Our Trucker Buddy Came!!

Saturday, Saturday, and SUN!!!

Hope you are able to say the same!

Yesterday our Trucker Buddy visited!  WE WERE ECSTATIC AS THE GUY WE WERE WRITING TO AND EMAILING "CAME TO LIFE" AND WALKED INTO OUR CLASSROOM!  Donita, his wife also came!!  What a HOOT it was to have them both of them here!  They shared trucking stories, laughed, and reminisced about past experiences!  K-5th graders were able to listen to these delightful tales and then he gave us a "tour" of his truck!  We even got to go inside the cab!  May I also mention, TOOT the horn-not once, twice, but many students pulled the cord!  I think the whole village heard us!

Again, what a delight and an experience of a lifetime!
Smiles,

Congrats to our Trucker Buddy!

Sunday and Spring, what do they have in common-not 50 degree weather in Wisconsin!

Congrats to our Trucker Buddy who accepted his Trucker Buddy of the Month award:

Next month, he will be visiting us!  WE ARE HONKING WITH EXCITEMENT AND ANTICIPATION!
Smiles,

A Belated Gift from our Trucker Buddy!

TUESDAY IS HERE and with it a Valentine's gift from our Trucker Buddy!  Is it ever too late...NO!
We got our own little Valentines and a bundle of Candy Hearts.  We are so grateful to have him and in a few weeks he accepts his award for being December's Trucker Buddy of the Month.

Smiles,

A Package!!!

It's a package!!  A package!  From whom...Frito Lay!  Why Frito Lay?  They are a sponsor of Trucker Buddy!  As mentioned in a previous post, Bruce, our Trucker Buddy won Trucker Buddy of the month for December!  Bruce got his package and here is ours.

What's inside?  The same question my 17 Multi-agers and I asked too?  The big reveal....

10 GIGANTIC bags of chips- 20 per bag.  (doing the math-that would be about 10 bags per student...we
distributed them to the whole school)-sorry for the sideways pictures!

THANK YOU, Frito Lay!
Smiles,

Our Trucker Buddy Won!!

HAPPY Friday!
Please say you are staying healthy...no colds, flu, drippy nose???  Me, not quite!  Woke up this morning...with what you probably guessed...a bad cold...all I can say is I'm trying to not deplete the shelves of Kleenex and hand sanitizer!  My dry and cracked hands are not happy with me!

I AM SO EXCITED AND AS HAPPY AS A CHILD WHO JUST GOT THE ULTIMATE HAPPY MEAL TREAT!  Bruce, our Trucker Buddy, won the Trucker Buddy of the Month for December!
Click Here  to read what Trucker Buddy posted!  I am tickled pink for him (ok maybe blue to match his trucking gear).   I am also thrilled that my students realized the power of their writing voice!!!

Congrats, Bruce!                     

We voted! Bruce 11 it is!

Saturday, it's sunny, and, And, ANd, AND we are in the first round of playoffs tonight at 7:00 p.m.-GO PACK!!  (had to do it...sorry Viking fans).
How did your three days go after break?  Did you try to cram a week into three days?  Or, are you waiting for Monday to arrive and start your New Year with your students?  Our three days were eventful, nonstop, and full of ear to ear smiles!  I was ready to get out my ruler with my students (as they were measuring body parts) to measure their height...I think of few of them had a growth spurt during break...was it the Christmas cookies, milk, or Egg Nog?
Well one of the moments my Multi-agers were waiting for arrived!  We voted on what to name our Sock Monkey that our Trucker Buddy sent us!  After the votes were totaled, it was a tie between Bruce 11 and Sockies.  Then, a second vote occurred and BRUCE 11 won hands up!  He is now our classroom mascot and cheerleader!  We sent our survey results to Bruce (our Trucker Buddy) and he was honored!  Now, that is monkey business and not Monkeying around; or is it?

1st Vote!

Smiles,  

Our gift from our Trucker Buddy!

Well after spending yesterday watching over 6 inches of snow fall and dance around in the sky and then anticipating how my Multi-age students would do with a 2 hour delay this morning, WE HAD A MERRY AND CHEERY DAY!!!  Is somebody exited?  YES I AM!!!!!  They were controlled excited-did I just make that up-yes, I did! 

WELL THE SECOND CAME...THE BIG WHITE, SEALED BOX FROM OUR TRUCKER BUDDY CAME OFF THE SHELF AND WE GOT THE SCISSORS...WE WERE READY TO OPEN THE MYSTERY!
So, we anxiously opened our box from Iowa.  To our surprise:

Our Trucker Buddy has a sock monkey; now we have one!

A teacher's dream-Post It Notes, gel pens, and Expos markers.  PERFECT!!!  The sock monkey- star on top of the tree!

SMILES,

We nominated our Trucker Buddy!

Friday at 4:33 p.m. has made it!   Thank goodness for an afternoon movie; a highly supported activity this afternoon after our over the top crazy week we have had (all were magnificent stars on the stage last night for our Christmas concert).

Yesterday we some how managed to squeeze in a heavy writing lesson!  BUT, my Multi-agers put the lead to the paper and were publishing their persuasive letters with 4 star writing like they were masters!

Who are we writing to and why??  We have decided to nominate our Trucker Buddy, Bruce for Trucker Buddy of the Month!  He has been a fantastic role model for my students by mailing us each week via snail mail or email.   His letters are thorough, detailed, and demonstrate quality crafting!  Bruce has shared his school experiences with us and has let us into his family life-even his dog knows about us!  We know where he travels and the countless hours he spends behind delivering liquid products for you and I-syrup, sugar, etc.  Without a doubt, he has our 18 votes! 

My persuasive nomination letter!

A student's persuasive nomination...awww perfect gift.

Another students persuasive letter-best buddy :)

Now, we patiently wait to hear...patiently should actually be anxiously! 

Smiles, 

Updates On Our Trucker Buddy!

Two days till Cyber Monday; what's on your must click on list?

I must apologize; I put our Trucker Buddy updates to the back of my Blog post ideas!  I cannot praise and compliment his writing and corresponding skills enough.  He has shared his travel experiences with us since September and has sent us many detailed and elaborate letters about his expeditions!  Our Trucker Buddy has also allowed us to meet through pictures and his letters, his wife and pets!  He is a wonderful role model for my Multi-age students and demonstrates the character traits of a successful and outstanding citizen.


NOW FOR THE BEST NEWS to share with you; he is going to visit in the new year!

Our Trucker Buddy and his truck

Correspondences and our Trucker Buddy's hometown

A Halloween card and syrup and liquid sugar samples (he hauls sugar and syrup)

A cotton plant he got on his travels

Enjoy the last day of your Thanksgiving break; Monday morning will be here soon and our alarms will make sure we know it.
Smiles,

 

My Search for the Toothpaste Activity and Donalyn Miller

Tuesday is here!  Officially in two weeks we start!  Have you started setting your alarm to get your body use to that early rise and shine time?  (that is if you already are not back to the best job occupation in the world) 
 So I started typing my lesson plans and got to the famous Toothpaste Activity.  I have not tried this activity, but came close last year...but that time factor got in the way.  So, I Googled Toothpaste activity and the first hit was: Team Building .  THANK YOU Southern District!
EUREKA even more Icebreakers and Team Building activities!  My folder is exceeding is capacity!
The last activity is the Toothpaste activity.  I have seen this version.  I might tweak it a tad to fit the skills of my students.  It would be a riot to see how they would use the Toothpaste to outline the word they print.  HA HA!!!  Perhaps I should try this at home first!
As far as the rest, I now need to pick out the ones that are best suited, applicable, and purposeful to my Multi-agers!  If you try any, let me know how they go!

Yesterday, I finished reading The Book Whisperer for the second time!  It was even better than the first read-I'm not sure how that could be because I thought I eared, highlighted, and eared everything I could.  Perhaps, I connected more with what Donalyn was saying and tied my experiences to hers!
I leave you with a quote from one of my all time professional reads:

 "The purpose of school should not be to prepare students for more school. We should be seeking to have fully engaged students now.”
― Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child

SMILES!
 
 

Tah-dah! Here Are A Few More Pictures

It is a BRIGHT morning here in Wisconsin!  The forecast is calling for temperatures to be in the mid 70's.  For many Wisconsinites this is Weather Heaven!  Which makes me ponder, does your school have air conditioning?  Our school does not! But, we are testing out a few window units to see if we can create a comfortable learning climate without installing central AC. 

Just as the weather is a blessing, so is being able to feel a tad more at ease with the progress I am making in my classroom!  Gone are the following:  stacks of books to put in desks, teacher supplies to shelf, and folders to update.  Now, I just need to add a couple more locker tags, get my classroom door done, and finish my math binders and Guided Reading/Literacy materials.  Oops, I forgot, my math wall still has a "caution" sign on it-ok it does not have a sign on it, but I feel it should.  It still needs to be revamped!

Here are the 2nd set of photos:

Trucker Buddy wall-where we post our correspondences with our Trucker Buddy.  Take a peek to the right of the picture, see the AC unit?

Part of my Social Studies wall.  The curriculum for my level taps into parts of the government and there a handful of standards on geography, locations, directions, etc.  Oh, in case you are wondering, the plants love being an "active" part of the classroom!

The second part of my Social Studies wall-sorry about the sun!  Yes, that is the President and his family.  We write him every year and "he" writes us back!  I wonder who we will be writing this year?

My classroom library

Another part of my classroom library.  I could not forget the pillows!  My students curl up with their books and their pillows when they are reading.  I call it DIRT-Daily Independent Reading Time!

SMILES!!!
 

I Am "Rollin with Happiness"...I Got My Trucker Buddy Information!

Happy Tuesday!  Today is supposed to be cooler- 89 degrees for a high!  I LOVE SUMMER so my lips are sealed-no complaining here!  How is the weather by you?  Two thumbs up or will you be singing like a song bird when fall arrives?
On another train of thought, I received my Trucker Buddy contact information; I am ECSTATIC!  I have already emailed him and await his response.  We have to decide if we want to correspond via Blogging, Emailing, Snail Mail, post cards, or all of these! I also have to decide how I want to display or correspondences in my classroom.  (on a map, using a timeline, etc.)
I can't wait to share our correspondences with you.  I am hoping we get to meet him and see his truck!
Smiles!

Our Trucker Buddy is from Iowa!

Trucker Buddy!!

Are you looking for authentic writing ideas or for a penpal?  How about a Trucker Buddy?  I have had a Trucker Buddy write to my class.  My students were able to track were he went and we plotted his routes on a map!  We also learned about transporting goods, geography and hot trucking places/diners/stop, safe ways to handle shipping goods, and where goods are shipped and why!  My 2nd Graders were able to learn about semis and the challenges one is faced when driving a semi!  Our Trucker Buddy was going to bring the semi to school, but ended up with truck issues the day of his visit :(   He did send us pencils, postcards, and minitrucks!  IT WAS A TRUCKING WRITING EXPERIENCE!!!!  This year I plan to sign up again and blog about our experiences and travels with our Trucker Buddy!  Perhaps I will even invite our entire school to sign up; wow, would that be a HAUL!!!  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

                     Here is a video testimonal about the Trucker Buddy Program