Llama Letter

I can't remember if I mentioned a while ago that the two 6th grade girls took it upon themselves to write a letter to a llama farm. Well, they did.  They love llamas and felt like writing a letter to someone, so they googled "llama farms" and found one in Waconia, MN, and wrote them a letter.  Guess what came in the mail today... a reply!

The person wrote a front and back page response plus sent a brochure along.  He wanted to know how they found their llama farm and how they got so interested in llamas.  The farm has about 70 llamas which they rent out to 4Hers.  They do birthday parties, field trips, etc.  This year seven baby llamas are due.  Man, the girls were excited!  They got the letter during noon recess and immediately ripped it open.  My favorite part of the letter was the closing, "I hope all your llama dreams come true."  The girls plan to write back tomorrow during Writing Workshop.

The other thing that has my students all abuzz is a contest put on by Scholastic and Roald Dahl. Students age 12 and under can submit 100 word story ideas that are creative and imaginative. Five will win 'golden tickets' and have their stories become a reality.  There are five categories: turn the idea into a play, into a short story book, into a movie (get to pitch it to a real Hollywood producer), into a Minecraft world, or into a candy.  Here's the official website if you want to check out all the rules: http://www.imaginormouschallenge.com/prizes/. Winners fly to New York AND London with their families.  Pretty sweet!

I had another brainstorm this morning during Daily 5.  My kiddos are always asking to use the bathroom in the morning during our Daily 5 rounds. There are plenty of times for them to go during the day, so I hate to let them go all the time.  I usually let them have one "emergency pass" each week that they can use anytime.  I've been writing names on the calendar so I keep track of which students have used their passes, but lately I haven't been remembering which ones have been redeemed.  So I took some wooden turtles from the closet (cutout shapes found on a rummage sale) and wrote each kiddo's name on one.  There are plenty of cutouts; I figured they could take them home at the end of the year.  Each student got to pick the color of his/her name... it was very exciting.  Some kids were like, "I'm never going to use my bathroom pass, so do I even need one?" This sparked another thought from their classmates, "If they don't use them, can they give their pass to me to use?!"  Hmm, I have to think about that... Right now I have six turtles on my bookshelf, waiting to be returned until Monday.  It's funny to see the strategies my students use.  Some use them right away on the first day, others hang on to theirs until Friday, just in case.  One of the Friday savers told me (last Friday), "Miss H, I'm going to use my pass right now. I don't really have to go that bad, but I wouldn't want it to go to waste!"