on stuff

the other day, in first grade, we were reading a book about a little bear who found himself on an island all by himself, and then a wooden horse washed up on the shore and the two became best friends and they spent all day playing. they went to sleep under the only tree in the island. and then they woke up and the little bear found all sorts of things floating in the water. he said, "i do not know what these things are, but i need them all!" and he became very preoccupied with collecting all these things. soon there was not very much room on the island so he told the wooden horse to get out of the way. he made the horse stand on a desk/ or a roof of something/ and the wooden horse fell off into the sea! the bear did not notice for a while, but when he did he was very sad and said that he did not want all the things, he only wanted his friend. so he tossed everything back into the sea and sat on the beach of his island and cried until the horse came back. 

AND THEN

the next day we read a story about Grandma Prisbrey who collected pencils as a little girl. as she grew older, she collected many things, like bottles and more pencils, and then she decided that she should build a house out of bottles, for her pencils. and then she decided to build a village out of bottles for herself. and it ended up being pretty spectacular. this is actually a true story! 

AND THEN 

then today, we looked at a floor plan for a recycling center. we read about a robot who collected junk and everyone said "why do you have so much junk?" and Rosie the Robot said, "i am going to make something new with these things!" and then she made cool springy boots for her brother and a reading light out of a lampshade and flash lights. 

anyway, we were reading about stuff and it all felt very relevant to my life. some days i feel like i am on the fast track to becoming the next Grandma Prisbrey (or maybe just my father who has recently converted my old bedroom into a museum). other days i am like the bear. i want things and then i want to throw them all out to the sea. some days i feel bogged down by my things, immobile. i am not Grandma Prisbrey yet! i want to gallop around. i want to be footloose and fancy free. i don't want to worry about where i am going to put my vintage thermos collection! (but i love them!) 

maybe i will get a storage unit. 

maybe i will move back into my father's museum.

maybe i will build a house for my things out of my things, somewhere safe. 

all in all. i think i love the new reading program at school. the interconnections and themes of the stories are wonderful. but! but! there is no tutoring plan.