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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 2009 32 Adventures with Flat Stanley A couple of months ago, on a particularly bad hair day when I was feeling cranky and over- worked and annoyed at a great number of things, the U.S. Postal Service delivered a small, flat package from my friend and cousin-by-marriage Suzanne. Marked “do not bend,” the package contained a note from Suzanne, a letter from a little girl named Rachel (another once-or-twice-removed cousin-by- marriage), and a funny looking, laminated, grinning paper doll named Flat Stanley. The two notes accompanying the winsome- ly grinning Stanley explained that he was part of a third grade school project Rachel was working on, a project that had originated with a book titled Flat Stanley and authored by someone named Jeff Brown. The title character, as one of the notes explained, was a boy “who became flat when a bulletin board fell on him.” Initially saddened by this rather horrid experience, Flat Stanley eventu- ally began to see some advantages to begin flat. Turning adversity into opportunity, he discovered he could “fold himself up in an envelope and mail himself to visit friends and family in faraway places.” The note from Rachel further explained that the project was a way to help the children in her class learn about geography, landmarks, and people. The note from Suzanne explained that Stanley had already traveled to cousins in North Carolina and Annapolis before arriving at my place. And I was hooked. To begin with, the package had brightened up an otherwise gloomy day, turning a crabby witch into a smiling and mission-oriented participant in one of life’s unexpected Wow moments. The first bit of fun was calling cousin Suzanne to let her know Stanley had safely arrived at my digs and the effect his arrival had had on my mood. Among other things, we discussed how awesomely clever this project was and what a wonderful teaching tool it was — not only in terms of geography, landmarks, and people, but also in terms of culture, diversity, and history. We also raved about Stanley’s intriguing potential for making learning fun and engaging as well as a means of teaching children that bad breaks can be turned into interesting challenges and opportunities. Having spent many years as a teacher, I was more than a little impressed at the ingenious methodology some other teacher had come up with, and I was determined to help Stanley fulfill his mission — with a vengeance. Per the instructions from Rachel, all notes, cards, photos, letters and other items attesting to Stanley’s whereabouts were to be mailed to participating children in care of the school, where they would be read and displayed and shared with classmates. Sensible arrangements that safeguard the students while make learning a class experience. Because Flat Stanley arrived at my home just before Christmas, the first thing I did was to send a Christmas card from the two off us, describ- ing our hunt for the perfect Christmas tree as well as our lame efforts at baking cookies and singing Christmas carols. I noted that Stanley wasn’t particularly good with the latter activities — he made a mess of my kitchen, sang off-key, and kept forgetting the words to “Jingle Bells.” (Rachel’ s dad later informed me that my card was a big hit with the class —the kids all thought Stanley’s culinary and musical inadequacies were quite funny.) The next day, Stanley and I toured Phila- delphia. We visited and sent cards from Indepen- dence Hall, the Betsy Ross House, and the Liberty Bell, jotting down a little history and a little funny comment about each site. Our last stop was Philly’ Art Museum where Stanley ran up the steps like Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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