Millie the Millipede

While we were talking about mountaineering shoes for snow, one of my kindergarten boys jumped up and called my attention. "Teachuh! Teachuh! Look! Look!" He was pointing at a millipede inching its way toward the other children seated on the floor. Remembering that I had to model an attitude of 'wonder', I stood up and picked up the millipede. "Look everybody." I said. Then putting it down on the table, because I was feeling ticklish. "Teacher, I bring home?" another boy asked, which I understood as 'Teacher, can I bring it home?' So I agreed. By now the other children were taking turns trying to touch our new crawling friend. Two boys were brave enough to let it crawl on their hand. We placed Millie in a box with clear plastic as cover and punched little holes on it. One boy held the box during playtime (he chose not to play) and placed it on the shelf during circle tim. One boy noticed that Millie was getting weak when he took a peek in between songs. "She's dying." he said. So I asked him, "What should we do?" While the other kids also took a peek inside the box, this boy replied, "Lets go!" which I understood as "Let it go." (He wanted to set it free). And so we did with Millie on his arm we marched to the door. He put Millie down on the stairs and said goodbye. Everyone said goodbye. 

I don't know if Millie will get well and recover from her encounter with the Kinder children, but I'm glad she came by to teach them to 'look and wonder' and to show compassion to all living things. Thanks Millie!