skating when we passed by Rockefeller Center.


Flat Stanley in front of the New York Public Library. He wanted to see where Carrie Bradshaw was supposed to get married, but I hurried him along. Uh...I had to finish my errands!



Flat Stanley in front the of the Flatiron Building

I think I enjoyed my afternoon with Stanley waaay too much, but I love the idea of teaching kids about how others live in different communities. Here's a link with more information about the Flat Stanley Project. :)

If and/or when I have a child or two, one of the things I hope to instill in them is a wonder and awe for the larger world and a thirst to know how others live.

Were there any books, tv shows or school projects from your childhood or teen years that made you interested in travel, geography or different communities?

4 comments:

Alice said...

That's a neat lil project! In fourth grade, we all had to select a different U.S. state and write a report about them (population size, major textiles, industries, etc.), but we couldn't use the internet so we had to write letters to that state's Dept of Tourism, Senators and Representatives, etc. to obtain information for our project!

Unknown said...

What a great idea!! I love that Flat Stanley is interested in the World and Carrie Bradshaw! :) I really Loved Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego tv game show on PBS. Still cant believe the actress Lynne Thigpen from that show passed away.

lavenderpug said...

that's adorable. flat stanley seems like a good companion.

BigAppleNosh said...

Oh my goodness, this is the cutest thing! :)

 

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