Hello Again, First Graders!

 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

My Thanksgiving in Florida!

Hi Kids!

Guess where I am?  I am in Florida with Mrs. North and Dr. Appelgren and their family.  They invited me to spend Thanksgiving with them.  Isn't that nice?  I am having so much fun!    When you get this letter, you will be back in school after Thanksgiving vacation, so I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving with your families.  Did everyone eat lots of turkey?  I did!

Here is a picture of me at Thanksgiving dinner

 Yum yum!  Does my dinner look like yours did?  I bet that we had a lot of the same foods!  A lot of you asked me about if the foods and traditions are the same in Florida as in Rock Hill.  As you can see, the food is the same. Have any of you been to Florida before?  Can you find it on the map?  When you find it, you can see that it is another state in our country.  There is only one state between South Carolina and Florida.  Do you know what it is?

Four of you asked about a beach. When you look at the map, you can see that Florida must have a lot of beaches.  Some are on the Atlantic Ocean like the beaches in South Carolina, but some are on the Gulf of Mexico.  Can you find the Gulf of Mexico on the map?  I am in the middle of Florida so there is no beach here but there is a pretty lake!  Here, I will show you a picture:

 We took a boat ride on this lake. It is called Lake Padgett.

 

Ellison asked, "What kind of things grow in Florida?" It is much warmer in Florida than in South Carolina.  It never even snows at all here!  So, the sorts of plants that they can grow are different.

Look at the picture of the trees by the lake. Do you see the long green-gray things hanging from the branches? That is not part of the tree. It is another plant that grows on the tree. It is called Spanish Moss. I picked some to bring back so you can see it.

 

This morning, you might have had a kind of juice that came from fruit trees in Florida.  Can you guess what kind of fruit trees they have here?

 

 

That's right!  They have a lot of orange trees!!  I took a picture with one of them so you could see


Ty'daja and Jayden  asked about animals. Since there is so much water, they have a lot of animals and birds that like the water.  For example, sometimes in the lake they see alligators!!!  I didn't see one though- it would have scared me!  I did get a picture of a heron.  It is a kind of bird that gets its food from the marshes and lakes.

When I saw it, it was in a marsh and it caught a snake to eat!!!  They had a big fight- here is another picture:

Can you see that the snake wrapped itself around the bird's head???  The bird won, and eventually he ate the snake.

I even saw a fake animal!  This flamingo was in someone's garden. I knew it wasn't real, because when I got close to it, it didn't fly away.

Well, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed this letter. I can hardly wait for my next trip!!!

 

Your friend,

Flat Stanley

 

 

 

 

 

Hola from Spain!!!

¡Hola amigos!

Do you know what language that is?  Do you know what it means?

It is Spanish for "Hello friends!"

I am learning to speak Spanish and I am getting plenty of practice here in Spain!  Do you know of any other countries where they speak Spanish?  I hear that you are learning Spanish, too.  Isn't it fun?  I like learning new languages because it helps me to talk to different people and make new friends!

You guys ask such good questions!  Thank you for sending them!  Someone asked about the food they eat here.  They eat many of the same foods that we do, but they especially like ham and special kinds of Spanish sausage.  Here is a picture I took of a store all full of ham and sausage!

They also eat a lot of olives and olive oil because there are many olive farms here.  I even saw some plants where olives grow!

Do you see the rows of smaller trees with lighter leaves?  They are the olive trees. 

You guys must really love animals because I got a lot of animal questions!  Some people asked if I had seen any bull fights or people running from the bulls.  Bullfighting is a very old sport that has been in Spain for many years, but I didn't go see one because it would make me sad if a bull get hurt.  I did see cows though!  They were walking down the road with their owners- the cars had to stop and wait for the cows to pass!  I took a picture:

Mrs. North asked if we have the same kind of money here.  No, it is different!  They use Euros instead of dollars and have Euro cents instead of pennies.  In fact, there are many, many different kinds of money in the world!  in most other countries you have to change your US dollars for a different kind of money so that you can buy things, so that is what I did in Spain!

Finally, people asked if I am having fun.  I sure am!  I like Spain a lot.  Everyone here is really nice but I think that now I am ready to come home.  See you soon!

Your friend (or in Spanish "tu amigo")!

Flat Stanley

Hi Kids from Los Angeles!

Hi everyone!

I am in Los Angeles. This is a different trip from my last one because I am not in a new country; I'm visiting a different part of our own country - the USA!
Los Angeles is a big city in the state of California. It is far away from Rock Hill, South Carolina! Can you find both of those states on a US map?
South Carolina is in the east. What ocean is it near?
California is in the west. What ocean is it near?

Nora asked if I saw the Pacific Ocean. I did! We went to Santa Monica Beach on a hot sunny day.
It was a lot like Myrtle Beach except the waves were bigger. Dr. Appelgren and Dr. Clarke held onto me so I wouldn't get wet.

Alex asked about palm trees. There were a lot of them - at the airport, in people's yards, along the highway, really everywhere. Palm trees grow well in hot places. Here is one that I saw near the beach.

Darren asked if I saw the Hollywood sign, but I did not. (Los Angeles is a very big city, and we didn't go to that part.)

Germale wanted to know if I met any famous people. I sure did - Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle! They were very nice, and let me have a picture taken with them. Los Angeles is where most of our TV shows and movies are made, so a lot of actors, actresses, singers, dancers and other entertainers live there.



.      

 I even met a celebrity who is flat like me! Here I am with Mrs. North and flat Alex Trebek.

Mrs. McGuire's class had some questions too. They asked if  I was on TV. No, I did get to go to the TV studio, but I had to stay in the audience when they were filming the show.

Another question was, "Are there a lot of houses in Los Angeles?" The answer to that is "Yes!"

Almost 4 million people live there. It takes a LOT of houses to make homes for that many people.

When we were flying in the plane, I looked down and saw so many houses, it was too many to count.

Mrs. McGuire's class wanted to know if there were places to shop. We did see lots of stores. Here is a shopping street. The bush in the middle looked like an animal. Do you know what kind? The gardeners cut it into a very fancy shape!

That is all I will write for now. It is time to get into the suitcase and come home!

Your Friend,

Flat Stanley

Hi again from Kyrgyzstan!

Hi kids!

I got messages with your questions.  They were very good questions!

First, some of you asked about the yurts.  You asked about the pipe sticking out of the yurt- that is the chimney!  They have to have fires in the yurts to stay warm at night because there is no electricity.  There is no bathroom in the yurts, either.  The people go to a separate outhouse to go to the bathroom.  An outhouse is a small building with a hole underneath.  People use the bathroom there.  You might have seen one if you have gone camping.

Next, some people asked about water.  Clean water is very important, and in many places in the world it is hard to get.  We are very lucky to have clean water in our homes!  In the city, people in Kyrgyzstan have sinks and faucets like us.  But the people who live in the country have to go to a community pump to fill buckets and then carry the water home.  Many times this is a chore that the kids in the house do.  Do you have chores that you do at home, too?  Here is a picture of some kids at the water pump:

Some of you also asked about the clothes.  Some people wear clothes a lot like what we wear in Rock Hill, like these boys.  Many women keep their hair covered with a handkerchief or cloth.  I met a very nice lady who wore her hair this way and we took a picture together!!  Look:

I saw a man wearing a kalpak, which is a traditional tall hat worn by men and boys in Kyrgyzstan.  Here he is:

I am going to come home soon so that I can have another adventure, but let me tell you a few more things that I have learned about Kyrgyzstan while I was here.

First, they do not use the same alphabet we do!  They use another alphabet and I tried to learn how to read it since I love to read so much!  It was very different though, look at these street signs!  Some of the letters look like ours and some do not.  Can you see letters that look the same and different?

I also got to see some beautiful artwork like this wonderful, colorful blanket.  This is a very traditional pattern that they use in their art:

Finally, I got to be there on Independence Day in Kyrgyzstan!  It is August 31st.

Do you know when Independence Day is in the United States?  What did your family do that day?  I saw families watching fireworks in the city!  Here is a picture I took:

Well that's it for now!  It is a long plane ride home from here, but I will see you soon!
Your friend,
Flat Stanley

Hi Kids!

Hi Kids!!!

Welcome to the first grade! 

My name is Flat Stanley.  Have you read the book about me?  I am flat so people can send me in envelopes and suitcases all over the world.  I love to travel and I want to tell you all about the new places I go and the people that I meet this year!

Right now I am with my friend Dr. Appelgren.  She is Mrs. North's daughter.  Do you know Mrs. North?  She is my friend too!

Dr. Appelgren put me in her suitcase and took me to a country called Kyrgyzstan!  Kyrgyzstan is a small country, but it is near some big countries that you might have heard of.  Can you find Kyrgyzstan on a map?

I like to take pictures when I am travelling.  Would you like to see my pictures?



I have learned that most people in Kyrgyzstan live in houses and apartments just like people in Rock Hill.  But, some people live in a special kind of house called a yurt.  Families who have a lot of animals need to bring their animals to the countryside in the summer so that the animals can eat a lot of grass.  But, their houses are far away so they need a place to live.  They bring all the things with them to make their yurt, which is a temporary home.  It gets very cold in the winter, so when it starts to snow they will take their yurt apart and go back to their regular house with their animals. 

Can you see kids in the picture who live in a yurt?  How do you think their days are different from yours?  Do you see the animals?  What kinds of animals do you see?

It used to be that many people in Kyrgyzstan lived in yurts and they had to move around a lot.  Have you seen their flag?  Here is a picture of it that I took in the capital city of Kyrgystan, Bishkek:

The design in the middle of the flag is the same pattern that you would see if you stood in the middle of the yurt and looked up.  So yurts are very important to this country. 

Do you know what the capital city of the United States is?  Do you know what the things on our flag mean to our country?

I am having a great time meeting new people and learning about Kyrgyzstan.  I will tell you more soon!
Your friend,
Flat Stanley