Naked Trees

This morning a group of us were getting ready to finish Margaret's papier mâché balloon. While were were loosening jar lids and unclogging glue bottles, we had an impromptu discussion that started with the weather and went all kinds of places:

Lisa: Do you think the trees notice when it’s this cold outside?
Jossie: Yeah.
Lisa: How do you think it makes them feel?
Jossie: Cooooold.

Lisa: What do they do when they’re cold?
Jossie: They drop their leaves?
Lisa: Why?
Elle: ‘Cause that makes them warm.
Lisa: You think dropping their leaves makes them warmer? Why would that be?
Lou Lou: It makes them warm. 
Elle: No it makes them cold.
Lisa: It’s kinda confusing, right? ‘Cause when they drop their leaves it’s like they’re naked. Does taking off your clothes make you colder or warmer?
Jossie: Colder!
Lisa: Then why do you think they take off their leaves when it gets cold? 
Elle: Naked trees are out! 
[Laughter]
Margaret: Naked silly trees are out.
Lisa: So it gets cold and the leaves come off the trees…
Jossie: And then they’re nudie.
Lisa: So I’ve been wondering how the trees feel in this weather. Like did you notice the wind yesterday? Did you notice the trees? 

Jossie: My mom said we couldn’t even go outside. 
Lisa: When the wind is blowing so hard, why doesn’t it blow the trees over? 
Jossie: ‘Cause the trees have roots.
Lisa: What do the roots do?
Jossie: They make it stand up. 
Lisa: How?
Jossie: Because they are stuck to the ground. Remember when we saw a root. And it was stuck to the ground and we couldn’t get it out. Remember that? On the playground.
Lisa: Yes, we saw the root underground.
Jossie: We couldn’t get it out.
Lisa: It was really stuck in there. So that makes the tree stuck in the ground? 
Jossie: Yeah. 
Elle: My mom said that too. We can’t go outside.
Lisa: Because it’s so cold and windy? If we can’t go out, how can the trees be out?
Lou Lou: Because they are tied to the ground.
Jossie: With their roots. 
Margaret: The wind is gonna blow everything away, right Jossie? 
Lisa: Does wind ever blow the trees down?
All: No!
Lisa: Do you remember last year, we saw a big tree limb fell and we watched a truck come and take it away. It was knocked down in a storm. Why did that tree lose a limb and others don’t?
Lou Lou: Because the others were so tight.
Lisa: Tell us more. What does that mean? 
Lou Lou: It means when you you’re so tight you stay to the ground. Like glue.
Jossie: Like glue when it dries and it doesn’t come out again.
Lisa: So that’s how the roots hold the tree? Are roots sticky like glue?
All: Yeah!
Lou Lou: The roots are super strong. So are the trees. That’s why they stay. 
Lisa: And if they’re not super strong?
Lou Lou: They break.
Lisa: Are all trees super strong? 
All: No.
Lisa: What makes some trees super strong and others not so strong?
Elle: Can we start working on the air balloon? 
Lisa: Yes, I think we’re ready.

December 10, 2018

Brown Room, October 13, 2017