Flat Kathlyn, a paper doll visiting Bunabumali
This is a unique project derived from a popular American school kids networking experiment, Flat Stanley.
Kathelyn is the grand daughter of one of Ben’s relatives in America and her school participates in the project. That’s how I came to take the pictures of my home town featuring the paper doll. Instead of sending the paper cut back the the US I decided to send it to Norman, so it can be used to connect African kids to the rest of the world, simply by taking a picture of Kathelyn like I did, and send her over to another school in the area. Kath’s African journey has it’s own website
Here’s the basic idea…
In 1995, Dale Hubert, a Grade 3 teacher in London, Ontario, Canada, began the Flat Stanley Project. He invited other teachers to take part by hosting flat visitors and to encourage their students to write their own Flat Stanley journals.
One of the many advantages of sending flat visitors is that they can visit friends by travelling in an envelope. Students’ written work goes to other places by conventional mail and e-mail. You can check out the Flat Stanley List of Participants to see where you can send a Flat Stanley or who might be sending a Flat Stanley to you, but the best way to arrange exchanges is through the Bulletin Board. After completing the Teacher Application form you’ll receive a username and password that will allow you to login to the Bulletin Board.
Students make paper Flat Stanleys and begin a journal with him for a few days. Then Flat Stanley and the journal are sent to another school where students there treat Flat Stanley as a guest and complete the journal. Flat Stanley and the journal are then returned to the original sender. Students can plot his travels on maps and share the contents of the journal. Often, a Flat Stanley returns with a pin or postcard from his visit. Some teachers prefer to use e-mail only. Especially creative hosts send the Flat Stanleys back with pictures, souvenirs, stories and reminders of the visit.
Before sending a Flat Stanley to anyone on the List of Participants or on the Bulletin Board, be sure to send an e-mail first, to ask if it’s OK. Some classes become overwhelmed with all the little flat guys.
The Flat Stanley Project is a penpal activity- but it’s far more than that, too. By sending a Flat Stanley it’s as if the senders and the recipients have a mutual friend- a little flat guy they can both talk about.
