✉️ To Parents
This week's classic tale retells Aesop’s The Ant and the Grasshopper with enriched language and emotional insight. The focus is on cause-and-effect language, contrastive adjectives, and present perfect + past tenses. This story helps children reflect on planning ahead and understand the balance between work and enjoyment.
📖 Today's Reading
All summer long, the ant worked without stopping. He carried seeds, stored them in dry tunnels, and patched the roof of his tiny underground home.
Nearby, the grasshopper leaped from leaf to leaf, singing songs and laughing. “Why don't you rest and enjoy the sunshine?” he asked the ant.The ant replied, “I will, when the cold winds come and I have food to eat.”
The grasshopper shrugged and played his fiddle under the sun. “Winter is far away,” he thought. “There's time for everything.”
But as days passed, the air grew colder. The trees turned golden, then bare. Snowflakes began to fall.
The ant sat in his warm den, sipping soup and reading by lantern light. Outside, the grasshopper shivered beneath a frozen leaf. His song had stopped.
Too late, he realized that summer doesn’t last forever.
🧠 New Vocabularies
- tunnel /ˈtʌn.əl/ – The ant built food tunnels underground.
- shrug /ʃrʌɡ/ – He shrugged and walked away.
- fiddle /ˈfɪd.əl/ – The grasshopper played the fiddle joyfully.
- bare /bɛr/ – The tree branches were bare in winter.
- realize /ˈri.əˌlaɪz/ – He realized it was too late to prepare.
- last (v.) /læst/ – Good weather doesn’t last forever.
✍️ Hi, Kids!
Have you ever waited too long to do something important—like finish your homework or clean your room?
What happened when you finally remembered? Write a story that starts like this: “One time, I forgot to plan ahead, and…”
Then explain how you felt and what you learned.
