Worlds within worlds

Young Kindergarten checked a bog habitat out of the library today.
 

Ms. Martindale had a pitcher plant - sarracenia purpurea - that was badly in need of transplant into a fresh new container.
 

Pitcher plants eat small insects.
 

Young Kindergarten has a compost bin, and a little bit of a fruit fly problem.
 

Ms. Kelly made certain the students had everything they needed: rocks, peat and sphagnum moss, distilled water, and a big, generous pot.
 

Plants can’t talk, and rocks don’t have feelings.
 

Still, these students showed care and compassion at every step.
 

Often, five-year-olds are asked to listen, to follow, and receive care.
 

At Gordon, they have a chance to be the leaders.
 

They get a chance to care for something smaller than themselves.
 

They can create a little world from scratch, and watch from above to see what happens there.
 

Morning snack begets table scraps which becomes compost that attracts flies that feed a pitcher plant that stabilizes a bog habitat that needs sunshine and water.
 

All nurtured at every step by students who are learning to care for the world.

 

This lesson has its roots (!) in Phyllis Root’s 2010 picture book Big Belching Bog, illustrated by Betsy Bowen. Gordon’s copy was donated during the 2014 Book Fair by Daniel Martinez in honor of Ngina Johnson.