After looking further at the two Flat Stanley books, we realized that it would be difficult to finish both of them within the four weeks. Here is what we plan on doing now then:
We’re going to just work with Flat Stanley. The reading requirements for each week are,
Week 1 – Predictions, Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2 – Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3 – Creating A New Chapter and Chapter 5
Week 4 – Wrap-Up; Final Reflections
Just before reading Chapter 5, we’d like each of the classes to create their own additional chapter for the book where they discuss a different Flat Stanley adventure. The class can write this together as a shared writing activity, students can work individually or in partners to write their own, and/or the students can use a variety of recording options (e.g., AudioBook, VoiceThread, Vocaroo, or Audacity) to record a chapter in the “oral tradition.” These chapters can be shared via blogs, Edmodo, or even the Wikispace. Other classes can then comment on the different chapters too. This is a way for students to read their own writing and the writing of others as well!
Through Weeks 3 and 4, students can also work on creating Flat Stanleys to mail to other classes involved in this project. They can write letters or stories to accompany their Flat Stanleys. Classes can either send one or two Stanleys per class or each student can send out individual Stanleys as almost a pen pal activity. It’s up to you! There’s a link on the Wikispace where you can sign-up to be involved in these exchanges too.
Please remember that throughout this read aloud project, students can discuss the themes and events in the book through Edmodo, blog posts, VoiceThread, Skpye, the Wikispace, and any other tools that you wish to use. The possibilities are endless!
Since there are many classes interested in continuing this connection for Stanley in Space, we thought that we would do this book after Flat Stanley is complete. For those people that want to participate, they can continue to use Edmodo, blog posts, VoiceThread, and Skype to reflect after reading the different chapters in this book. Here is our chapter breakdown for this book too:
Week 1- Ch. 1, 2, and 3 – this includes the call from the president, meeting the president to discuss going into space, and then actually boarding the spaceship and heading off (Ch. 1 and 3 are quite short).
Week 2 – Ch. 4, 5, and 6 – this includes the Stanley’s adventures in the spaceship, landing and meeting the Tyrrans, and touring the village (including the run in with Captain Ik).
Week 3 – Ch. 7, 8, and 9 – this includes President Ot discussing the problem with Super-Gro, Stanley coming up with an idea of how to save the Tyrtans, and the Tyrrans getting weighed to see if they can all fit in the spaceship on their way back to earth.
Week 4 – Ch. 10 and 11 – this includes having the Tyrrans board the spaceship to head back home with Stanley and his family, and the President welcoming the Tyrrans to TyrraVille 2 (on the tennis court) until the Tyrrans can head back to TyrraVille.
The Global Read Aloud 