Happy Earth Day 2009!

When I was a little girl, Earth Day was a big event.  My mom would always bake a cake and decorate the top with little plastic circus animals and lots of food coloring-rich frosting.  We would often plant a tree at school or flowers in our front yard and sometimes would take a walk in the nearby "forest," which was really a creek with a smattering of trees, to reflect on the beauties of nature.  When I was a teacher, I carried on the tradition (albeit without the plastic animal-topped cake--I was teaching my students about nutrition, gosh darn it!).  We read books about Earth and did science projects.  One year we planted bean seeds and incorporated their germination process into a longer unit on life cycles, recording scientific observations, data collection, and graphing.  I also taught my fourth graders about global warming (and really didn't mean to scare Pearl--she had a soft heart). 

Reflecting on past Earth Days reminded me of how fun, and even mystical, learning can be.  Earth Day is the perfect excuse to wonder.  When kids are given the space to explore and ponder topics that seem incomprehensible, it often sparks a healthy curiosity that encourages them to seek learning on their own.  After I taught about global warming, Joshua and Luis would share books on the topic during silent reading.  It was probably the sense of danger and the unknown that intrigued them.  As a teacher, it was a thrilling moment when I overheard them discussing what they thought the world would look like when they were grown.  Little did they know that they were having a "book talk!"  Their primary motivation was to explore a topic that was beyond what they could comprehend and they were loving the exercise. 

Wishing you time to wonder today.