Author: Membership Coordinator

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

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