Grasshopper On The Road

Many Thanks Mr. Grasshopper

I had a wonderful day at school today with my students! For the most part, the children were very well behaved and attentive. (Besides Elizabeth spitting a wad saliva on the floor during naptime for no apparent reason and Martin punching Adam in the stomach, the day was great.)

Anywho,I love reading to my students more than anything we do throughout the entire school day. It's so much fun to create different voices for the characters in stories and play around with reading tones. The students really get into the stories that I read in class and that just thrills me. After reading a story to the children, many of them will ask where that particular book is so they can read it after their work is done. I don't want to sound arrogant, but the kids think I'm a pretty cool chick. ;)

Today, for the second time, I read the story "Grasshopper On The Road", by Arnold Lobel. This story is about the journey of a grasshopper who takes a journey on a road he finds, not knowing where it leads to.

While Grasshopper is walking down the road, he meets several characters. He met a housefly, who was only interested in cleaning, and one day hoped to clean the entire world.Then there were the butterflies, who everyday sat on a big mushroom, scratched their heads three times, spun around six times, took a nap, and while they were napping, dreamed that they were taking a nap. The butterflies told grasshopper to stay with them because they liked talking to him and they wanted to talk to him everyday and add them into their strict schedule. Grasshopper declined their offer and moved on because he didn't want to do the same thing everyday. There's also the horseflies, who had an exclusive club for only those that loved the morning. After grasshopper told them that he also loved the morning, they invited him to join the club to sing and cheer about how much they loved the morning. When grasshopper dropped the bomb that he also enjoyed the evening and night, well they kicked him out. :( The grasshopper then comes to a small puddle, in which he finds a mosquito in a boat. The grasshopper's legs are easily long enough so he could simply walk over the puddle. But the mosquito tells him that rules are rules, and even the grasshopper had to let mosquito escort him across the puddle. So grasshopper ends up just carrying the boat, with the mosquito still in it, across the puddle. When they get to the other side of the puddle, the mosquito explains to grasshopper that he's been transporting other insects across the puddle his whole life, and had to hurry back to the other side of the puddle in case someone else needed a lift.

For the life of me, I cannot remember what kind of insects the last and most important characters were, so we'll say they were hornets. Anywho, the grasshopper encounters these hornets who are speedily zooming back and forth in the sky. When they see grasshopper, they stop and tell him that they feel bad for him that he can't fly. Grasshopper tells them that he doesn't mind that he can't fly because as he walks, he notices such beauty around him. He then goes on to tell the hornets that they can't see what he does because they're too busy flying back and forth. Once again, grasshopper is left alone as the hornets return to the sky to keep flying. Grasshopper made it clear that he was perfectly content being by himself and exploring the new road he's traveling down. I'm rattling my brain to think if there are any characters I missed, but I think I that's all of them.

Anywho, the point of this story is that grasshopper was content doing his own thing. He didn't conform to what everyone else was doing just to belong or stay settled. The opinions of the other characters never brought the Grasshopper down or made him feel bad about his journey. As the book came to an end, I was explaining the lessons that can be learned from this story to the students. I told them that it is okay to be different and change can be good. Since the first day of school, I told them that if everyone in the classroom did the same kind of work, it would be boring. So of course, being the smart little Kindergartener's they are, they tied that point in as well.

As we're discussing "Grasshopper On The Road", I was thinking out loud and said, "Mrs. Villa has the same thing for lunch everyday". That thought led me to many others that made me analyze my daily routine. I wake up, pour my coffee, eat breakfast, put my make-up on, brush my teeth, wake up Dan and after he's ready, we split. When I arrive at school, I do work until the first bell rings at 7:40 a.m. and then get the students and then teach the whole day. After work, I clean up the apartment, work-out, eat dinner and fart around with Dan or on the computer. (This is not filtering in doctor appointments or other scheduled activities that may come up.) Anyway, this book really made me think about the way I live my life. I want to be more like the grasshopper who welcomes the unknown and doesn't stress about unnecessary anxieties. It's funny how one children's book can make you analyze your whole life and I'm glad for that.

Anyway, I know this entry was incredibly long, but my blog is a way for me to articulate my thoughts and share them with those I love and those who enjoy reading my writing. So if you've made it through the whole entry, I strongly suggest that you read "Grasshopper On The Road" or at least think about the content of the book. Life's too short to let a puddle in the road stop you from your journey.