Ms. Denise Varboncoeur with her third grade students, Viktor Tuparov, and Kristin Healey prepare to send their Flat Stanley's to Vietnam from Seagate Elementary School.

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For third-graders in Denise Varboncoeur’s class at Seagate Elementary School, the world is flat thanks to a cooperative grant from the Education Foundation of Collier County.

With a goal of promoting international awareness and global learning, “Ms. V.,” as she is affectionately called by her students, begins her Flat Stanley tour of duty, each fall, by reading “Flat Stanley,” by Jeff Brown.

The 1964 children’s book details how Stanley Lambchop wakes up one morning to find he has been flattened in a bulletin board accident. Now totally squashed flat, he then begins to realize the benefits of being flat, including the ability to be mailed anywhere in the world.

He quickly jumps into many amazing adventures. With his ability to travel anywhere, the opportunities are endless.

After reading the story, students begin to assemble their own Flat Stanley, whose travel adventures they will follow throughout the year.

Flat Stanleys from previous classes have been able to gain an audience with Queen Elizabeth, meet President George Bush and travel to the 2000 Olympics, in Sydney, Australia.

“He also went to Ireland six years ago for St. Patty’s Day and made a visit to a class in Canada,” she says, pointing to a photo of Stanley with a class of Canadian students in Ontario.

All of Varboncoeur’s Flat Stanley journeys have been neatly organized in an album. She says the project is exciting for her students and brings geography and awareness of communities throughout the world, through postcards, gifts, and letters.

“It’s kind of exciting and I like sending them off,” student Viktor Tuparov explains, as he readies Flat Stanley for a trip to Vietnam.

On the flip side, the return trip is what Kristin Healey looks forward to. “I like getting the stuff from his trip. It’s like Christmas,” she explains.

During Flat Stanley’s adventures, students write letters to his host or hosts, who accompany him to lands as far away as Norway and locales closer to home, such as Las Vegas.

Hosts are asked to take photos of Stanley at various hot spots in the country or state they are visiting, and then return him safely to the student who designed him, along with a postcard and some small souvenirs from the trip.

“Sometimes we do not get him back for a while,” Varboncoeur explains. Some Flat Stanleys have found their way back Seagate Elementary a year later. No matter when he returns, Stanley’s travels give global learning a whole new meaning.

To learn more about Flat Stanley visit www.flatstanleyproject.com.