The Flat Stanley Project

July 23, 2009 by FranStephenson •

The Flat Stanley Project Web Site

Yesterday, I shared my personal Flat Stanley story. We’ve had plenty of them at SeaWorld over the years, but I had no idea that an entire community has sprung up around this well-traveled flat person.

The Flat Stanley Project is a volunteer effort by Canadian schoolteacher Dale Hubert, who was looking for a way to engage his special needs students and integrate computer skills by building web sites. Dale has been reaching out with

Flat Stanley since 1995 and has kept the project going through a few grants and sponsorships.

The site is impressive – Flat Stanley at the Obama inauguration ball, Flat Stanley with Willie Nelson, Flat Stanley at the Pyramids of Egypt. There was even a Flat Stanley aboard the “Miracle on the Hudson” flight, the one that crash landed in the river, earlier this year. Any teacher or person who participates in the Flat Stanley project can register their experience on the Flat Stanley Project Web site.

I was intriqued, so I wrote to Dale to see what made him start the project. He took time during his family vacation in Scotland to share his story.

“I was going to teach Grade 3 for the first time and wanted to find an authentic and meaningful way to encourage students to write,” Hubert said by e-mail. “As far as I know, it’s one of the very few sites to have lasted 15 years and one of the very, very few literacy, community and interactive sites with such a long history to have survived.” (Historians please note: The Flat Stanley Project pre-dates social media by a decade).

When asked how many Flat Stanleys have traveled the globe, Dale couldn’t give an accurate answer, but said that by now “literally millions of people have heard of Flat Stanley either directly through my Flat Stanley Project or through some connection to it.”

Dale would love to see more Flat Stanley adventures registered on his site. So teachers, moms and Flat Stanley friends, please register your flat person’s adventure. I’m going to register my experience with Flat Josie, my “paper niece,” later this week and our team will keep posting to the Flat Stanley Project every time a new flat person arrives at SeaWorld San Antonio.
For the community, Fran
P.S. Dale Hubert is looking for ways to keep improving the Flat Stanley Project site. Take a look and see how you can help this wonderful project.