A Captivating Place

As we have been learning about and celebrating the beauty of trees, we have been musing over an oversized book titled The Life and Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell. It is filled with large color drenched photos of trees--- in every season, growing in places all over the earth. The children have been both fascinated and mesmerized by the images!

One day we came upon a photo that awed and excited the collective imagination of the class. The children asked if we could go on a field trip to this place, to be in this magical setting. (The photo, below, doesn't do justice to the image in the book, but you can get an idea of why we were literally drawn into this life-giving place.) We decided to visit it in our imaginations, feel the enchantment, and write about it. The photo inspired us to think about color, shape, sound, texture, temperature, moistness, comfort, conscious delight and the magic of dreamtime. The children created a story together that every child had a part in telling. The children moved from the past tense to the present as they experienced this place springing forth from their sense of wonder.

"Once upon a time we found a big, good place of moss and grass and fallen leaves under a big tree. We went and laid down on the moss and pulled our blankets over us."(SB) "We looked up."(GD) "We see leaves and sky and sun."(KiA) "Sometimes a leaf drops and we make the shape with our hands."(AW) "The moss under us is soft and cool and dry."(EP) "We feel sleepy We close our eyes."(AB) "We feel dreamy."(KaA) "We dream about stars."(VR) "And afterward we have a picnic."(SB)

beautiful!

Judith