Plan Ahead

Simon has another writing assignment due this morning for his class. The title of his piece is, "Plan Ahead." It is a bit ironic, because although his mother broke his work into tiny segments to work on throughout the week, he gave very little thought to the project until yesterday; which unfortunately, left the two of us working on this piece for a number of hours --- when I finally stepped in and said, "Dictate the story to me and I will get you through." So, the story you are about to read is Simon's work; with a bit of tweaking and suggesting from his mom.

Simon Avenson
5th Grade
11/17/09
The Ant and the Grasshopper
Unit 3

Although smelling like an old wet towel; Connor and his master took their morning walk through the enchanting landscape behind a family farm. Connor knew this trail which he had worn down with his paws. He liked to smell the morning air when taking his walks. This particular morning, he whiffed the air from a new harvest. Unsuspectingly, Connor passed by a conversation between and hard working ant and a carefree grasshopper. “You should take some time off,” the grasshopper chirped. Balancing the kernel of corn on his head, the ant replied, “This is my third kernel today. We are stocking up for winter.” “Winter? Who cares about winter? There is plenty of food right now,” snapped the grasshopper. “You should start preparing too,” replied the ant and he left the grasshopper doing whatever grasshoppers do and continued on his journey.
Connor was on another walk and the world was gently enveloped in a mantle of snow. His paws crunched on the tiny snowflakes underneath as he walked the terrain he knew. Grasshopper was cold and starving. He was thinner than most of his grasshopper friends (which is pretty thin) and could not get out of bed on some mornings. He needed a plan to get food. One day, one of his grasshopper buddies came over to see how he was doing. Grasshopper’s chirps were feeble. Grasshopper begged his friend to go to the ant’s hill and ask them for some food. When he came back, his arms had enough food for a grasshopper to last the winter. The grasshopper managed to write a note of kindness, although, it was easier now because he had had some food.
While walking on the melting snow on the trodden terrain, Connor heard birds singing and passed by without an ant and a grasshopper enjoying a morning conversation you would have between friends.

The moral of this story is: plan ahead