Little Scientist ~ Mighty Oak

We have a true little scientist in our preschool. He is not in my class but I have come to know him pretty well from when our classes do science experiments together,  when our visiting science teacher comes to our school several times each year and on the playground. He is always on the front row when we are conducting experiments. He asks amazingly intelligent questions and is amazingly insightful for a five year old. He is is the first to figure out a challenge, but if someone else were to figure it out first, he would cheer them on! He just loves science and discovery! On any given day on the play ground, he brings us some discovery he has found -a beautiful rock, a worm, an insect, an unusual shaped piece of mulch, and, yesterday, two tiny oak tree seedlings with the root and the acorn still attached that he had carefully dug up using a small stick.

He knew that oak trees come from acorns, therefore, these must be oak tree seedlings. He noticed that there were no oak trees right around our playground, so I asked him "How do you think the acorn got on our playground?" He thought for about a second and then said that squirrels eat acorns and also bury them to eat in the winter, so it must have been a squirrel that buried it. He was so thrilled with his discovery!

Since April is also Poetry Month, I will be sharing at least the first 3 or 4 verses of this beautiful poem by  Shane Hawk with my little scientist friend and  his classmates.

The Mighty Oak


The mighty oak started out as one lone seed.
It soaked up the water and began to feed.
Soon a seedling came sprouting high.
The sun's force helped it reach for the sky.

It weathered many storms and used all it's might
To grow into a tree that would cradle the birds at night.
The limbs were fragile and not big at all.
But with love and care they'd soon grow tall.

As each day passed the tree grew and grew
Adding new limbs with each day it went through.
Soon it was time for it's leaves to fall.
It was left bare and alone but ever so tall.

Spring brought new life back to the oak.
For each leaf that emerged became it's cloak.
It stood tall and proud for many a year
And shaded the ground below it so dear.

But as all things created by God above
Soon came the time it had thought little of.
To wither away and cease to exist
To stand weathered and worn in our midst.

The leaves we would see no more
As we had numerous times before.
The oak would still stand ever so tall
Just waiting for its time to fall.

When the day finally came to hit the ground
The loss for all was so profound.
Now there's a hole where the oak once stood
I'd happily bring it back if only I could.

© 2005 Shane Hawk 

http://poetrypoem.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?poemnumber=593803&sitename=carouselgirl&poemoffset=0&displaypoem=t&item=poetry

Thanks, Shane, for allowing me to share your beautiful poem and thanks to my little scientist friend for his passion for learning and his joy at discovery! I hope he keeps it forever! Maybe one day, our little scientist will become a mighty scientist who makes a grand discovery!