Monday, October 24, 2005

A Glimpse Beyond Imagination

Tonight was a very special night for the children. I had asked Ken to order from Netflix a number of documentaries on tidepool and sea life. So this evening they were treated with an all lights off viewing of The Blue Planet's: Sea's of Life: Seasonal Seas. I think I might have heard a few complete sentences of the narration. The entire viewing was filled with questions and excited exclamations.

Jack watched as the kelp below swayed under a storm above, and he asked if there was wind in the ocean. How do you show that in a book? Other than reading Pagoo, and the usual army of library books, I realized that the kids are really in the dark about the movement of the ocean. And the sounds of the ocean under water. It is amazing how an under water camera can open up and capture a whole new world even on a flat TV screen. Some of the scenes are absolutely surreal. We all sat in awe as the camera panned over hundreds and hundreds of jellyfish.

I'm glad we did a majority of our reading first before turning on the TV. Grace was able to recognize many of the animals mentioned in Pagoo. But it was the TV that placed those pictures on the pages in motion.

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