Flat Connor

Earlier this spring, Connor's 2nd Grade class at WoodCreek participated in a fun project. Mrs. Sartor read the children's book called Flat Stanley, which tells the story of a boy who is suddenly flattened when a bulletin board falls on him and then he discovers all sorts of cool things he can do since he is flat. After reading the book, the kids were asked to mail their own "Flat Stanley" to a friend or family member. You know, because Stanley is flat and can therefore travel by mail. :-) The person they chose would then be asked to take their Flat Stanley on all sorts of adventures and then send back a report that could be shared with Connor's class. What a fun and creative idea!

Connor wasted no time in deciding who he should send his Flat Stanley character to. He ultimately decided that he wanted to send him to Nana and Grandpa Spencer because they live in California, and Connor was convinced that Stanley would have a lot of fun there!

Well, let me just say, Connor made a great choice because Nana and Grandpa took this assignment very seriously! They researched the Flat Stanley character, they called Mrs. Sartor and got more details about the project, and they even added their own creative twist to make Connor's result more fun.

Here's the final report that Nana and Grandpa sent to Mrs. Sartor:

Flat Connor’s Excellent Adventure in California

 
When Ms. Sartor’s 2nd grade class started their Flat Stanley project, Connor Courtright decided to send Flat Stanley to California to visit his grandparents.  So, Flat Stanley flew on an airplane from Houston to San Francisco…about two thousand miles.  But Flat Stanley didn’t see much on the airplane since he was inside an envelope which was inside a mail bag.

Nana and Grandpa Spencer were excited when Flat Stanley was delivered to their mail box.  They decided to turn Flat Stanley into Flat Connor.

(Pics #1-2)  Flat Connor liked his Grandparents’ townhouse and he visited their pet parakeet, who is white and named Frosty.   Frosty is very old for a parakeet (9 years old) and he was nervous when Flat Connor stood by his cage and Frosty squawked loudly at Flat Connor.

Grandpa took Flat Connor for a walk around the Richmond Marina where he and Nana live.  (Pic #3)  The City of Richmond, California sits next to San Francisco Bay and the Richmond Marina is where people dock their sailboats.  An Italian restaurant (Pic #4) has a nice view of the San Francisco Bay, and Flat Connor was interested in the green sail on the catamaran sailboat. (Pic #5)

Flat Connor stopped at the Rosie the Riveter Memorial (Pic #6), which honors all the women that worked in factories during World War II.  Nana’s town house is in the background.  During his walk around the Marina, Flat Connor saw Canadian geese, seagulls, and pelicans.  Grandpa mentioned that swimming in San Francisco Bay are grey whales, sharks, bat rays, harbor seals and salmon.

Flat Connor then got a ride in Grandpa’s car (Pic #7) for some sightseeing.  The first stop was at the Berkeley Marina with views of the Berkeley fishing pier and the Golden Gate Bridge. (Pics #8-9)  The famous Golden Gate Bridge is actually orange-colored and it separates the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay. 

Across the water is the San Francisco city skyline. (Pic #10)  San Francisco has about eight hundred thousand people, compared to Houston which has two million people.  And San Francisco is much smaller in area than Houston.  Actually, Houston and the San Francisco Bay are about the same size in area.

The Bay Bridge (Pic #11) goes from Oakland to San Francisco and is one of the busiest bridges in the United States with two hundred forty thousand cars, trucks, and buses going across every day.  This bridge was damaged during the 1989 earthquake that was felt all around the Bay area (6.9 Richter).  And it stopped the 1989 World Series game #3 between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics.  Both Nana and Grandpa felt this strong earthquake, but it didn’t damage their townhouse.

Flat Connor then stopped at a bakery in Berkeley (Pic #12) to check out their famous San Francisco sour dough bread.  Then he helped Nana pick out some fresh produce at the grocery store. (Pic #13)  And Grandpa decided to cool off Flat Connor in the ice cream freezer. (Pic #14)

And just before he left California, Flat Connor got a scary ride on a huge merry-go-round. (Pic #15)  Nana and Grandpa will miss Flat Connor, but hope that he will have a nice story to tell his buddy Connor and Ms. Sartor’s 2nd grade class.

 

THE END!

Wow! I'd say that Nana and Grandpa get an A+ on their Flat Stanley assignment! I just love how they shared such neat landmarks in their pictures, even throwing in some history and culture along the way. They totally hit it out of the park! Awesome job!

To finish out the assignment, Mrs. Sartor read all of the returned projects out loud to Connor's class. Connor said his classmates got a real kick out of Flat Connor, ha! Then, the culmination of the spring project was the 2nd Grade Field Trip to the Flat Stanley musical presentation at Houston's Theatre Under the Stars followed by a picnic lunch.

Mrs. Sartor sent this pic of Connor in the lobby of the musical production theatre.

Enjoying a picnic lunch after the musical.

What a fun semester-long project for the kids! And we are so thankful for Connor's awesome grandparents, who submitted such a well-planned and thoughtful project in support of our 2nd grader. He is one lucky (Flat) Connor!