Category: Uncategorized

Dear Mulberry,

One of our classmates is feeling anxious and sad about goodbyes. I do not like goodbyes. At our goodbye song, another classmate suggested we sing hello instead. I like hello.

I was sitting on the stump when one person decided to leave. I wanted them to stay. I asked them to stay. I suggested we eat cake. Someone brought cake. They left. I cried. I worried that they wouldn’t come back.

They came back. I smiled a big smile. They told me that they had just gone around the circle. I forgot all my goodbye feelings and felt all the warmth and vibration of hello. I wonder what you feel.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

You filled up the big blue tub with water holding the hose in the tub. Then you lifted the hose and the water gushed against the tub. Water droplets flew back at you. You put the hose back into the tub. You lifted it up. Again the water gushed against the tub, and droplets flew.

Then you moved to the other side of the tub and lowered and lifted the hose. Water puddles were beginning to form around your feet. When the water was turned off, you found a scoop and scooped sand into the water in the blue tub.

There was sand lying all around the big blue tub for scooping. You suggested putting a scoop of the sand from around the big blue tub in the sandbox. Sandbox sand belongs in the sandbox. Then there’s sandbox sand for everyone. Moon sand belongs in the big red tub. Then there’s moon sand for everyone.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

I love being with all of you on Wilder Fridays at Cache Creek. We hadn’t been on an adventure walk since the snakes woke up from their winter nap. Lynne led us on one today because she knows how not to surprise and scare the snakes in case we met one. We didn’t.

We explored poop. The goose toilet had a lot of goose poop. On the way, one person stopped and pointed to some poop. It was pebbly with bits of plants in it. Later, someone else noticed some very furry poop.

Lynne told us it was coyote poop. They lick themselves and there’s always a lot of fur in their poop. I wondered if some of the fur was from what the coyote ate. Two people looked for a stick as we walked towards the parking lot. They found one and wanted to go back to poke around in the poop.

There was so much fur in the poop that it was hard to break the poop apart even. We were hoping to find bones in the poop.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

Eight of us like spicy food. Two did not. Eight of us like sour food. Two did not. Some of us can do some things others would like to do but cannot yet. We’re alike, and we’re different. You are the only you.

Today, one of us climbed the tree. Soon, another person followed to the top of the triangle but not quite to the tree. Another person tried, and another person tried.

Today, one of us had a long stick. Long sticks need a lot of space. Sticks are fun to figure out how to carry around while we play, the longer the stick, the trickier the fun. So of course, another person wanted to try out this stick carrying thing, and they grabbed the stick.

We climb trees. We carry sticks. We eat spicy food. We eat sour food. We get ideas from each other about things we’d like to try and even ideas about what we don’t want to try. You are the only you.

I do not like it when someone tries to take something from me. The person with the stick didn’t either. Still, we care for ourselves and each other. I wasn’t there when the stick was grabbed. Here’s what I would have said, “They are using that stick, I bet we could find another stick for you.” I wonder what you would do.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

I was invited to make something yummy in the sandbox. Then they changed their mind and invited me to the kitchen. I went to get a crate to sit on, and by the time I got back two others were cooking in the kitchen too. Later one more joined.

You all took care of yourselves, each other, of me, and our things. The first person didn’t want to cook with the others, so she made me juice all on her own. The other two worked out whether to cook together or each make their own thing too. They each made their own. They figured out how to share tools, take turns getting water, and to make room for everyone.

The last person to join helped get the water from the pump for cooking and cleaning. I pumped. They held the canister. When it was full, they took the water to the cooks. Both cooks wanted the water, and they figured out one first and then the next.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

We read a book authored and illustrated by 5 and 6 year-olds. So cool. I wonder if you’ve written a book. Anyway, in the book, they asked what you liked to eat. Some people said crackers and one person said goldfish and another said all the yummy things.

Then they asked what you liked to play. Two people said chase, and two people said run-away, and one person said that they liked to play in the mud and sand.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

We had jumping morning news without any jumping, at first. Then you jumped on one foot to the gate. I tried. I jumped on one foot but then stopped. I thought better of it. I wasn’t wearing jumping shoes.

You jumped on one foot across the pit on Mud Mountain. You jumped from Book Nook and Shop and said it didn’t work. Then someone else came along. I asked if they had balanced on the beam at the next to top level or the one below. They answered, next to the top and that they could jump from there too.

They jumped. I noticed the loose board on the lower level and worried if you brushed against it as you jumped that it could pop up and boom you. You were not worried, but the other jumper worked to show you just how it wasn’t attached and could do the very thing.

You seemed disappointed at the removal of that lower board. You jumped. I wonder how it felt to you to be able to jump on one foot and to jump from so high.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

The slime was very slimy. It stuck on the wooden table. It got on the animals, and the animals got stuck in it. Bits of the slime found its way out of the red bin onto the ground where it picked up dirt and mulberry flowers.

The slime stuck to palms and fingers, shirtsleeves, and the bottoms of shoes. I wonder if you got slimed today?

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

Maegan shared a memory of when she was in preschool. This is a special memory to carry for so long. She remembers going on a treasure hunt at her school for a leprechaun’s pot of gold. According to Maegan, the leprechaun only shows up once a year on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.

The leprechaun must have known Maegan would be at Rainbow School. They’d hidden a pot of gold and left clues. Maegan read the clue, and off you went to find a bike, a tree, a red car, a big chair. At each, there was another clue.

The last clue was something green and sour that you like to eat. Right away, you solved the clue and dashed to a patch between the Pine Forest and the Music Garden. There it was, a gleaming pot of gold.

I feel like sour grass, leprechauns, and the color green are all parts of this St. Patrick’s Day. I wonder what you noticed about this day or if you have memories too.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Big brother didn’t want you to catch his little sister. You asked her if you could chase her. She said yes. Her brother still didn’t want you to catch her. You answered that you would only chase her.

There was discussion about you running faster than her which would mean that you would probably catch her. Someone suggested that you run slower. You argued that when you slowed down you stopped and demonstrated this.

They demonstrated running slowly in place to illustrate how it might be done.

Love,
Teacher Michelle