OK, toward the end of this past summer, I planted two stamps at the park in which I had worked all summer. One is still there, the other disappeared about a month or so after I planted it. http://www.atlasquest.com/lboxes/showboxinfo.html?gBoxId=47539
Speedsquare and I spent a day LBing and went to check on the stamp...we searched the area thoroughly and dtermined that is MUST have been muggled....turns out we were right.

Last week I gave my students an assignment...they had to draw a map of a place that was special to them. Then they had to put x's on the map at points where they had memories about that place. I was going over them last night and one of them was very obviously the same park in which I had planted my stamps. One of his x's was labeled "found a box here".

"No!" thought I, "He couldn't possibly mean THAT kind of box." I made a mental note to ask him about it....then I slept and promptly forgot about it.

TODAY I was going over a lesson on how to make a story better by backing up general statements with specific examples. The sample writing peice was on a young girl who liked to go hide under a big pine tree at her local library. She wrote that sometimes she found neat things, like on etime she found a camera nestled in the branches of the tree. I wanted to show them how to revise and add more detail when space is limited...so I drew an arrow from the end of that sentence to the margin and wrote "One time I found a box with a stamp in it." (A nice big tree near a library seemed a likely place as any for a letterbox!)

The same student I mentioned before pipes up with "I found a box like that!"

I explained to the class what I was talking about (they asked), and that sometimes these boxes were hidden in the woods and such. I asked the child if there was a stamp in the box he found, or trinkets (I also had to explain geochaches). He said "It was a stamp....I think it was raccoon footprints."

IT WAS MY MISSING LB! He was even able to tell me exactly where he and his cousin found it. (Leave it to two 6th grade boys to go nosing about under the roof of a firewood stand!)

"Do you still have it?" I asked.

"No, but I think my cousin does." he replied.

I asked him if he could get it back to me, and said that it would really mean a lot to me. He's going to try to get it back to me either by Friday or Monday....

Now, you must know that I write this calmly, but I was very excited when he said that he had found and kept it! (The kids didn't think me too strange, I tend to be somewhat hyper at times...so they're used to it.)

As a result of this conversation, several of my students want to place letterboxes. So I am thinking of carving a stamp of our school mascot, and maybe one or two more that they get to design. I am then going to plant them along a section of rails to trails (called the cardinal greenway) that my school has adopted. Then I am going to give the kids the clues (but only if they remember to ask) to go find the boxes. I am supposed to bring in an unplanted box for them to see tomorrow. A couple even asked if it was OK to use a store bought stamp if they went to go look for them...(OF course it is!)

So, I ask again...is the world REALLY that small...I would have thought it to be larger!

That is so great! I hope you are able to get your box back! What a neat story to share with all of us!

I don't think I would have remained so calm! What a story! I hope you get it all back - and soon.

I think it's kind of amusing (in a very charming way) that you're so bitten by the bug that you're using letterboxing examples during the flow of your classroom lectures. :)

What a great story! Are you going to bring your logbook in for them to see?

I think I should. Let them see what it is all about...perhaps I'll get a few of them hooked!

Sounds like you need some boxes?? Let me know. There still are 3 mystery boxes around town if you want to teach them how to solve cryptograms.

Wow what a story! I hope he lets you have it back!

♥ Lady Lilac

Speedsquare,

We use the vignere table as one of our spelling practice excercises. (I introduced it after the event!)

Isn't it funny how things "we lose" come back to us!!!

slick kitty

Okay, this story actually gave me the goosebumps. That is so cool. You have to tell us the next chapter of the story. When he brings the box in, I need details. Did his parents and cousin ask what he was doing and why he had to bring the box to school. What do the parents think of letterboxing.

Totally cool, what are the chances? Where's our statistic guy?

Janet, Blooming Flowers

The world really is that small! My original carvings of Map and Backpack came back to me a year ago, after being lost for 2 years. A geocacher was kind and contacted me with the detailed coordinates where it was found. I plan to see how far it travelled the next time I do maintenance on the series.

What a story! Gave me goosebumps :) Congrats

-OrbitalMom

No luck today, but then, he may not have been able to talk with his cousin yet. I am patient. He still relies on adults to get him around...he's just a kid!

OK, Today was the day! My stamp came back to me! I didn't get the logbook, but only one person had logged in before the box was taken. So today the young man in my story brought the stamp back to me! It is great shape, but has been pulled off of the wood on which I had it mounted (No big deal, I was going to do that anyhow). So, I hope that this story re-instills a bit of faith in mankind for all of us.

Lessons learned by me:

1.) 11 year-old boys are a bit too curious for their own good. (Must remember that in case I have a son.)
2.) PB jars CAN be used for LBs, tho I don't plan on doing so again...cause if it hadn't been a boy, it would have been a raccoon.
3.) I need to include a short explanation of a lettterbox in any future LBs planted, (or plant in VERY obscure places) along with a "Please do not take this Lettterbox" plea.

Live and Learn!
Idhunna

WOW! good boy =)

YAY! Happy Ending. Way to go .

Now, since you've reinstilled the faith in mankind, maybe we can start on World Peace :)

Janet, Blooming Flowers

I prefer Whirled Peas. They're good with corn bread.

Quote

I prefer Whirled Peas. They're good with corn bread.

I love that saying. I've seen it on a bumper sticker. I think it would make a good stamp.

Janet, Blooming Flowers