Category: Uncategorized

Dear Oak,

Glorious. Just glorious. The sun was shining. The birds twittered, chirped, cheeped. I wonder if you heard other bird sounds. One person asked if we could go on an adventure walk. They surveyed all the other children. They got six yes votes and three no votes.

Then, I heard about the rattlesnakes not only being awake but out and about eating. Of course, they must be hungry. They’ve been dormant for five months. Since we are in their homes, I wanted to let them eat without having to worry about us. They are afraid we might hurt them.

So we stayed at our home base. Once they have been out and about eating their fill, the rattlesnakes will retreat a little though we could still surprise one. We’ll all have to agree to rattlesnake rules before going on an adventure walk:

• Keep one adult in front of you
• Keep one adult behind you
• Walk where you can see your feet and not where the grass or plants hide your feet.
• If you see or hear a snake, stop and stay where you are until the snake crawls away.

Love,

Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

You were swinging on the tire swing. First, it was one. Then, it was two. Then, it was four people on the swing. You had to figure out how to fit all the knees. Four pairs of knees are eight. You swung high. You spoke of riding horses.

I wondered if it was a flying unicorn like the one from Rainbow Rocket News. Someone asked to spin. You were spinning and flying. I caught sight of a face going pale, looking unhappy. I stopped the spin, slowed the swing, checked in on everyone’s heads and tummies.

We talked about how some people don’t like spinning and some people do. Some noises bother people that don’t bother others. I don’t like the sounds of fans or spinning.

Someone said they were scared of the dark, and I said that I used to keep my closet light on with the door open a little bit. They said that if you kept the light on for a really long time it would go out.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak and Mulberry,

Today, Oak practiced how to be safe if there was a fire. Tomorrow, Mulberry will practice. Our school has fire alarms. If there’s smoke, the alarm will make a loud sound. I rang a bell.

We practiced. Ryan got the shoe bin. Victoria got the sign-in binder. We all lined up at the yellow triangle. The grownups need to make sure the back gate isn’t locked, so we can get out quickly. It was locked. Thank you for the practice. Now we know to check the locks each day.

Once I opened the gate, everyone gathered outside the gate. Ryan pointed out that we will want to move across the alley to the fence on the other side before we stop to put shoes on. Good point. Thank you for the practice. Now we know to keep moving until we reach the neighbor’s fence.

Then we checked to make sure we didn’t leave anyone behind. You answered, “Here.” There were ten children. Everyone found a hand to hold before we moved on. We walked holding hands to the corner where we stopped and counted again, “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.” We had everyone.

Everyone found a hand to hold again. Almost everyone held a hand and walked back to the Hello Goodbye Yard and waited for one more count to make sure no one was left behind. You helped each other remember.

A few people in the front were excited to be back and ran all the way into school. Uh oh. Thank you for the practice. Now we know to check in to make sure everyone knows what to do before we leave the corner.

Everyone gathered in our Hello Goodbye Yard. We counted one more time: “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.” Hooray! At Rainbow School, we know how to be fire safe, to take care of ourselves and each other.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

Three of you were climbing. You had one long ropish thing you were using. One person held one end at the top of the slide or from the deck over the rail. And called for another to grab the other side.

You were testing out how to use the ropey thing to help each other climb. A couple of times you pulled the person at the top of the slide down. A couple of times someone from the bottom of the slide made it almost to the top grabbing on to the ropish thing and pulling hand over hand.

And then whoosh, back belly slide down to the bottom again. From the deck over the rail, the person on the deck pulled the rope hand over hand while the other person climbed. It took lots of tries to work out that idea. One or the other dropping the rope.

All three of you worked together, calling out your ideas and testing and changing the ideas as you went.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

“Come in here,” you motioned. I came in. There was also an octopus there. And another person came over to join us. You hung upside down. They hung upside down. The octopus hung upside down. You were all bats.

They noticed a spider. The octopus wanted you to know that spiders have eight legs, and octopi have eight arms. It was a jumping spider. We talked about black widows. They’re helping spiders too.

Then I noticed a bug on their shirt. It walked very fast and was hard to keep track of but seemed to like being on them. We think it was a banded alder borer beetle. As it sped towards their face, I offered my hand to crawl on.

The bug accepted. It went on to crawl on someone else and then on Brittany before we relocated it to a plant. I wonder where it is now.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

You pulled Toby the Tram Car up the hill and wriggled him through the tunnel and down the hill Toby flew. It was tricky to pull Toby through. Toby was tall. Someone else came over to drive the trains around the track.

I handed them tracks so the line could go further. They laid the tracks. Then the trains went around and under the tall bridge which was really a table.

We heard the train whistle blow. I wonder if it’s a passenger train or a cargo train. Who could be riding? What could the train carry?

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

All four spaces on the swing were being used. The swing was heavy. I wondered what you’d been eating. Something big. Pumpkins? Anyway, you were all talking at one time very loudly trying to get the attention of the others. You laughed.

I sang Zoom Zoom Zoom. Then you took it over. You went to the Cheese Moon. What were the other places you went again? Then you began to make funny rhymes like dino and fino and scoop and well you can imagine what rhymes with scoop. I don’t have to say it.

And heart and… Whoops, that’s another rhyme I’ll just let you create in your head. Nooooo. Don’t say it outloud.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

The camper had climbed to the top of the piano. You looked like you might follow, but they looked like they were climbing down. Then, you saw a bee on the ground. Soon lots of others had come to look at the bee. I thought the bee was dead, but then we saw one of its legs moving.

Someone gently tried to move it with a twig, and the bee clung to the twig. We talked about how bees help grow the food we eat and how if they lose their stinger they die. We talked about how sometimes it’s time to let animals go and how we can help them die gently so they don’t suffer.

The camper decided it was the bee’s time and quickly smooshed them. You used a leaf to pick up the bee, and another helped me bury the bee. We said thank you before placing the bee in the hole we dug and covering them.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

I don’t know whether to write to you about the octopus, the whale, the shark, the giant sea spider, the cave, and the really fast boat, or to write to you about puzzles. I think puzzles. Some of the other things are a bit too scary. Maybe you can tell your grownup about them.

I love puzzles, and today at the start of the day, you and I worked on the puzzle together. I looked for all the sky pieces and you attached them together in one long row. Then you noticed someone on the triangle ladder by the circle swing and joined them. But the puzzle wasn’t finished.

The puzzle sat unfinished all morning. I love puzzles, and I kept hoping someone would finish this one. It feels good to put that last piece in. Then finally at the end of the day, a few of you joined me. We looked for the blue pieces, the green pieces, the red pieces, and the black pieces. Then we looked for all the pieces with wheels.

One of you put the pieces into the puzzle. Finally, you put that last piece in. Then people rode the train to the North Pole. I wonder how your grownups got there to pick you up.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

“No. No. We’re making a huge trap,” you say, running back and forth to the sink with your soap bottle. Someone confirmed soap is slippery. You blocked the start and the finish with rocks, and you were growing the soap puddle bigger and bigger, the concrete darkening and the groups of bubbles spreading.

“Let’s make it super duper hard, right? We got to do it super duper hard. We’re making a trap. Mosquitoes might land in here, right?

Love,
Teacher Michelle