Tough Life Changes

Sometimes teachers just look crazy.

“There’s the same amount of water right now on earth as there was thousands of years ago.” (Cue the crickets chirping.)

“Children’s bodies are made up of 65% water.” (Kids’ heads lifted in surprise.)

“Some children in our world don’t have clean water to drink.” (Wait! What?)

Breaking children’s hearts isn’t something I’ll ever get used to.

So, first I just teach the easy stuff:

• Water flows downhill.
• It takes the shape of its container. 
• Water has different forms - liquid, solid and gas.

But, eventually, those other things come up while flipping pages in a book or catching a glimpse of the news. Some older kid’s sure to spout it out.

Little kids all just assume that other little kids’ lives are sort of like theirs.

I mean, they know we look different - and our families have other people in them.

They know that some kids love soccer and others, art.

But, we all sort of do the same stuff.

We come to school each day and learn and play together.

We read stories and add and build with blocks.

And then we go home. Where our lives are sort of the same.

Right?

Well, until we open books (like National Geographic’s A Cool Drink of Water, Barbara Kerley) and see how some kids really live. 

• How they collect rainwater (that we just traipse through.) 
• How they covet cool, clear drops (that we discard without even thinking.) 
• How they bathe in water (we wouldn’t be caught dead near.)

Things will change this week.

We’ve had delightful sweet moments of creating calming bottles of beautiful, mixed colors and gorgeous tee-shirts covered with lovely spirals of tie-dye.

We’ve used eye droppers and funnels, mixing cups and vials.

We’ve played in the water table, laughing over surprise splashes and drips on faces.

But, we’re going to open back up that One Well: The Story of Water on Earth book (written by Rochelle Strauss) and continue reading on pages 20 and 21 ...and life’s going to be a bit harder.

And then, our lives will change - just a little at first. 

• We're going to start noticing how long the faucets stay on while we brush our teeth. 
• We’ll question where that empty water bottle’s going to end up. 
• And we’ll pick up a few more pieces of trash that blew across our playground.

Before more changes happen.

Changing lives can be tough.