Deep Into Winter
Hello everyone,
It was a short but very full week this week, and we made the most of it. On Tuesday we started our new unit on ice and snow. We had some great fun enjoying the new wealth of snow from the weekend! We went sledding, and read A Thing Called Snow.
On Wednesday we had a pretty epic adventure slogging through the snow all the way to the forest. The temps were relatively warm, but the wind was strong and the journey was arduous because of the largely unbroken snow. It was really done in very good spirits though for the most part, even if we were pretty late getting back to school. While on the journey we watched the snow blowing in amazing clouds and patterns off the top of the field, and in the forest we heard wind and watched the trees sway. We read The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story, and had a cooperative imagining game pretending to be snowflakes and water droplets moving through the water cycle. Here’s Harper hitching a ride to the forest.
On Thursday we make fruit popsicles (which didn't freeze fully by the end of the day so we will eat them on Monday), and read The Snowy Day. We had a snow adventure and played in the giant snowbank out front. Roan and I had dug a tunnel on Wednesday afternoon that they all climbed through, and then we all worked together to dig a new tunnel. It was pretty exciting. Many of us knew the Winnie the Pooh story where he gets stuck in Rabbit's doorway after eating too much honey, and this became an impromptu game in the tunnels. Then we went inside and talked about colors and shapes, and made some sparkly, puffy paint pictures inspired by Jack Ezra Keats' illustrations in The Snowy Day. A fun week!
This time of year wears on all of us. Winter is a testing time for everyone, but those of us who spend a lot of time outside in it can really feel it in our bodies. The cold makes you tired. Being outside in it really brightens your day and your mood, but it requires some extra resting and restoring time later on. Try to help your child, (and yourself), take some extra time for resting, restoring and just being during this season if you can.
We had some very cool wildlife sightings this week, including lots of tracks in the snow, a large red tail hawk eating a squirrel in a tree, then being immediately mobbed by crows and chased away. We found the squirrel remains later, but then those also disappeared. I suspect the crows.
Next week we will continue to talk about ice and snow. Temps should be much like those of this week, cold in the am and warming up to 20s during the day, with a possibility of warmer temps and snow on Tuesday.
Stay warm this weekend, and may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful, and may you be filled with joy.