October 20, 1999: Tunia is so excited to be at Gearity School. She is glad to see all of the children in Room 104. She likes visiting Cleveland Heights in Ohio. It is very nice. She likes the leaves here in fall because they are so colorful - red, orange, yellow, green, and brown. They change color for the season and become crunchy because they lose their moisture. Tunia went to Gearity Garden, also. She posed for some pictures with the children. She is having a good time here in Room 104.

Tunia poses near some flowers in the Gearity Garden. Her friends in Room 104 stand nearby.

October 26, 1999:Tunia had some excitement last Friday. She really likes to go outside as that is what she is used to. Well, all of the students knew that Tunia liked to sit in the garden. Friday started out as a beautiful sunny day. They thought it would be nice to leave her out in the garden for awhile. Then all of a sudden, the clouds got dark, then very dark, then black and a lot of fear came over everyone. All of a sudden, it seemed like the sky opened up and it started to hail. The hail was the size of dimes. It could have really hurt Tunia if she didn't find shelter under a leafy plant! Just then, someone from Mrs. Strom's class yelled, "We left Tunia sunning in the garden!"

Mrs. Strom was quick to put their mind at ease. "No! Boys and girls, I brought her back in." The students were so happy that Tunia was all right. They are getting quite attached to her! They hate to see her leave next week.

October 27, 1999: Today Tunia learned so much about the Gearity School grounds. In front of the school are some sweet gum trees. They have a star-shaped leaf with five points. They turn red in the fall. They have a seed pod about the size of a golf ball and it has little pointed spikes all over it. A long time ago in pioneer times, the bark was peeled off and the underside of the bark was scraped off and chewed like gum. That is how it got its name. Sometimes the "gum" was used as medicine. Tunia loved the marigolds in the Gearity Garden. They are orange and yellow. The lady who does the garden allows the flowers to die and the seeds die and the plants come back in the spring. There are also lots of maple trees in this area. It has been fun learning at Gearity School.

October 28, 1999: Today Tunia took a nature walk with this class. They saw a leaf on the sweet gum tree and it looked like a star. Then they saw a woodpecker pecking on the wood. Then they saw some trees and they were oak trees. The students and Tunia had a great time.

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