The stars aligned when science teacher and educational technologist Julia Walthall-Eisman saw that her daughter's 1st grade class was studying "cycles.” The life cycle of stars happens to be a topic in an 8th grade science course that "Mrs. W-E" helped to design. Coordinating with Lower School teachers—Ms. Ford, Mrs. Flett, and Mrs. Hellmuth—Mrs. W-E surprised first graders with an invitation to the Middle School building for a lesson that was out of this world!

Two possible life cycles of stars: 

1. In the first pathway, students created nebulas out of cotton balls, condensed them into protostars and set them ablaze—to see the change in color and reduction in size—to produce a final phase black dwarf star. 

2. In the second pathway, students acted out an alternative life cycle in which nebulas become stars, expanding until they explode into a supernova and ending up as black holes. After a little practice, the first graders moved around the room like a cascading wave, in which one supernova explosion would disrupt the nebula next door and kick off its life cycle.

On the way out, Ms. W-E had the 1st graders peek into the 8th grade science room to see the wonderful displays of rocks and minerals to stoke their excitement for an 8th grade course entitled “History of Planet Earth.”