One of our nephews, Jakob, is in second grade and his class has been reading the story, Flat Stanley, by Jeff Brown. In the story, Stanley Lambchop's parents mailed him in an envelope to visit a friend in California. Jakob's class thought it would be great to send Flat Stanley on more adventures, and wouldn't you know it, he made is all the way to the great, fantastic, superduperfragilisticexpealidocious CONNECTICUT!
Jakob asked us to tell him and his class all about where we live and what we did with Flat Stanley on his visit, so without further ado, I give you:
Flat Stanley: The Connecticut Chronicles
Since Flat Stanley came to visit us in Connecticut, (also known as the Nutmeg State), he has gone on some fun adventures with our family and even met some Connecticut celebrities.
On the first day, Flat Stanley went to work with me at the University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford, which is the state capital and fondly known as the Hartbeat.
UConn Law is the premiere public law school in New England and its beautiful campus used to be a seminary. My job at the law school is to help students develop the skills they need to find jobs helping people as lawyers. In this picture you can see the law library in the background, which houses thousands of books about laws from all around the world.
In the picture below, Flat Stanley is hanging out in front of Starr Hall, the building where I work. If you look up on the right hand corner of the picture, you can see the Starr Hall tower. I'm not positive that Harry Potter lives there, but I think there's a distinct possibility.
On the second day he was with us, Flat Stanley went to another school, but this time to a high school, where Jakob's Uncle Geno is a school counselor. (Here's a fun fact: Not only did Geno graduate from New Britain High School, but so did Jakob's dad, Ricardo!) New Britain High School is the largest high school in all of Connecticut and is known for its awesome marching band and most recently, for having the National Principal of Year, Mike Foran. Here's a picture of Flat Stanley hanging out with Geno and Principal Foran:
On the third day, Flat Stanley asked to spend some time with our family, so he hung out with Jakob's youngest cousin, Mateo. When he gets bigger, Mateo wants to be like Jakob and have his own Flat Stanley!
On the fourth day, our family took a hike on Case Mountain, a small mountain in Manchester, CT that is 744 feet in elevation. We hike to the summit of Case Mountain in the spring, summer, fall and even winter. Sometimes we drive, but sometimes we even walk to the mountain, by connecting through a trail called the East Coast Greenway, an urban trail system over 3,000 miles long that links Key West, Florida to Calais, Maine. (Ask your parents to take you to the Hudson River Greenway in NYC, which is part of the trail system!)
The picture below is of Flat Stanley with us on our hike up to the summit of Case Mountain. (Unfortunately Flat Stanley was playing hide-and-go-seek with us that afternoon, so he had to come along virtually.)
On the fifth day, Flat Stanley had one of his most exciting adventures in Connecticut. Geno took him to see the amazing, stupendous, strong, fast, talented, hardworking champions, the University of Connecticut Women's Basketball Team, the Huskies. You may have heard of this record-breaking team, because they won 90 (!!!!) basketball games IN A ROW!
Here's a picture of Flat Stanley with Geno at the XL Center in Hartford where the Huskies play most of their games. (Sometimes they play at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT, where the University of Connecticut is located.) (Here's another fun fact: Geno and Jakob's dad both graduated from UConn as well!)
And speaking of guys named Geno, Jakob's uncle isn't the only guy in Connecticut with this name. It's also the name of the Huskies Hall of Fame coach, Geno Auriemma. In Connecticut, Coach Geno is as well known and respected as just about anyone you can imagine. There's even a sign in the town of East Hartford that says, "Geno is God!" (I told you, people really like this guy!)
Well, as luck would have it, Coach Geno invited Flat Stanley to visit him at his house! Here's a picture of Flat Stanley with Coach Geno, who even signed the back of Flat Stanley's head. (Thanks again to Coach Stigliano, Uncle Geno's friend and Coach Geno's son-in-law!)
As you can tell, Flat Stanley had a really busy trip to Connecticut, and we loved hosting him. Thanks to Jakob, Class 2-C and Mrs. Cleaver for sending Flat Stanley to us!
Go Huskies!
-Nicole, Geno & Mateo
2 comments:
What a great job you did taking Flat Stanley around your town for the week. My nieces both did this project but our school doesn't do it and I was sad. It is such fun!
Dear Uncle Geno, Aunt Nicole and Mateo,
We loved reading and seeing Flat Jakob on his adventure in Connecticut. It was also fun seeing Flat Jakob on the Iphone! We can't believe he got a signature from the Huskies coach on his head. Jakob is going to bring it in tomorrow to show our class.
As we were reading, it felt like we were actually in Connecticut.
Flat Jakob reported that he had an awesome time visiting Connecticut!
THANK YOU!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Cleaver's 2nd Grade Class
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