The Squirrels of Zionsville
Chapter 1
The preschool teacher called her class to the circle time. After the welcome song, she told her class that lesson today was about "Life in the Forest"
"I wanted to prepare a lesson for you guys about life in the forest "she said.
"Now I started doing research into different books and materials. I found books about forest creatures, but they were not what I was looking for. I found several books about animals that talk on the phone and wear clothes and drive cars, but that's not really true is it?" she asked. "It's fun to pretend, but it's not really true."
"Then I found a book that had lots of scientific information and text with lots of science words like "Life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species." (but, that's not really what I wanted to teach you about either!)
"You see?" said the teacher, "I was raised in the forest and the forest was my friend and I wanted to share with you guys what life is like living in the forest. So I am going to deviate from our usually type of stories to tell you some true stories about some of my forest friends!"
"Now when I was a little girl we lived in a place called Zionsville. If any of you know Zionsville, you know that there are lots and lots of Big fancy houses and lots of wealthy people with fancy cars." (That is what Zionsville is known for now.) It's known as a very prestigious town now." She continued, "but, in 1976 when we moved to Zionsville from Lawrence, it was full of forests and farms and crops of beans and corn, it was not full of big houses and shiny cars!"
"I lived in s ranch house, on a dirt road. I lived there with my Mommy and my Daddy, and I had two bit brothers (and we like to ride our bikes on the dirt and gravel roads. They were not hard, black top, roads like today. My favorite place to play was down at the creek. On hot summer days we'd role our pant legs up and wade in the creek. We'd catch gardener snakes and crawdads and sometimes we'd fish. We'd just use a bottle, and string, and a hook and some worms, and we could come home with a whole mess of catfish, well at least my brothers could." I used to like to swing across the creek on branch of old weeping willow tree."
"Sometimes we'd just sit, and if you sit for a long time and you're really quite you could see the animals come out of their hiding places, and it's like the forest comes alive right before your eyes!"
"During the day you could see squirrels playing and foraging for food to store up for the winter and if you were very quiet and a little lucky you might see some deer, some rabbits, or maybe a fox! You'd see the birds: the red breasted robin, the sparrow, the bright red cardinal, humming birds, and maybe a big black crow!"
"At night we'd sit on the back porch and look up at the bright night sky and we'd catch lightning buds, until we'd start to see the bats swooping, swirling and diving down to catch bugs right out of midair. You could hear them clicking and chirping as they feasted" You could also hear the hooting of the owls and the howling of the coyotes. There were packs of them and doing their hunting at night. Yes, the forest is alive both day and night!"
"Now my Mommy and my Daddy were opposites in many ways! My Mommy was born in the deep hills of Kentucky; she was from a long line of farmers that lived in the steep hills. She had 6 brothers and 5 sisters and she always had to share her bed with her sisters. It must be her native blood, but she had always just had a real heart for animals. If anyone would come across a sick or hurt animal or maybe a baby without a mother, my mom would take it in and nurse it back to health and if it got better and could survive, she'd release it back into the wild. I've helped her take care of wild rabbits, frogs, turtles, and a raccoon, (we named Heidi) I took in a duck and many stray dogs and cats that people would drop out in the country because they didn't want them anymore."
"Now I told yaw, my Mommy and Daddy were opposites. My Daddy was an only child, and his parents did very well for themselves, even for it being the great depression. My grandpa was a sharp shooter in World War 2 and had some important metals given to him for being a hero and saving some generals from danger. When he became a civilian he worked as a carpenter, but he still like to shoot and he taught my Dad how to shoot. My Daddy and my Mommy like to shoot guns, but my Mommy only likes to shoot at cans and targets."
"So sometimes my Daddy would bring home a rabbit or a deer for my Mommy to cook and for all of us to eat. I didn't really like the idea of that, but my Daddy said it's important that the forest doesn't get to crowded or there won't be enough food to go around and many of the animals could starve. I must say that very much like to eat meat now that I'm a grown up. But, I now understand that even though my Mommy and Daddy where opposites, they were both taking care of the forest in their own special ways!"
Chapter 2
The Squirrel and the Five Acorns
The teach pulls out a folder with a picture of a squirrel on the front, The teacher started to speak saying: "See God created this big beautiful world and he put everything into balance and we are all doing our part in our own ways. I'm going to tell you a story now about a squirrel and the part he plays in the balance of nature."
"Once upon a time there was a squirrel. He lived in his nest in the hole of a hollow oak tree. This is where he sleeps and keeps warm and dry from the cold and rain. That is also where he stores up his food for the winter."
"One warm October day after a long day of foraging the squirrel had only found five acorns the whole day. The first fell into a deep hole in the ground and a squirrel has very short arms and he could not reach this acorn, so he had to leave it there. He was lucky enough to get only one acorn to his nest that day. He did not have as much luck with the other acorns that he found…"
The teacher held up a picture of a deer and she continued "The squirrel found his third nut that morning and was carrying it back the nest when a loud bang and then the thunderous sound of the deer herd stampeding. He could feel the ground shake as the giants galloped right for him. Terrified, he swiftly pounce out of the way, but in the process he had dropped his acorn, and more than likely it had been crushed under the powerful hooves of the stampeding deer. But, better to have your food crushed then to be smooched yourself."
"The squirrel was very relieved when he found the fourth acorn of the day. He had been looking all day long and it was dusk now and the sun was settling down behind the clouds and the sky was casting an orange glow onto the forest floor. He was scurrying toward his next with his acorn tightly between his teeth, when along came a hungry Raccoon." The teach held up a picture of a raccoon as she continued, "It was a raccoon much like this one, She was hissing and showing her sharp teeth and everyone knows that raccoons will eat anything they can get their hands on. So the squirrel, being the smart rodent that he is, threw that acorn right to the raccoon. After all, it is better to lose your dinner than to become someone's dinner!"
The teacher returned the folder to the floor as she continued, "There was little light left and as he knew, the forest is a dangerous place for a little squirrel after dark, so the squirrel felt very blessed when he stumbled upon an acorn right at the trunk of his own oak tree, and just as he was jumping from branch to branch making his way to the top where his nest lies, he spotted a spotted owl, that had spotted him." The teachers' eyes were big as she continued while showing the children a picture of an owl. "The squirrel froze, because everybody knows that owls eat rodents and he is in the rodent family, so he decided to climb higher to where the leaves form a thick canopy to and where he could hide. But, the branches are thinner at the top of the tree and as he jumped one of the thin limbs snapped and the squirrel fell and was barely able to catch himself on the next branch, and as he stretched, the acorn slipped from his the pouch in his cheek, and the acorn fell to the ground. Being dark it would have been much too dangerous for him to try to retrieve it so the squirrel decided to make his way to his nest where he would be safe and he would try again tomorrow.
But, the story did not end there… The teacher pulled a paper with numbers and acorns out and showed it to the children. That day the squirrel was only able to find five acorns. He was only able to take One back to his nest, three acorns fell to the leafy forest floor as he escaped the dangers of being trampled by the deer, eaten by the raccoon and the owl. But, one acorn ( the one that fell into the deep hole) little did the squirrel know that (with a little rain) that little acorn would grow into a big beautiful oak tree, where someday another squirrel make his nest, and maybe even have baby squirrels just like him.
So you see, in his small ways, the squirrel takes care of the forest animals and so can you!
The End
Written by: Julie A Woods
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