What do you know about that!

The stuff that it turns out I don’t know. Being the Granny in a SOLE can be a humbling experience. Most of the time it is, actually. You get a small glimpse at how big of a world it is. You get to see that children pick up on a lot more on their own than we often allow ourselves to believe. And usually, you wind up realizing that the things you thought you knew, really aren’t necessarily so.

And so it was at the beginning of this month when I got to visit Fair Lawn public library for a SOLE Hour. The children decided to investigate the classic question: “Why is the sky blue?”

I thought I knew all there was to know. I remembered water molecules absorbing light and reflecting blue light and such. It turns out though that I just don’t ask enough questions, because there was so much more to know.

It turns out I remembered correctly about the scattering of blue light, thanks to Mariela and Eva’s work.

But then why are sunrises and sunsets red?

Adina and Arnav found out more.

And then we just got on a roll and we were unstoppable. Is that why the sky is red on Mars? If there were no trees would the sky’s color be different? Why is the ocean blue, but the water in my water bottle is clear?

We dug deep. We researched. Adina amazed us all by making an inference about it having to do with the amount of water and darn it if she wasn’t correct!

One question, leading to so many others, leading us to learn things we weren’t too sure were learnable, and leading me to realize how much more I have to learn. All because of the kids, who drive this whole thing simply by being kids. By being curious.

...and then there was Flo, who also was there waiting for us when we all arrived and I promised would get credit for her contributions as well.