Let’s begin with a story. One day, Mark decided to leave his car at home and use the bus to get to work and to take his 5 year old daughter Sara to school. Sara was very excited because she hardly ever rode in a bus as her father would take her everywhere in his car. Sara’s mom woke her up early because they had to leave the house earlier since using the bus would take longer than using daddy’s car.
The walk from their home to the bus stop took about 10 minutes. As they walked, Sara skipped along and spoke non-stop. She saw for the first time the way the tiny dew drops on the grass glistened in the early morning sun. She noticed a bright blue bird flying among the branches of a low tree. It was as if she was discovering a new world.
It was quite warm by the time they got to the bus stop but Sara didn’t seem to notice. She was too excited. As they boarded the bus, the steps seemed huge and everything seemed so big! She sat by the window and pressed her face against the glass and tried to observe everything as the bus moved along. Thirty minutes later she and her dad left the bus and took a short walk towards her school. He hugged her as usual and promised to come back for her and they would ride the big bus home.
Sara could not wait for school to end so that she could ride the big bus home again. After school, as she and her dad began to walk to the bus stop, she heard a loud rumble in the skies and soon after it began to rain. Even though dad’s umbrella was huge, she still got a bit wet from some of the rain. As they stood by the side of the road, a car went by and drove through a huge puddle and sent water in their direction and almost totally soaked poor Sara. Sara was so relieved to see the bus. In her seat she was wet and did not enjoy the ride home very much.
It was still raining as they reached the bus stop close to their home. Daddy had phoned mom and she was waiting for them in her car at the bus stop. Sara was happy to see the care and glad to get home and change into drier clothes.
Questions:
- Do you think Sara would be so eager to use the bus again for school?
- What do you think could have been in place at the bus stop to help keep Sara dry?
- Do you think Sara’s dad would prefer to take his daughter to school by the bus or by his car?
- If you lived next door to Sara and went to her school, and you had a choice to go to school, which would you use, the bus or the car?
- Why?
In our next episode, we will look at another story and yes, we will use a different way to get to school!