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Dear Mulberry,

I was surprised by rain this morning! I went back home to gather my rain gear. It’s good I live next door. You spotted a bluejay on my roof, peck, peck, pecking in the moss.

We all put on our rain gear. We tested out our boots. Two of you ran all the way around the bike path. Then we tried jumping. You had an idea to jump off the edge of the sandbox to give us extra height. Then you did a running jump.

You felt rain boots were designed for the wet and would be great climbing to the top of the slide. They were. You wanted me to test how slippery the slide would be going down in rain gear. It was slippery but not super slippery.

It stopped raining, and you took off your rain gear. You put on hiking boots. Three of us tested different foot gear for running: rain boots, hiking boots, and tennis shoes. We raced around the bike path. Two others took a leaf bath in their rain gear. The leaves were wet.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

In the Dark House, someone pointed out the shadows on the ceiling. Everyone felt a little scared of the shadows. They fluttered and moved. What could they be? Everyone was brave and watched the shadows. They encouraged each other when they wanted to look away. I wonder what made the shadows. I wonder if you can make a shadow with your body, your hands, or an object.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

There’s a mountain in the sandbox. Some say it’s made from lava. Others say it’s not. I saw a mama pat pat patting the mountain smoothing it all around. I went to the mountain and saw that I’d made foot prints, and hand prints, and leg prints. I decided to pat pat pat it smooth again.

You went to the top of the mountain. “Up.” You went down the mountain. “Down.” “Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down.”

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

There was a bear in the yard. There were three of you in the Dark House. The bear growled at the curtained door. Bear claws raked the air. The three screamed and ran out of the Dark House. The bear chased them up Rainbow Mountain. The three disappeared into the Dark House again. Another bear came.

The second bear growled at the first and bared its sharp claws. The first bear just stared. I wonder if bears are scared of other bears. The first bear roared its terrible roars into the Dark House. The three ran. Now there were two bears chasing the three.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

I have two journals that I write in. A journal is a book with empty pages that we can write and draw in. Some journal pages have lines and some don’t. Someone brought their journal to school today. It was in their face, and that was their morning news.

They kept their journal next to their snack, so whenever they took a snack break, they could take a writing break too. I wondered if they might read what they wrote to us. Sometimes the writing in journals is just for the writer and for no one else to read or hear. There are even journals with locks if you want to keep your writing secret.

This journal had a calculator in case the writer wanted to do some math writing. Two huge dinosaurs met one small dinosaur for a tea party. How many dinosaurs were there?

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

“Let’s play dinosaur. The Apotosauruses were grazing under the green leaves by the Hello Goodbye gate. The T-Rex family didn’t want to wrestle when the Stegosaurus family asked. The Parasaurolophus couple seemed to be translating who wanted to wrestle and who didn’t.

They also were looking for pockets to stick their heads into. The male crest head couldn’t fit in any pockets and was cold. The female got snuggly. Her head was in a pocket exposing her belly to tickles. Of course we asked before we tickled. She said yes.

Then there was the shoe.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

There were three of you in the dark house. I couldn’t see you. You were inside. I was outside. When I walked by, I heard you say, “I made a 5. Look.” Someone else said something about a trap. Another said, “Look, the Bat Mobile.” Inside the dark house, there’s a light table, and there was dark sand on top of the light. You were using your fingers to write in the sand, making pictures and telling stories with light.

Later, I wondered about the traps. You told me about scorpion and dinosaur traps, and then you told me about a tornado door that if you opened it, a tornado escaped. Yikes! Suddenly booby traps sprang up around Rainbow Road where you could get trapped forever or fall down a drain and get eaten by a shark.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … ready or not, here I come. Hmm… Are they at the top of Rainbow Mountain? No. Are they in the Sleeping Barn? No. Are they in the Pine Forest? No. Are they in the Music Garden? No? Where could they be?

Are they thirsty? Yes. Water break. That rain is too hot. That pond is too small.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

I was building our dark house to celebrate the darkest part of the year. The longest night is 16 sleeps away. You began exploring as I was putting up the doors. You grabbed flashlights. You grabbed the color glasses that change the color of the world.

You hung out inside. I wondered where you’d gone. Then I saw rainbow pants but only for a second. Then they disappeared again. I saw red glasses for a flash. I saw sock feet for a moment. I saw sparkle shoes and a green dinosaur. They also disappeared again.

And reappeared and disappeared again and again.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Someone had the idea to leave. You know I think that leaving should be against the rules. I think you should all stay. I do not like when you leave. I refuse to let you leave.

Uh oh, you left. You didn’t stay. One person stayed. They had been building a house. They worked together with another person. They figured out how to weave pink yarn to create walls. They wove in blue yarn too.

They added sticks. They worked for a long time. They worked hard. I felt happy when they took a break and sat next to me.

Love,
Teacher Michelle