Winter Weather

We had a fun, mostly rainy and muddy week. This time of year it is especially a gift to be outside. It may not seem like it, considering the weather from inside looking out. The winter darkness is taking its toll right about now. We all feel tired, it's hard to get up and get motivated. It has been rainy for days. At circle when we check in with our bodies and feelings many people have mentioned feeling tired and having missing parents feelings this week in the am. These are natural feelings of uncertainty and vulnerability that winter brings.  Being outside though pulls us out of ourselves on a deep level and provides respite from our own personal feelings. The world invites us to pay attention and look outside of ourselves again and again. It always feels exhilarating to me to experience our fun preschool moments against the backdrop of a grey and relentlessly gloomy day. Moments like the hilarity of playing in puddles, the triumph of cresting a big hill into an open clearing, the excitement of visiting a favorite climbing tree. Fun is had, joy is found, we're having adventures together. We're connecting our bodies and emotional selves with the larger world on a visceral level daily, and as muddy and grumpy as that can be, it is also therapeutic, uplifting, and a great teacher to us about weathering adversity, being in the present moment, and finding comfort and joy in the face of discomfort. Deep learning going on right now.

We continued with our theme of animals in winter and animal adaptations this week. We talked about food scarcity in winter and played a counting, foraging game. We talked about physiological changes in amphibians and other hibernating animals in winter and played an imaginary game where we were buried in mud, (actually quilts), laying very still and quiet until spring. The conifers did some nice journaling. We will begin talking about winter weather and the water cycle next week.