Category: Uncategorized

Dear Oak,

On our adventure walk, we’d reached the u-turn in the path. I saw a big patch of cattails and wanted to go investigate. A half dozen (that’s six) of you came with me. Below us, we could see Cache Creek. Its waters meandered among the rocks and a big tire.

Someone imagined a car was driving nearby and their wheel must have fallen off and rolled there. They wanted to go down into the creek. They had their rain boots on. I explained that at Cache Creek, we had to have life vests on to put our feet in the water. It was suggested that we all go home and then purchase life vests.

Someone else felt like that it wasn’t that much water. I explained that what we could see wasn’t that much, but it was a creek that went miles one way and miles the other way and that was a lot more water than say a puddle where we could splash around in our boots.

People discussed getting across the creek to the other side. There were so many good ideas for getting across using logs and stepping stones and other ideas. But what would we do when we got to the other side? It was a wall of cattails. A few people pointed out a small opening. They thought we could crawl through that small opening.

I imagined that a small animal could, but some of us were much too big. Then we all gathered together and walked back to the big steep hill.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

At Morning Meeting, there were two grownups that were all dressed up in their fancy clothes. Our grownups usually stay for Morning Meeting when they can, and then they come inside the yard with us. We choose where we want to sit at the snack table. They sometimes help us open our snacks.

Sometimes they play with us for a few minutes or read to us too. This morning the two fancy dressed grownups couldn’t stay for Morning Meeting. They felt sad that they had to go and miss news and counting and our cheer and showing us how they packed our snacks with love.

Whatever reason they had to go, it must have been important because they missed all these fun things and they were dressed all fancy too. I wondered if it was a meeting with the unicorns. Unicorns are fancy, and I heard Unicorns feel angry when someone arrives late.

Amanda wondered if they were meeting with a King and Queen. Kings and Queens require people to be fancy and on time, or they send you to the dungeon. Sometimes grownups have important meetings, and it’s just with other grownups like them, and it’s all just ordinary.

Then it’s sooooooooooo sad. Gerald, the elephant, sad. Poor grownups having to leave Rainbow School for ordinary old important meetings and grownup stuff.

I wonder what you think.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

The sun shone. Shoes came off. Jackets came off. Hats came off. Ninjas roamed the yard, making ninja moves, jumping over the light and staying in the shadows. That’s why you might not have seen them.

One of the ninjas was missing his sword but remembered where they left it. They’d left it at the outer gate of Rainbow School and had it retrieved. It was large and heavy and sharp. I wonder if they were ninja helper warriors.

I think so because I didn’t see a single sun monster today, and I believe the ninjas banished them all.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Our visitor today had a plan. They were going to move the sandbox mountain using the front loader. It was slow going. Others came to help. Then they switched to a bucket and a scoop. Once they’d filled the bucket, instead of moving the sand from the mountain to a low spot, they smoothed a spot and made a sand castle.

The sand castle crumbled. They figured they needed more water. Then one of you helped add water to the sand. I kept trying to move the mountain. I made my hands into a front loader. Then I used my big feet. One of you came to help me.

I was booming the mountain with my feet. In the Hello/Goodbye Yard I jumped. I invited you to climb on me. You did. All of these things help me feel good in my body. Sometimes when we don’t feel good in our bodies, we boom. These are things I do instead. Some of us wear head phones to help. I wonder what you do.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Wilder Fridays,

We crossed over the long bridge. Clip clop clip. Geese flew through the air honking their hellos. Geese swam in pairs on the water. Clip clop clip. We reached the bench island at the end of the bridge and discovered that it was a goose toilet. We were all glad we were wearing our rubber boots.

Someone asked if they could run. I started to run in answer, and a few of you ran with me. The clip clops were loud and fast as we ran. You discovered the pebbles on the mainland. You had an idea. Pebbles rained over the railing, plop plip plop, into the water below. Little round waves rippled out from all the pebbles.

A few of us were seeing if we could find larger stones and throw them across the water to reach the nearest grass island. You said that I had a static rock and that I needed a dynamic rock like yours. My rock was smooth. Your rock had a jagged edge.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

It’s not a box. It’s a castle, a train car, a dino cage? I wonder what it could be? It’s big. It looks cozy with all those blankets. Thunk! It thunks when you hit it. Thunk! It thunks when you kick it.

What happens when you thunk it with a stick. Oh. That looks like a hole, a small hole. Oh. That looks like the sides are starting to fall in. Pause, a second.

We took a survey. All but two of us decided that we still wanted to play with the large, cozy thing that’s not a box, so we found some boxes to thunk and poke. They weren’t quite as much fun to thunk and poke.

There’s the sandbox. It’s not a sandbox. I wonder what it could be.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

Three engineers engineered a project. You talked, planned, revised, tested, and worked together. It was a big project. I think maybe you used every block. It was close to being as tall as you, and it was long too. It went almost from the stop sign, past the tree, up Rainbow Mountain.

You used the ball to test it out. Then you made changes and tested again. You worked and worked and worked. One of you announced, “It’s a ramp.”

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

We were going on a walk. I noticed that two of you had collected things in the barn, so we went closer to inspect. You were striking the flint with a rock to start a fire. You had a big pile of firewood.

You introduced me to your pet. I wondered if you had a pet T-Rex, a pet ghost, a pet???

It was your pet ghost. You were going to roast and feed it marshmallows. Then there was sticky marshmallow goo all over the ghost. Your pet ghost had a mouth. That’s how it could eat roasted marshmallows and say Boooooooo!

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Mulberry,

Have you ever felt a ghost? I have. Today, in the yard, there were ghosts. They flew around. OOOOooooooo! They cried. That’s how I knew there were ghosts, more than one.

I’ve been told that ghosts have no hands, so they can’t grab you or hold lasers. I’ve been told that ghosts have no mouths, so they can’t eat you. I was thinking, cool, I don’t need to worry. And then, a ghost flew through me. And another and another, again and again.

It felt strange. I wonder how you would describe what it feels like to have a ghost fly through you.

Love,
Teacher Michelle

Dear Oak,

I slept in Mom’s bed. Me: Where did your Mom sleep?
She was there. Me: Did she sleep on the floor?
No, it’s a big bed. She slept in the bed too. So did Dad. So did In. Me: There were four in the bed?

Someone else described sleeping five in the bed. Someone said they went to their mom’s bed when they were scared. Me: I had a blue bear pillow.

We’d been roaring like lions and bears, so I explained how my blue bear roared and scared the scary things away when I was little. We practiced roaring some more. Someone told me about having a singing goose that sang Itsy Bitsy Spider and made Zombie TRex Bad guys fall asleep. After they fall asleep, you throw them in the trash.

This sounded like something I should definitely have. Then .. there was the singing sword.

And then someone told me about a dream they had, and we started talking about dreams and dream catchers.

Love,
Teacher Michelle