Bi-Polar Children

Last fall when my kindergartners were studying the earth and sky, we were looking at the globe and the poles. I told the children that they all know who lives at the North Pole, but I knew someone named Kelly who was living near the South Pole. They were fascinated. We looked at some of the pictures on her blog. http://mypersonaldiaspora.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=19

I sent her an email saying if she ever came back to her childhood home of Tallahassee, we would sure love to have her visit. Recently, she sent word that she would be in town during her spring break from Ohio State, where she is a graduate student in geology.

So on Wednesday, I waited until the last minute to announce that we needed to make sure our room was tidied up because we were having a visitor. Three of them screamed, “Is it Kelly?!?!” When I said, “yes,” the room exploded with jumping up and down, squealing children! (What a fan club!)

She brought slides and did a wonderful presentation. 

She also had some of her warm gear and a rock from Antarctica.

I was proud of my kindergartners. They were attentive and asked good questions that stuck to the topic---there’s a minor miracle! One little guy amazed me when he asked, “If the sun is always shining at the south pole in the summer, is it always dark at the north pole then?”  Woah!

The next day, after we watched her interview on the school TV news, the kids wrote about her presentation. It was good stuff. They had been listening and learning.

Now we all know Santa at the North Pole and Kelly who once lived near the South Pole---and hopes to go back.