CAPTURE the MOMENT! Forever......

CAPTURE the MOMENT – FOREVER!

1965 - After a wonderful but windy afternoon walk around the woodland near Blaby Stokes school, my children began to talk about the afternoon’s experiences.

Dianne said how much she enjoyed the walk in the long grass around the trees. 

“Everything was beautiful, Mr. Paull…………….everything smelled dead good.”

“Did you hear the wind?” “ It was making a howling noise and it made the leaves on the trees shake.”

Then she added, wistfully, “Pity we can’t bring back the smells and the sounds of nature.” “How could we do that, Mr. Paull?” "That'll be dead good!"

That made me think. And think.........Then I had an idea. If you half fill a plastic bottle with water, then turn the bottle upside down, the water rushes out. For a split second there’s nothing in the bottle. Then the air rushes in and fills the bottle. The air carries the smells and sounds ……….doesn’t it? J

The next time we went for a nature walk, I took a bottle half filled with water. When we reached the tall grass and trees, I turned the bottle upside down and let the water gush out. As soon as the last drop ran out of the bottle, air rushed in, filling the vacuum. I immediately pushed in the cork.

“Look,” I said, “We have captured the sounds and the smells of nature………forever.” Dianne was particularly excited. I stuck a label on the bottle:

June 8^th 1965

This bottle holds the smells and sounds of the flowers

and the trees around our school.

And that started something!! The kids were fascinated, excited that we had caught THEM and stored their energy, sound and emotion in a bottle.

Every time things were really humming in the classroom, I filled a bottle with all of the energy, sound, wit and wisdom of my children, labeled it and displayed it on a shelf.

So, when your students are engaged, capture the moment -

HOW? Take off the top off a tiny bottle. Blow across the top. This sucks out the air inside the bottle. When you stop blowing, the air, and the atmosphere of excited learning, rushes in!

*** Think about what you’ve done! You have captured the time and the moment, the joy of being a young scientist……forever!  ******