School is now out for summer — but kindergartners at Chautauqua Elementary School were able to take home a keepsake memory of a special project done in collaboration with graduating seniors from Vashon High School.

The project was a fresh take on a popular curriculum activity inspired by the children’s book, “Flat Stanley,” by Jeff Brown. After reading the book, each kindergartner made a flat, cut-out self-portrait of themselves and then fill in the blanks on a letter about their favorite places, foods, games and activities.

In the typical version of the kindergarten project, the self-portraits and lists of favorite things are then mailed to friends or relatives who live in other towns, cities and countries.

Those correspondents then photograph the “flat kindergartners” having adventures in those places and send the photos and descriptions of the outing to the child — helping them learn about other cultures and places.

This year, though, the self-portrait artworks and accompanying letters of approximately 70 Chautuaqua kindergartners didn’t go far — they were folded in envelopes in April and sent to senior English students of Vashon High School teacher Andy James.

Those high-schoolers then created personalized tales of adventure for each of the kindergartners in the classrooms of teachers Kate Davidson, Kelly Fox, Carolyn Stearns and Manda McCoy.

“In June, we got a visit from the seniors holding book versions of the stories,” said McCoy. “We beamed as the elder students read their stories to our littles. They even included pictures that were edited to make it look like the flat kindergartner was at Thriftway, in a Minecraft world and eating pizza in a library.

For McCoy, the project had special meaning: this year’s graduating class of seniors were kindergartners in 2012, when she started teaching kindergarten at Chautauqua.

“These seniors hold a special place in my heart,” she said.

Clarificaiton: This article has been clarified from previous print and online verstion to make clear that students in every kindergarten classroom at Chautauqua participated in the project.

Examples of the artwork and questionnaires created by Manda McCoy’s kindergarten students for the project. (Courtesy Photo)