Noticing the Season

As the season changes from summer to fall, here are a few beautiful pieces to ponder–by yourself or with your students. 

Read and Reflect: One way to cultivate a love of nature and words in ourselves and our students is to read poems about the natural world. Poems can help us see aspects of leaves, or sun, or ice or butterflies, and so on that we might not otherwise notice. Conversely, a general familiarity with nature can make it easier to enjoy the sometimes unfamiliar ways that poems use words.

As the season changes around us, we invite you to enjoy this nature poem, “To Autumn,” by John Keats. Perhaps jot down a few of your favorite lines or sketch an illustration inspired by the poem. What are the hallmarks of autumn near you?

Look: Study the picture to the left. Notice everything you can and try to remember it. Close your eyes. Can you still imagine the picture? Look again. Now look away. Tell everything you remember without looking.

Listen: “Fall” from “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi

Share: What inspired you?

Further Resources:

A Year of Nature Poems
A Nature Poem for Every Night of the Year
Nature Poems Online

Artwork by Priscilla Bell

Priscilla Bell is an artist, wife, mother, and teacher. She and her husband, Nathan Bell, have been married for eleven years and they have two daughters, Rory (8) and Maddie (6). She has experience teaching children in local public schools and private schools in various grade levels. In her years of teaching in those capacities, she became hungry for an education model that would truly meet children where they are and help them soar to new heights. Raised on the methods of Charlotte Mason, she began to dive deeper into her philosophy and in so doing, re-discovered and fell in love with a beautiful and complete model of education that serves the whole child as God designed him – spirit, soul, and body. She founded Blue Willow Tutorial in January, 2020 which functions as a Charlotte Mason homeschool program that meets 4 days a week and offers a liberal arts education using the Alveary.