Burning Tree Ceremony

Hopes, dreams, wishes and fears.

"my wishes are coming true! my wishes are coming true!" O aged 5

We began the term with a ritual to say goodbye to things we don't want any more and to point to the things we want more of in our lives, to mark the New Year and point to some choices we have in our lives.

We invited the children to write what they wanted to say good bye to one one side of the paper and what they wanted more of on the other.

I “lots of lego, chessboard, monopoly, fruit and money”

O “I LOVE MY MUM and I would like more transformers”

I “I don’t want my Daddy to go to work anymore”

E “I want to say goodbye to Daddy going to work”

O “I want Daddy to stay at home so I can do flips on him every day”

"Look that's London Bridge" O aged 5 "Yes that's London Bridge" I aged 6

We made a fire ritual by wrapping string around our old Christmas tree and attaching the notes to it. We made it a fire ritual, because we wanted to give the children another opportunity to see and think about fire. We have noticed an interest in fire and what it might be. The interest started one day, in the woods when M said "You would think that fire wouldn't hurt you one little bit, because it looks like it's just lightening coloured air, but actually it would hurt you a lot"

When we mentioned this to M's Dad he told us that scientist don’t actually know everything about fire and what it is.

When we told the children what M had said about “lightening coloured air” and what his Dad said about scientists not knowing all about fire, as we sat in front of the log burning stove, everyone had a theory about fire.

Ev describes fire as ‘whisps’

I “very very dangerous”

D “coloured electricity” El “ I think its made of teeny tiny microbes that’s made of air that can hurt you”

H “ Fire must be… everything is made up of the same thing” 

D “fire is made out of electricity” 

H “I think it’s atoms, everything is made of atoms” 

D “ Atoms just fall from the sky and make electricity” 

H “ You need a really strong microscope, microbes are made of atoms” 

Kathryn, D’s mum when we spoke to her about it said “ It sounds like they are ready for a trip to Cern”

As we watch the burning Christmas tree, more theories emerge, some are built upon and passed around. We might be dealing with the idea of knowledge being ‘contagious’. We want to give the children plenty of time so that the whole group comes to be aware of each other’s ideas.

O “Fire is light but with hot heat”

H “Fire is sparks made by two things rubbing together”

D “Maybe fire is lots of little atoms put together that burn”

H “Everything is atoms”

D “It’s heat mixed with light and atoms”

O “It’s heat and light”

E “ Think it’s hot, very very very bad stuff for your body, its flamey and big”

M “Red, red air!”