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Tracks in the Snow
Poems continue to inspire thought – Wanderings and Wonderings Snow reveals the passing tracks of those that have come before us, if only for a brief moment But I wonder what other tracks go unnoticed when snow is not there to remind us Following, leading, erasing Walking, crawling, slithering, running, leaping Away from and towards Paths converging and pulling apart Prints in the snow How many other humans AND nonhumans have stood where I stand Neither alone nor lonely Waiting watching listening Who/what has walked these place before What might these tracks tell us about the presences of others Being and belonging in a multispecies world “Poetry shuts out the…
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Where does the charcoal live?
November 16, 2018 It all started with a question: Where does the charcoal live? On a cold, snowy November day, the children and educators decide to walk to the forest and venture on a quest looking for charcoal. The children scamper around the forest paths with big smiles on their faces, oblivious to the cold. They’re so well wrapped up in thermal and waterproof layers and so engaged with their outdoor experience, they seem to hardly notice the weather. Snow covers the forest floor in layers. As the children walk up the trail, they come upon a tree that fell a few months ago. We know this trunk. We visited…
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Slowing Down and Embracing the Silence
Working with charcoal and paper was a beautiful, albeit messy, way to slow down and pay attention for everyone. I noticed moments of true connection between the children and educators that I did not necessarily notice before the introduction of the paper and charcoal. I noticed Katlyn slow down and spend serious time quietly making strong connections with the children while they engaged with charcoal. There were beautiful connections between educator and children as they explored how charcoal made marks, how it made dust, how it was messy, but that messy bit on our hands could be turned into new mark making. At one moment it was so calm and…
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Mushrooms and tracks
Our small group ventured out to the forest this morning. We left the centre with an intention to link our experiences with the charcoal to the forest. Our experiences from the day before lingered with ideas of mark making, tracks and circular marks on the paper. We set out to pay attention and notice these connections on our walk in the forest. At first our walk was fast paced, and the children quickly moved. We had to intentionally pause and slow down. I stopped at a puddle where a large impression was embedded into a mud puddle, drawing the children to come back, pause and look at what we had…
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Searching the Forest for Charcoal
November 1 Today we divided the classes into two groups. One would remain in the classroom and continue their charcoal markings and the other group would be given the opportunity to see if they could find charcoal in the forest. During the previous days, the children had been encouraged to consider connections between the forest and the charcoal. Many of their charcoal creations expressed these interconnections. The group of children venturing outside seemed highly motivated for the opportunity to pursue charcoal in the forest. They eagerly anticipated such encounters. When we got to the forest, the children searched in many spaces for traces of charcoal. Some children located dark-looking wood…
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Slowing Down Time Through Charcoal Encounters
I wonder about time… We live fast-paced lives instilled early on to talk fast, move on, check in but something keeps happening to me during these intra-actions that move us into a different time zone where a minute can become an hour. During the charcoal encounters, which often happen with a single child, I lose track of time. I don’t remember what else was happening or who else was there. I am caught trying to remember when it happened – before or after the walk? All I can remember is an intensity -that distinct squeaking sound. It is less disturbing than scratching a chalkboard but it makes my inner ear…
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An Invitation to Slowing Down, Paying Attention and the Art of Noticing
October 30, 2018 We are inviting the children to engage in the arts of slowing down, paying attention, and noticing. Because the children and educators are interested in visiting and sharing stories about the nearby forest, we want to extend what happens in the forest into the classroom. For the past few months, we have been observing children’s engagement (even fascination) with sticks/branches/logs in the forest. To connect to children’s interests, we are inviting children to explore charcoal and paper. It matters deeply what materials we invite into our classroom. Paper and charcoal link us directly to forests—they start in forests… The sticks that children are fascinated with become charcoal…
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The liveliness of charcoal
The invitation to slow down, notice and pay attention to the liveliness of which charcoal offers and the potential connections to the beloved forest, sparked many thoughts of practicality and curiosity in my self as an educator. Lines began to move rapidly from one place to another, offering the extension of a line from one being to another, waiting for the line of travels to connect to the feet of ones body. Charcoal moved with the bodies in fast pace, with gentle pressure to the paper, slowing down was not offered through the children’s bodies but from the noticing of the marks left behind as the charcoal travelled across the…
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The Experience
Lines began to move rapidly from one place to another, offering the extension of a line from one being to another, waiting for the line of travels to connect to the feet of one’s body. Charcoal moved with the bodies in fast pace, with gentle pressure to the paper. Slowing down was not offered through the children’s bodies, but from the noticing of the marks left behind as the charcoal travelled across the paper. Fingers pushed tiny pieces of charcoal, but the creation of dark, thick lines moving from beneath fingers was noticed. How could such a small fragment offer such darkness? Intricate and thoughtful up and down movements with…
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The Beginnings
We would like to propose that together we focus on the arts of slowing down, paying attention, and noticing. hat it might mean for us to support children to notice and slow down when we go to the forest. How might we invite children to slow down rather than “consume” everything they find/see in the forest? How do we invite children to focus, slow down, and notice? If a child picks up a stick, we might become curious about what it is about this particular stick (and not others). Can we stay with what children notice about this stick (and challenge them to think beyond) rather than moving on to…
