Just Around the Corner

I always think of Frog and Toad in the Spring. My favorite story is “The Corner”.

When I was a classroom EL teacher, I enjoyed sharing this story with my students in March, when we’d all had just about enough of the cold, dreary, draggy days of still-Winter.

In the story, Frog traipses through the woods and a meadow, taking each corner he comes to, but finding only a pine tree, dried grass, a sleeping worm and other non-signs of Spring. Finally it begins to rain, so he heads home. There, he finds one more corner that is the corner of his house. When he rounds that corner the sun is coming out, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and his parents are working in the garden. 

“You found it!” cried Toad.

“Yes,” said Frog. “I had found the corner that Spring was just around. I was very happy.”

This past week of school for us, with that very rainy day in the middle, was the corner that Spring Break was just around. And we are happy indeed!