Building Cultural Competency with Flat Stanley

by Assistant Head of School for Academics David Long

Galloway's faculty does an amazing job of intentionally designing learning experiences for their students that are meaningful and create lasting learning. The Flat Stanley unit in kindergarten is an excellent example of this approach.

After reading Jeff Brown’s classic book Flat Stanley as part of the class’ community unit, each student designs his or her own flat person to be sent to a family member or a friend. Students then write a letter to their flat person's recipient describing who they are, their age, what school they go to, and what they like to do for fun. As they learn how to address and mail their letter, our kindergartners also learn all about the post office! 

After the class sends their Flat People out on their adventures, the kindergarten curriculum integrates Flat Stanley across all subject levels. As they track the travels of their flat people, students learn about geography in their social studies unit; so far, this year’s Flat Stanleys have traveled to states like Alabama, Mississippi, and New York! In math, students learn how to measure both themselves and Flat Stanley using UNIFIX cubes. In English, students work on their writing skills as they write a reflection on what they have learned.

The culminating activity takes place when all of the Flat Stanleys are returned to Galloway, although sometimes a grandparent wants to keep their flat student. Once the Flat People have made their way back to Galloway, each student shares about their family and the travels of their Flat Stanley. This is just one way our incredible teachers build community and cultural competency among our young learners!