What opportunities does having students on the east coast and west coast offer for our observation of and appreciation for nature? The nature around us is always changing with the seasons from Philly to California. With it, our experiences as a class have changed- the days have gotten shorter and longer, our class traditions have been created- from Shalom Chaverim on the Avocado (my mandolin), to our class “Stretch and Share” to start each day. Each of these things has their time in the flow of our learning together.
Making time holy is the focus of our next unit for Makom @ Home- the book of Kohelet (Eccelesiastes), well known for its text stating “for everything there is a season, a time for everything under the sun”. We took to exploring this idea by recounting all the seasons of our year. What were the colors of fall? The sounds of winter? The feelings of summer?
- In spring I feel happy, free, and a little sneezy.
- I feel ok in spring- my allergies get real bad.
- In summer I’m scared of bees.
- In winter I remember I had a big snowball fight.
We experienced each of these seasons one at a time. What were the visual parts of that season? What were the colors we thought about with them? What were the sounds?
- The colors of fall are red and yellow and orange and sometimes a little pink.
- I think of the taste of hot cocoa and watching a movie with my family in the winter.
- The flag of winter would be blue and green and white and yellow.
Just as we said hello to each of these seasons in their time, we also had to say goodbye. Marking the end of each of them in their time.
- I think that wintertime during Covid was really hard. I’m ok with leaving that behind.
- It’s hard to be in the wintertime. Having to have wet clothes on.
- I’m glad it’s not always snowing.
We recognized that there are all kinds of things during the seasons that we love, but certainly have their time for us to experience and that’s enough. If we had snow all the time, we wouldn’t be as excited to see the first snowfall of the year, if it was always hot it wouldn’t be the same the first time we heard the ice cream truck.
As we sing Shalom Chaverim at the end of the day we can think back on all the different times of day we’ve done this tefillah in. In the beginning of the year we could look outside and watch the leaves fall. In the winter you couldn’t see a thing as it had gotten dark hours before. Now we sing and look out at the buds on the trees and flowers in full bloom. Each of these moments had their own joy about them; they each had their season. Because they had their time we noticed their holiness.