St. Vincent's ?Flat Stanley' visits Congress, travels afar

Intermountain Catholic

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Senator Orrin Hatch and ?Flat Stanley.? photo courtesy of St. Vincent School

SALT LAKE CITY — Senator Orrin Hatch helped teach Saint Vincent’s second graders geography and language arts by welcoming their world-traveling friend "Flat Stanley" into his Washington, D.C. office.  Second graders were tickled pink to receive a photo of Senator Orrin Hatch with Flat Stanley in Washington along with a letter from Hatch.  Katherine Kranz, a second grader at St.Vincent’s School, thought Hatch’s office would be a place they could learn a lot, so off Stanley went.

St. Vincent’s second grade teacher Rhea Hristou has incorporated "Flat Stanley" into her geography and language arts curriculum for the last 10 years. "Flat Stanley" is a fictional character the students learn about by first reading the book "Flat Stanley" by Jeff Brown. They learn how Stanley accidentally becomes "flat" and all the advantages Stanley finds when being flat, one which is being able to travel the world via mail, inexpensively, in letter form.  Over the course of two months, Hristou uses this story and has her students color Stanley, mail him out with a letter to people they know across the United States and the world, and then wait for responses via mail from where "Flat Stanley" has gone.  When Stanley returns back to Salt Lake, the students use their geography skills by putting pins on a world map marking all the places Stanley has been.  In addition, students read the letters to the class explaining what Stanley did while visiting a new area.

This year "Flat Stanley" not only made it to Hatch’s Washington, D.C. office, but he also visited over 30 States in the U.S., and went to China, India, Peru, Poland, Taiwan, and Malaysia.    

Hristou does a fantastic job teaching with such kid friendly projects such as "Flat Stanley," only one of many that won her "2007 Teacher of the Year" award in the Catholic Diocese.