Emu runs the fastest
when there’s nothing in the way.
Kangaroo has legs like springs
that bounce along all day.
Lizard keeps on going
when the sun is very hot.
Wombat gets through obstacles
when all the rest cannot.
Koala checks their timing
as the birds all cheer them on.
Platypus just watches
(as his legs aren’t very long).
And so they’ve planned their strategies
with calculated pace.
And as a team, their hopes on high,
they’ll WIN the relay race!
A tranquil pond that’s glassy smooth
has surface tensioned skin un-grooved.
No creases spoil its surface layer
when peace and stillness fill the air.
Then one disturbance, pebble’s plop
an insect’s hop or stray raindrop,
creates a pattern we’ve just traced
to forces found in outer space.
Rippled wrinkles, round ornate
make circled waves that radiate
while rising, falling with the force
of gravity, which holds their course.
Space-time’s fabric will behave
in similar ways through gravity waves.
This rippled force from far beyond
makes patterns like our little pond.
I will give you a smile if you care to look up
but I won’t show my face on a dark, dark night.
I will rule over oceans as though they are slaves
but I won’t ever say if that’s wrong or right.
I will make a lake’s surface a silvery spread
but I won’t share my shine when the day is bright.
I will block out the Sun every once-in-a-while.
My Solar Eclipse is an awesome sight!
Celia said: There was a Total Solar Eclipse over part of the USA recently. Our Moon is 400 times smaller, yet 400 times closer than the Sun. This precise difference makes them appear the same size from Earth. When they line up perfectly, it can take our breath away! Imagine what a riddle this event must have posed to people centuries ago, before we really understood the movements of the stars, planets and our silvery Moon.
Newton was a clever man.
An avid scientific fan.
He questioned many things he saw.
Like ones we had no answers for.
He thought them through right to their cores.
Then gave us many handy laws.
Newton’s First Law Of Motion:
Without a force of push or pull
an object will remain quite still.
With just one push at just one time
that object moves in one straight line.
Newton’s Second Law Of Motion:
A bigger Force accelerates
an object that is heavy-weight.
While objects of a smaller mass
don’t need much Force to move them fast.
So Newton noticed they obey
that Force will equal m times a.
Newton’s Third Law Of Motion:
Now bend a stick. Before it cracks
you’ll feel its force of pushing back.
For every action there will be
an equal one – opposingly.
Without his formulas in place
we’d soon get lost in outer space.
So Isaac’s Laws help us traverse
the reaches of our universe.
Celia said: Things need to move in order to travel. First published in 1687, Newton’s Three Laws of Motion were a scientific breakthrough for which he is very famous. These laws are still used today to calculate such things as the orbits of moons, planets and stars. And they’ll be very handy if you travel to Mars – a few decades from now!
Sprr-r-r-ring is such an active word.
You can hear it gathering-up its force.
Ready to burst out a kind of ping.
Releasing its energy on a course.
It’s the name we give to the season when
all living things gear-up to abound.
We use it to label a water source
that’s pushing its way through the spongy ground.
It’s also the name we give a device
that bends and moves but will not crack.
It’s often metallic and flexible.
If it’s pushed or pulled it does the same back.
A spring isn’t always a coiled-up wire.
It could be a curve or a V-shaped bend.
Like a bow that shoots arrows through the air.
Or a pair of tweezers with open ends.
A spring can be made from a plastic mould.
A blister, a mound or a curvy dome.
They’re hidden in keyboards for typing things.
And once were used on an old mobile phone.
A pen you can click. A used paperclip.
A clock that goes tick. A peg that can grip.
A doorknob that twists. A bike-bell that rings.
It’s likely they’ve all got some kind of sprr-r-r-ring!
Celia said: Many Australians seem to have an easy-going approach to life. Is this reflected in the way we say words like “spring”? Other cultures and languages speak in a more animated way than us. Can you “roll your r’s” like the Italian and Spanish people do? Or gargle your “r’s” like the French? How do you make the word “spring” really spring?
I caught a piece of yesterday
to share with you today.
It’s clinging to a memory
of how we laugh and play.
I know that piece of yesterday
will never go astray.
It’s squashed inside a heavy book.
That’s where it’s going to stay.
Tomorrow, when I’m old and grey
I’ll still remember yesterday
and how we used to play and laugh.
Because … I have our photograph!
Celia said: Personal pictures and photos have an almost magical connection with our memories and emotions. And some become more precious as the Yesterdays slip by! Do you treasure your analogue or digital album of Yesterdays?
Is it a bee without a buzz?
It could be a bee with all that fuzz.
But then its wings stick-out too far
and all six legs have got no hair.
You want to know the reason why?
Because it is a bee-sized fly!
They seem to wear their bee-costumes
and pollinate the same bee-blooms.
Their females are a bee’s worst pest
and lay their eggs in real-bee nests.
To be a bee-fly small or large
it helps to be bee-camouflaged.
Celia said: This poem isn’t about bees. Honest!
Bombyliidae (Bee Flies)
Bee flies are large, fat, and hairy, often with a long, rigid proboscis. They are excellent mimics of bees, and may have black and yellow stripes along the abdomen. The adults are avid seekers of nectar from various flowers, although a few species feed on pollen. They are important pollinators, and can reach the nectaries of many wildflowers that are inaccessible to other flies. Their larvae are brood parasites on various species of bees and wasps.
Our senses are detectives
I hear a kettle boil and click.
I see the steam rise soft and thick.
I sense that kettle’s very hot.
Will I touch it? NO I’ll not.
I see green mould upon the fruit.
I touch it and it feels too soft.
I smell the scent of yucky rot.
Will I taste it? NO I’ll not.
I feel the raindrops on my skin.
I smell the dampness closing in.
I see the lightning on the hill.
Will I hear it? Yes I will.
I see the smoke and bonfire blaze.
I feel its warmth upon my face.
I hear the crackling spits and spills.
Will I smell it? Yes I will.
I hear a mossie’s whining flight.
It stops. And then I feel a bite.
Will I see it? Not at night.
Will I squash it? Yes I might!
Celia said: If asked to do something, people may say YES and then change their mind. I tend to say NO first-up, THEN change my mind! Which way round will it be for you?
Fabulous flecks
of feather-white fluff
gracefully fall
from a frozen sky.
But moisture and cold
aren’t quite enough
to make water droplets
solidify.
Most of those freezing
flakes of snow
use something alive
on which to grow.
Those Jack Frost patterns
will only start
when a microbe lies
at a snowflake’s heart.
Celia said: Fleeting, gentle, cool, melting … there’s something delightful about feeling the caress of a snowflake on my face. I can see all those rosy cheeks in the wintery weather down south. Love that snow!
How do you doodle?
Leafy-shapes or people?
Zigzag sharp
or swirly soft.
Spirals, squares or circles?
Why do we doodle?
Feeling tense or troubled?
Trying not to
go to sleep.
Puzzled, bored or muddled?
Doodling while listening
prevents our mind from wandering.
It helps to pen
a drawing-hook.
But NOT in someone else’s book!
Celia said: What’s the point of doodling? Well it turns out that, rather than being a distraction, it can help us focus! So go ahead – use your super-doodle power. (My favourites are curls and swirls.)
Australian Children’s Poetry 