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Project exposes students to other states, countries, lifestyles
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
One group hails from an urban school while the other is rural. One is in second grade and the other in sixth, and one is mostly black while the other, mostly white.
They were united through a flat little guy.
Second-graders at Horizon Science Academy completed a Flat Stanley project Friday and got to meet some Leetonia sixth-graders who participated in the project.
“Flat Stanley” is a book by author Jeff Brown about a boy who becomes flat after a bulletin board above his bed falls on him while he’s sleeping.
“Other than being flat, he’s fine,” said Vickie Allison, a Horizon Science Academy second-grade teacher.
Second-grade teacher Heather Patton's students also participated in the Flat Stanley project.
Flat Stanley soon discovers the advantages of his new dimension: He can slip under doors and into sidewalk grates and slide into an envelope to visit people who live far away.
The book turned into a project for students across the country and beyond. Horizon students decorated one side of several Flat Stanley cutouts and sent them to family and friends in other states.
Recipients decorated the other side of the cutout and photographed Flat Stanley in various locales and activities and sent the photos back to Horizon Science Academy.
“He went to far-away places,” said Andriana Williams, 7, who sent her Flat Stanleys to Seattle and Alabama.
The Horizon Science Academy second-grader pointed on a poster board explaining her Flat Stanleys’ travels. They visited civil-rights sites in Birmingham and the field where the Seattle Seahawks play.
She said it was fun, and the best part was making the Flat Stanleys.
“They did one side, and we did the other side,” she said.
Second-grader Thomas Kpakra, 7, is proud of his Flat Stanleys too.
“I made them myself,” he said.
Teniya Redmond, 7, a Horizon second-grader, sent her Flat Stanleys to New York and Louisiana, and he visited Turkey, too.
They returned dressed as a pirate and a baseball player.
She also enjoyed the project.
Allison said the Flat Stanleys visited 86 families in 19 states, the District of Columbia and six countries including Canada, the Bahamas, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Horizon also sent Flat Stanleys to more people in more places including Hershey, Pa., a Crayola crayon factory and children’s authors Jan Brett and Robert Munsch.
They also went to Leetonia Middle School.
Marcia Bable is a sixth-grade teacher at Leetonia. Her son’s girlfriend teaches English at Horizon and asked her to allow her class to participate.
Her students enjoyed the project, too.
“They took Flat Stanley around the house, to 4-H meetings, and we took pictures of what we do in school,” Bable said. “They’re so excited.”
Kadence Zickefoose, 11, a Leetonia sixth-grader, was looking forward to meeting the Horizon student to whom she sent her Flat Stanley.
Kadence photographed Flat Stanley a various attractions around Leetonia and Columbiana and hung him on her family’s Christmas tree.
“It was really fun,” she said.
The Leetonia students stayed to have lunch with their Horizon second-graders.
Allison said her students had been looking forward to meeting the older students.
“They have a list of questions they’ll be asking,” she said. “They’re interested in learning about living in the country and about what 4-H is.”