Judy Wilken
“Between us two there’s nothing between that does not belong between us.” The children had gathered around me for our last lesson in StarChild Science Part I. “Now we know a lot about the energies that are on our little planet.“ “Yeah. There are sure a lot of energies around here,” Jill announced in a firm voice. “We know the energy that is necessary for the redwoods and ollieberries and flowers to grow and the energy that the animals need to move around in space.“ “The spacebinders,” Chance yelled out. “Like the eagles.” “We know about the energy of magnetism and electricity. We know about the light energy in the elements in rocks.“ “I love the lilac color of potassium. I just love that color,” Serene told us. “And we know about the energy of the carbon dioxide molecule and the water molecules that cycle around and around on this small planet of ours.” I gave each child a model of the earth I had prepared out of a Styrofoam sphere covered with potting soil. “What would you put on your planet that needs energy? Forests like this one we are in? And maybe large oceans? Maybe even gardens in neighborhoods? What would you put on your planet?” I asked them. … Jill sat quietly gazing at her model of Earth. For some reason she thought about plants eating the carbon dioxide gas. She still chuckled at the thought as she recalled her younger brother making carbon dioxide gas with her last night. She rolled the small sphere around and around on the ground before announcing, “I’m going to make grassy meadows. And I’m going to make a planet that has water holes for my horse. He likes it when I give him a bath.” She began tearing pieces of various hues of blue tissue paper into what she thought would be perfect for water holes. After the children had settled on their own ideas for their Earth I suggested, “Let’s go down into the forest to gather some things for our planet. There are shady places where we can find leaves for fertile valleys and there are sunny places that are full of seeds of tomorrow’s flowers. Maybe we can find just the right thing for meadows and finely shaped twigs for huts and churches. And there are even some leaves that could be used for lettuce. And there are lots and lots of red berries too that look like apples in the winter months.“