This week we've been talking about winter and the seasons in general. It's actually still the tail-end of autumn here in Warwickshire, I suppose, but a few hard frosts earlier this month made me think it might be a good time to start discussing snow and hibernation etc.
So we've been learning a few easy songs/rhymes like this:
The North wind doth blow
And we shall have snow
And what will poor Robin do then, poor thing.
He'll sit in the barn
And keep himself warm,
Hiding his head 'neath his wing, poor thing.
These are probably not exactly the right words of that old English nursery rhyme but that's how I remembered them and the sentiment is about right. They always make me think of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, and the song of Winter:
WINTER
When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl:
'Tu-who;
Tu-whit, Tu-who'- A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl:
'Tu-who;
Tu-whit, To-who'- A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
So we talked about that too, and the kids, although not able to understand all the words, did find parts of it amusing! And marvellous too, a real country poem: owls and robins in the snow, shepherds, logs, and even milk frozen in the pail. It has such a lovely verbal texture too, so much rich imagery, Marian's red raw nose and those roasted crabs hissing in the bowl ...
We haven't yet had any snow, and long may it hold off, but here are the kids enjoying the snow last winter. We looked at these photos too and discussed how the children had changed, both physically and in terms of things learnt, how their knowledge of the world and themselves is expanding every year!
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