WPNS News

Dear Mulberry,

You had a plan. You were going to use the trap to keep the grownups from leaving school, and you were going to keep me trapped at the gate without any sticks. Only, you did let the grownups leave. Your grownup had already left.

I was trapped though. You told me, “5 minutes.” I groaned. I moaned. “5 minutes is forever.” While I waited I planted sticks in the dirt. Then, you took the sticks. You had a whole bouquet of sticks. I felt frustrated. Aaargh.

Someone tried to rescue me from the trap. Someone brought me sticks. You didn’t want me to be rescued. You shared your sticks with me. You made me cupcakes with sprinkles. Then you gave me a laser to save us from the pumpkin thrower.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Welcome Au to Oak class! We’re so glad you’ve come to play with us. Today, there was a gecko egg. There were three baby geckos inside the egg. There might have been only two according to one of the babies because one was the mama gecko.

There was a narrator. The narrator tells the story. In the story, there was a snake that ate the egg. One of the babies left the egg just in time and froze the snake. Out rolled the egg. Now it was covered in snake slobber.

Later, people came and buried the gecko egg. If the geckos stay in the egg too long, they will die. Another person came along and unburied the egg, and another baby left the egg.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oaks & Mulberries,

Thank you for bringing all the yummy food, the squash, potatoes, corn, onions, herbs, lentils, carrots, celery, bread, butter, broth to share with us and to make our stone soup delicious. Thank you for the chopping and peeling, the pouring and handfuls and pinches, and the smashing. Thank you for finding the stones this week. 

Helping and sharing made our soup magical. The best part was sitting down with all of you and your grownups and guests to devour it together for our first all school Stone Soup day.

I love you. See you in December.
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

You jumped sideways from the sand mountain while another Mulberry pushed a log into the mountain on the other side. You said you were going to kick it down, and I thought we should check in with the other Mulberry. They were going to the log pile to bring another log. We asked them what their idea was.

They were going to stand more logs up in the mountain, so you went to go get your own. You lifted the log up over your head saying it was heavy. You rolled a log down the mountain. Both of you worked hard to move all the logs from the log pile into the sandbox.

At one point, you carried four logs over your head all at one time. Soon the whole log pile was in the sandbox. And then you moved the log pile again to the other side of the mountain. You both had many ideas.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

I don’t like goodbyes. I do like hellos. Sometimes someone doesn’t want to stay at Rainbow School. They don’t want to say goodbye. Today, that happened, and one of you came over to check in with them. All of you care for each other. It helped. Soon the person who didn’t want to say goodbye was off building a trap.

The trap was complicated. At first, there were two people working on it. Later, I lost count of how many were working on it. I wonder if you worked on it. I know that some of you were worried that others of you would mess it up. Everyone wanted to help. Sometimes different people have different ideas like how to tie, how long the rope should be, where to tie…

At first, they were only building a trap between the swing set and barn and across one side of the barn. Soon the trap was woven throughout all of Rainbow School.

They started with white rope, then added blue, then added gold, then added pink, a trap of many colors and ideas.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

I looked up as I heard you yell, “L come help.” I wondered what you needed help with. Two people were pulling on one side of a rope in one direction, and you were pulling on the other side. L came to help of course.

The two of you pulled one way. The other two pulled the other way. One on the other side let go. Then that side needed help.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

P.S. E found this leaf footed bug.

Dear Oak,

“I’m making a fairy too.” “I’m making a tree.” “Look at the color I made.” I watched as you scooped the white glue turned orange into the white glue turned green. I thought it would become brown, but the green stayed green. You tried adding a few more scoops of orange.

The orange glue dripped in a line across the butterfly and the fairy. No matter how many scoops of orange you added, the green stayed green. You used the green glue in splotches and swishes almost covering the brown paper.

Later you stuck different treasures to the glue. I put it in the kitchen to dry.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

“Teacher Michelle, come look at this.” I followed you to Mud Mountain. We were wearing our rain gear, staying dry, and taking care of ourselves. We were being like the road workers and mail and delivery people wearing our rain gear and stuff and working out in the rain. We had on a rain jacket with the hood up. We had on rain pants over the top of our rain boots to keep the water out.

We felt the rain on our faces as we walked, so it feels like you’re getting wet even with all the rain gear on though your body is staying dry.

Once we got near Mud Mountain, you started running. Then you jumped right into the giant muddy puddle at the bottom. When you got out, I jumped too.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

P.S. The slide was super slippery fast. You all went flying down it. A couple of you even climbed up it. And it was too wet to write our news today.

Dear Oak,

Tape is fun! Rainbow color tape is even more fun. It’s tricky to separate a piece from the roll. It’s sticky and sticks to itself. Tape can only be used one time. Once all the tape is used, it’s gone. No more tape. No more tape means no more tape fun. I see you using just what you need, so there will be more tape tomorrow.

Today, you had an excellent idea. I ask you to use tape and scissors at the mark making table. It’s easier to just use what we need there, and the sharp scissors don’t end up where someone might step on them barefoot. Ouch!

I was surprised to see you with the tape and scissors taking care of the babies at the doctor’s office. I didn’t remind you about using the tape and scissors at the mark making table. I watched instead. You had an excellent idea. I had not thought of it. You used the tape to bandage the babies.

I did remind you to only use what you need and to return the scissors and tape when you were done. It’s easy to forget. You took care of the babies, each other, and Rainbow School too.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Let’s decorate ourselves for a party. We can use the stickers. The stickers were sparkly and bright colors. Look, I put on happy stars.

Love,
Teacher Michelle