Harriet’s Paper Window

Harriet and Jack are making a paper window for the classroom door. They choose thin tissue in sea colours. Harriet holds a blue piece towards the light. Jack can still see the trees through it.

They glue a green piece beside the blue, then add another blue piece across both. Harriet wants deep water at the bottom. She keeps adding layers until the corner is thick and dark.

At the real window, their bright sea disappears. The thick corner lets hardly any light through. “It looked different on the table,” Jack says. Harriet holds it higher, but that does not help.

Mrs Lane brings two small scraps. Harriet overlaps them near the window. Blue over yellow makes a patch that looks green. One layer glows softly; several layers become much darker. She tries the scraps in different places.

“We need spaces for the light,” she says. They start a fresh sheet, keeping the first one to compare. Jack tears long blue strips. Harriet leaves clear gaps between them, like narrow channels through the sea.

A strip tears in the middle as Jack lifts it. He looks disappointed. Harriet places the two torn ends apart. “A wave could break here,” she suggests. Jack turns one end upwards and smiles.

They add a black paper frame and carry the new picture to the door. Sunlight shines through the thin colours. The torn wave has a bright gap in it, and the darker patches give the sea some depth.

When clouds cover the sun, their sea changes again. Harriet decides to leave it where everyone can notice the difference. “It is not finished changing,” she tells Jack. Tomorrow morning, they will see what the light does next.