Seasons and Cycles:
Plants as Metaphors for Growth and Change
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Planting a garden is an exciting experience. You get to
be outside and dig in the soil. You take something packaged neatly inside
a little seed or bulb, and you give it a chance to root and grow into
something big and wonderful.
In a way, life is kind of like a garden. Just as the garden will look
and be different next spring so will you. As you plant your garden think
about the changes that will happen to the garden and in your life this
year. During this cycle, how will you grow and change? How will you be
different next spring the day you find your flowers in bloom?
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How will you be different
next spring the day you find your flowers in bloom? |
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Use your thoughts and ideas about how you will grow and change in the coming year. You are like the acorn, a small tree wrapped in a gift box. What will you grow into this year? How will you change? Write yourself a letter, put it into a time capsule and open it when your tulips bloom.
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Cluster your thoughts |
Gathering Details
Think about how you are special
right now. Include descriptions of you on the inside and
the outside. Gather these thoughts into a cluster.
Write Yourself a Letter
Now use your cluster to write yourself a letter. The letter will be addressed
to the person you’ll be in the future. You might ask yourself how
you want to change, or grow or how you see the future. What new things
will you know, what do you want to learn? What kinds of things does the
future hold for you? Will you be transformed into something beautiful
like the tulip changes into a flower?
Making Metaphors of Change
What ways can you describe comparing now with then? A simile compares
one thing to another with the words “like” or “as”:
My life is like a garden, or I was as wild as a stallion. Metaphors compare
two different things without using “like” or “as”:
Acorns are small trees wrapped in gift boxes. Try making metaphors to
write about the “future you.”
Make a Time Capsule
Why not make a time capsule and put the letters you've written to yourselves
inside. Open it next spring the day you find your flowers in bloom.
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