Winners, The Rat Thing & An Icebreaker

Today I'm excited because we have three winners in our KOGO giveaway ... my Gruener Generator (Joshua, Jacob and John) picked one name each from the comment entries ... drum roll please ... Tammy M., Katie N. and Lisa S. ... congrats! I will be in touch for your US postal addresses and put not one, but two books - Feel Confident! and Be Positive! -  into the mail. 
Have fun giving that second one away. 
Thank you to everyone who entered; I wish I had copies for all of you. And thanks to Free Spirit Press for their partnership!

In honor of my family's hometown team, the Green Bay Packers, making the playoffs and playing later today on the frozen tundra against the 49ers, I'd like to introduce Pack, the newest addition to our puppet family team. 

I got him from Anna, my amazing intern this past semester. She had a really creative idea about doing a lesson with the things this pack rat packs away and carries around in his sack. Love it.

I was toying with a play on words with ChaRATer ... or something about RATS spelling STAR backwards. There's also potential for an adorable careers lesson if Pack had trinkets in his knapsack that represented the careers he was trying to narrow down for himself.

Then I decided on a friendship lesson. 
Friends do the rat thing ... 
say that with a southern twang ... the rat thing ... get it?

So I'm cooking on a trustworthiness lesson using 

Don't Need Friends, written by Carolyn Crimi 

and illustrated by the illustrious Lynn Munsinger.

Do you know this book? Basically this rude, cranky rat (think Templeton from Charlotte's web) decides he doesn't need any friends after his friend Possum moves away. But what will happen when this junkyard dog, who's coincidentally every bit as grouchy as he, gets sick and needs a friend? 
Listen to a podcast about the book {here}. 

I'm planning to combine Anna's idea about having junk stuff in Pack's sack ... things that will end up representing friendship ... and I can't wait!

I'm also eager for a workshop I'm doing tomorrow for Ward Elementary down the road. Because I know many of you will be home on a snow day, I'm sharing the icebreaker we'll be using:

Though it's cold outside, I hope you're feeling warm and cozy!