Twinkle vs. Starkle? Points of View

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing sun is gone,

When there's nothing he shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, through the night.

In the dark blue sky so deep,

Through my curtains often peep

For you never close your eyes

'Til the morning sun does rise

Starkle, starkle, little tink,

Who you are, I do not think.

Sitting in your house so small,

On that little blue-green ball.

Starkle, starkle, little tink

I can even see you wink.

Starkle, starkle, little tinky,

For all I know, you might be stinky.

Your sun is in the way all day,

Then I cannot see you play.

Starkle, starkle, little tinky,

You look like my little pinky.

In this place called outer space,

I'm a lonely little face.

I try to sparkle and give light, (smile)

Especially when it is your night.

Starkle, starkle, little tink,

What I AM, you now can think.

Below this small picture of our galaxy, the Milky Way, I wrote the three old verses of the "public domain's" -Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star. It is still a favorite of all kindergarteners. I then took the liberty of rearranging and inverting those words to create my impression of what we might look like from a distant star..."a little tink" on our small, blue-green planet orbiting a medium-sized star in our small galaxy called the "Milky Way". It involves "verbal play" and humor which is so much a part of a kindergartener. It should be part of their teachers too, in my opinion.

It also puts "our world" (through a kindergartener's eye) in perspective. So much, now days, depends on our attitude. Our attitude "creates" our perceptions, thus our world. We may all think we have problems...health, economic, cultural etc. but they seem to pale, shrink and become infinitismally small when considering the immensity of the Universe, let alone our small Galaxy and Solar System.

When I introduced and taught this song four times to four different Kindergartens this week, I showed them a big, four-foot long "photo" of our "Milky Way" from a side view. It was created by assembled snapshot from Hubble. Quite alot of artistic liberty was involved. However, it made the point to students and teacher alike that...our Sun and Solar System, a tiny, pin-point speck in a middle arm of our average-sized Galaxy is...awesomely minuscule in the scheme of ALL. Our effect/affect on any of it/us is therefore so small and seemingly unimportant that it causes us to "wonder what we are" doing here? seeing here? Is "here" really here? Maybe it is "there".

Our new "hight frequency word" in class Friday was "here"...I showed them how easy it was to change it to "T here" It all depends on where you put your eyes and your point of view. The teacher I was subbing for had just been called away suddenly with a death in the family. She has also been struggling this year with being a cancer survivor. She has been supported by her wonderful staff and colleagues at her school who stepped in and wrote her lesson plans. I'll be back there next week to help out in any small way that I can. It is the class/teacher that I have been volunteering for these past/passed four years of retirement. I am privileged and blessed. RRR