Dreaming of Flight: If We Could Touch the Sky

By the Fifth-Grade Students of Adams Elementary School, San Diego, California

Editor’s Note: Originally published in Dragonfly Magazine in the late 1990s, this collection of student reflections and poems captures the timeless “sense of wonder” children feel when looking at the clouds and imagining the impossible.

A person standing on the ground looking up to the colorful night sky.
Looking up to the stars and wondering what would change if we could fly?

The Spark

In our class, we started talking about what it would be like to leave the ground behind. We didn’t just look at the physics of wings; we looked at the physics of our own imaginations. We wondered: If humans could fly, how would it change our lives, our dreams, and the way we help the world? We found that everyone had a different “spark”—for some, it was a magic car handle; for others, it was the peace of being alone in the sky.

The Prediction

We predicted that if we could fly, the world would be a much better place. We thought that flight wouldn’t just be for fun or for traveling to theme parks—though we definitely wanted to do that!—but that it would give us a new way to solve problems that we see every day on the ground.

How We Investigated

Instead of using rulers and beakers, we used our journals and our “dream logs.” We sat down to record our most vivid thoughts about flight. We shared stories of magical journeys and wrote poems about the feeling of the wind. We treated our dreams like data, looking for patterns in what we saw when our eyes were closed.

A colorful student drawing showing A student's drawing of several seasons taking place at once.
Mariam’s vision of an “enchanted world with wings.”

What We Found

Our investigation showed that flight means something different to everyone. For Evelyn, it was a way to take her whole family on a journey to Disneyland by holding onto each other’s feet. For Ben, it was a quiet, magical place where “nobody was laughing and nobody was scared.”

A student's drawing of himself flying through space across the sun.
John Santillan’s drawing of flying through space.

But we also found that we wanted to use flight for good. Iván realized that if he could fly, he could save people, catch criminals, help the homeless by collecting cans, and even pick up trash in animal habitats. Our data showed that dreaming of flight isn’t just about escaping—it’s about seeing how to make the world better from a higher perspective.

Go Wild: Your Turn

Start a Dream Log! Do you dream about flying? Keep a notebook by your bed for one week.

  • The Gravity Test: In your dreams, do you fly like a bird, or do you float like a balloon?
  • The Help Factor: If you could fly tomorrow, what is one problem in your neighborhood you could fix from the air?
  • The Adult Study: Interview a parent or teacher. Do they dream about flight the same way you do? Compare your “data”!

The Field Guide (For Educators)

  • Subject/Grade Level: Language Arts & Social Studies / 3rd–5th Grade
  • Inquiry Focus: Creative Writing, Empathy, and Observational Dream Logging.
  • The Science Behind It: This inquiry explores “REM sleep” and the psychology of dreaming. While the students focus on the narrative, the exercise encourages the recording of internal experiences as a form of qualitative data collection.
  • Standards Connection: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3 (Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences); SEL (Social Awareness and identifying ways to help the community).
  • Materials Needed:
    • Journals or “Dream Logs”
    • Art supplies (crayons, markers) for “visual data”
    • Interview sheets for the “Adult Study” challenge
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