Before lunch on Thursday last week we took a walk outside to look for signs of winter. We used all our senses to see, hear, smell, taste (we made sure the ice was clean!) and feel signs of winter and then compared them to the signs of fall we had seen. Because many signs of winter are unable to be glued to paper, we completed our poster with drawings. I consider myself lucky to be reminded by the children on a daily basis how much joy there is in little things. They were all so thrilled to look at snow and describe how it sparkled, to stomp in the ice and think about whether it was easy or hard, to look for prints in the snow that might belong to a bear and to stand still for a minute to listen to what winter sounds like. They were enthusiastic to be outside and breathing the cool air into their lungs and looking to see if it made clouds as we breathed it out. And spotting a few crows sitting on a telephone wire just as we were deciding whether all birds hibernated, flew south or did something else through the winter months caused the children to shout and jump in excitement and changed their minds about all birds heading for warmer climes at the first hint of snow. The next time you're outside, just for a second, appreciate some signs of winter and capture a bit of the pleasure we felt just being outdoors today.
