Dear Chevak Friends, I will be seeing you before the week is out! Today Ms Burton's and Ms. Arnold's classes gave me going away presents. Ms. Burton's class gave me a suitcase full of wonderful letters from her students to you all. Then Ms. Arnold's class presented me with t-shirts depicting many Atlanta attractions, including some of the places I went with Knollwood students. On the way out of the school building, Mrs. Nevil checked her mailbox and discovered that Knollwood Flat Stanley had returned! We two Stanleys chatted briefly about our amazing adventures and then I was off to the post office for the first leg of my journey. The students of Knollwood have been very generous in hosting me. Atlanta is an exciting place to visit and the Knollwood students are fun to be around, but I can't wait to get back to Chevak because, after all, home is where the heart is! See you soon, Stanley

Trip to Green Meadows Cultural Festival

On Wednesday, I went to Green Meadows Cultural Festival with the Mrs. Kennerly's 4th Grade. The first thing I saw was the African Village where the people were drumming. Then we went to see the falconer's demonstration. We saw how the falcons can grab their prey in the air.
Then we went to the Native Lands area and saw a teepee. I had only seen them in the Social Studies books, so it was very interesting. The trip was lots of fun but it was warmer than I am used too. I will be glad to get back to Chevak. They say that in the summer, the temperature is usually in the 80's and 90's! Stanley

Dear Friends,
I have been keeping very busy. Everyone wants to show me a good time, but I am looking forward to returning to Chevak - Home, Sweet, Home! Today I stayed at Knollwood and attended a special presentation that Mrs. Nevil had in the Library Media Center. Tim, from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, came and talked to the Bird Club about his job, birds, and the Youth Birding Event coming in May. He was very interesting and had great pictures to show the students. My favorite part was when he talked about setting fires in the forest to help the ecology. He liked my binoculars. Tomorrow I am going to a special cultural event and on Thursday Ms. Burton's and Ms. Arnold's class are going to help me pack and I will be on my way back to you. See you soon, Stanley

Wild Safari!

Hey, Y'all- I went to Pine Mountain, Georgia Wild Animal Safari with the some students. It was a long way and the bus couldn't go very fast. When I got there I was exhausted. It was a cool place.
I saw deer, moose, bulls, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes and a big rhinocerous that was rolling in the mud. I also saw three little black piglets. They were so little that I could pick them up. I also saw the tigers and lions. They were very big and when I saw the tiger yawn it made me terrified. I thought I was dreaming, but it wes very, very fun. It was so exciting that I want to go back again. Also when we stopped a bull got on the bus and the man fed it. It's name was Red. See you soon, Stanley

Good-Bye Chevak!

Parker's class says "Goodbye" to me, Flat Stanley! They are standing in front of my bulletin board where I am pictured with all sorts of famous people. Ann Bender - that is what everyone calls her here, Annbender - like one word! Anyway, Annbender evenposted part of the blog so the kids all over school could read about my adventures here at Chevak and at Knollwood. Annbender will pack me up tomorrow in my old box and her husband, Tombender, will ride my envelope on his four wheeler over to the post office where I will be placed on the big sled to go to the airport. At the airport they put me on a little bush plane and then I fly to Bethel Alaska, then to Anchorage and hopefully from there to Atlanta. I get tired just thinking about all that traveling. But I will be so glad to see all my friends at Knollwood. I wonder if you guys have gotten any taller since I've been gone?


Look at the cute little girl in the photo above- we went on a drink break together!

Below, I helped Jeanne and Waderon make a Blackfish trap. They boil them here and eat them with salt. Jeanne actually goes fishing with the folks here. They travel miles for the best fishing spots and fish in very cold weather. Of course they have to dig holes in the ice to get to the fish. I'll just have Annbender put one photo of the Cup'ik people ice fishing.




I've had the best time. People here love Chevak and have a great time fishing and hunting for their food. There are no stores like Atlanta, no roads, no movie theaters, or Chuckie cheese, or Pizza Hut, or MacDonalds. But they do have lots and lots of snow, Musk Ox, Blackfish, snow machines, lots and lots of snow, Eskimo dancing with drums, Elders, Easter egg hunts in the library, and lots and lots of snow. I will always remember what a wonderful time I had in Chevak and what fantastic kids live there.

Career Day

Hi, y'all! When I'm not traveling or visiting in a classroom I hang out in the media center. There a special display with books about Alaska, the iMac with the blog, and a map with Chevak circled on it so everyone will know how far I've come. Well, today was Career Day and was the media center busy! Mrs. Tingle, the counselor, greeted all the guests and they ate breakfast and lunch there. I enjoyed meeting all the important people and I even got to eat a muffin with the policeman.
Later, I visited in first grade with Mushu and his handler. She was teaching the students about how to be a pet care provider. See you soon, Stanley

Hi Knollwood. Today I got to see an Elder. An Elder is a person who comes to a classroom and tells stories in Cup'ik about old times. Here is what Regina told me about the Elders:

"Some Elders talk about stories in our class. Like about a man who was catching food for his family and other stories that we never have heard in old Chevak. The elders come in our class so we can listen to stories and learn the Cup'ik language. We want to learn about our past, about our people. Flat Stanley wishes that Knollwood could have elders speak to them. Sometimes we have to listen closely to understand since some of us do not speak Cup'ik very well."

Wow, I had a great time listening to the Elder although I did not understand a single word. Later, the Elder held me in the photo. You have to be over 65 to be an Elder. All the kids were very quite and paid close attention. Later all the students designed a qaspeq for me to take back to Knollwood. They used pencils to decorate it and then used markers and crayons. Regina wans me to come back and visit again. She has never met someone who was sent in the mail before.
Here's me with a BlackFish - they are delicious.

Each year during the season the Native Alaskans can get a ticket to hunt for one Musk Ox. This year Stewart got to go with Mr. Boyscout (his nickname is OX) and hunt for a Musk Ox. You can use the Musk Ox wool to weave beautiful warm hats and scarves. The wool on a Musk Ox is worth thousands of dollars. I was not allowed to go on the hunt, but when they brought the Musk Ox back in with them, I got to watch them skin it and then cut up the meat to freeze or dry. The young man in the photo is only 12 years old and this was his very first Musk Ox hunt.
The Musk Ox is not really that big once you get his coat off. In one of our photos you can see the herd in the background. In another, you can see me, Flat Stanley, with the Musk Ox hide. I did not like all the blood, but that is what they call subsistence living - the Cup'ik people have to kill or catch whatever they eat.

Something Fishy!

Hi kids! Today, I was fortunate enough to accompany the whole third grade class to the Georgia Aquarium. Ms. Keith’s class was my host. It was a long bus ride to the aquarium, but we had fun on the ride. When we first arrived, Mrs. Robin took us into a small room to tell us about what we were going to experience. There were many things that we got to see and feel. We saw fish and coral. Did you know that coral is not a plant? It has tiny holes where animals are living.
Then, we saw Zebra Sharks. When they are little, they have stripes, but when they get older, they have polka dots. Next, we saw whale sharks, stingrays and lots of other fish. We also saw poison frogs and baby sea horses. Last, we saw a 4-D movie. It was really awesome. I hope one day you will be able to experience the fun I had today. Oh, and by the way, while walking back to the bus, snow flurries were falling. It was 50 degrees and everyone was complaining about how cold it was. Well, hope to talk to you soon!

PS - If you click on "Something Fishy!" you will link to a site that tells about how the Georgia Aquarium works. There's a neat video there that will show you all the different things we saw.