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Dear Oak,

“I don’t think that’s a dinosaur track. You know the animals with horns like this.”
You made a swirl with your fingers near your head. I said, “Ram.”
“I think that it butted its head against the ground here.”
It did look like a ram had hit its head against the ground.

Later we came to another track, a really, really big track.
“That’s a dinosaur track.”
We wondered if other marks were dino footprints from the same dino.
“I’m starting to feel a little bit worried.”
You said something about thinking it was a TRex print, and I felt a little worried too.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

Today there were five. That’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all five fingers on one hand. The tire swing fits four. Five is one more than four. Four is one less than five.

Two were spinning on the tire swing. Three more ran over to join. All five wanted to go on the tire swing. Two got on. Now there were four on the tire swing. But what about number five?

Three on the swing wanted to spin. One didn’t like to spin. It made their tummy feel funny. One of the first two decided to get off and have a snack break. The one that was waiting got on.

Now there are four on the tire swing and one having a snack. They began to swing.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Sparkles the kitten whispered to her friend, Rollo, “I’ve got a plan. Let’s pretend to be nice to Jazzy cat and get her to play with us. Then, you boom her.”

Rollo smiled and bounded after Jazzy with Sparkles. Jazzy saw Rollo smiling and bounding towards her. Jazzy felt nervous. Sometimes Rollo boomed. Jazzy didn’t like booming. She worried that she might get hurt. Booming hurts.

Sometimes Rollo boomed because she had a hard time figuring out how to slow down. Sometimes Rollo boomed because she had a hard time figuring out the space between herself and others. Rollo thought she had a lot of room, and she only had a little.

Sometimes Rollo boomed because a smell or the wet or the sand bothered her, I mean really really bothered her. It bothered her so much that she just

BOOMED!

Rollo is still learning what her body needs to feel safe and how to ask for it. All the other kitties are still learning how to adapt to Rollo and get the space they need. There are cat and kitty helpers around who help.

Sparkles and Rollo see Jazzy. Jazzy looks scared. Sparkles and Rollo think maybe their plan isn’t a good idea. They are kind and caring like all the kitties. I wonder what they do next.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

I know someone who takes care of themselves, each other, and of Rainbow School. All of you!

This is my head, and this is my face. This is my body, and this is my space. If you want to give me a hug, you got to ask me first. If you want to play fight, you got to ask me first. And when it’s my turn I’ll ask you too. Because I care for me, and I care for you.

Today, at Rainbow School, during our morning meeting, two of you were play fighting with each other. I saw that you were smiling and laughing. You played this game for a while, and then another game, and then came back to the game. A third person joined you.

I like to play this game sometimes too. I feel excited, and I laugh and laugh. And sometimes I don’t feel like it. It feels a bit scary. Sometimes right in the middle of play fight, it’s too much, and I need a break.

We talked about stopping when someone said pause or stop, and you did. I wonder what you think about playing fight and what other rules you’d make.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

You lay on your belly on Mud Mountain. Another person came over. You warned that there was going to be an explosion that would blow it into 600 thousand bits. The other person ran screaming back to the Hiding Bush. Phew!

But what about you? I wonder if you got blown up or if you had some special power.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

On our adventure walk, we’d reached the u-turn in the path. I saw a big patch of cattails and wanted to go investigate. A half dozen (that’s six) of you came with me. Below us, we could see Cache Creek. Its waters meandered among the rocks and a big tire.

Someone imagined a car was driving nearby and their wheel must have fallen off and rolled there. They wanted to go down into the creek. They had their rain boots on. I explained that at Cache Creek, we had to have life vests on to put our feet in the water. It was suggested that we all go home and then purchase life vests.

Someone else felt like that it wasn’t that much water. I explained that what we could see wasn’t that much, but it was a creek that went miles one way and miles the other way and that was a lot more water than say a puddle where we could splash around in our boots.

People discussed getting across the creek to the other side. There were so many good ideas for getting across using logs and stepping stones and other ideas. But what would we do when we got to the other side? It was a wall of cattails. A few people pointed out a small opening. They thought we could crawl through that small opening.

I imagined that a small animal could, but some of us were much too big. Then we all gathered together and walked back to the big steep hill.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

At Morning Meeting, there were two grownups that were all dressed up in their fancy clothes. Our grownups usually stay for Morning Meeting when they can, and then they come inside the yard with us. We choose where we want to sit at the snack table. They sometimes help us open our snacks.

Sometimes they play with us for a few minutes or read to us too. This morning the two fancy dressed grownups couldn’t stay for Morning Meeting. They felt sad that they had to go and miss news and counting and our cheer and showing us how they packed our snacks with love.

Whatever reason they had to go, it must have been important because they missed all these fun things and they were dressed all fancy too. I wondered if it was a meeting with the unicorns. Unicorns are fancy, and I heard Unicorns feel angry when someone arrives late.

Amanda wondered if they were meeting with a King and Queen. Kings and Queens require people to be fancy and on time, or they send you to the dungeon. Sometimes grownups have important meetings, and it’s just with other grownups like them, and it’s all just ordinary.

Then it’s sooooooooooo sad. Gerald, the elephant, sad. Poor grownups having to leave Rainbow School for ordinary old important meetings and grownup stuff.

I wonder what you think.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

The sun shone. Shoes came off. Jackets came off. Hats came off. Ninjas roamed the yard, making ninja moves, jumping over the light and staying in the shadows. That’s why you might not have seen them.

One of the ninjas was missing his sword but remembered where they left it. They’d left it at the outer gate of Rainbow School and had it retrieved. It was large and heavy and sharp. I wonder if they were ninja helper warriors.

I think so because I didn’t see a single sun monster today, and I believe the ninjas banished them all.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Our visitor today had a plan. They were going to move the sandbox mountain using the front loader. It was slow going. Others came to help. Then they switched to a bucket and a scoop. Once they’d filled the bucket, instead of moving the sand from the mountain to a low spot, they smoothed a spot and made a sand castle.

The sand castle crumbled. They figured they needed more water. Then one of you helped add water to the sand. I kept trying to move the mountain. I made my hands into a front loader. Then I used my big feet. One of you came to help me.

I was booming the mountain with my feet. In the Hello/Goodbye Yard I jumped. I invited you to climb on me. You did. All of these things help me feel good in my body. Sometimes when we don’t feel good in our bodies, we boom. These are things I do instead. Some of us wear head phones to help. I wonder what you do.

Love,
Teacher Michelle