First Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for March

Baa! Baa! Black Sheep



Cock Robin and Jenny Wren



Warm Hands



Polly Put the Kettle On

The City Mouse and the Garden Mouse

The city mouse lives in a house—

The garden mouse lives in a bower,

He's friendly with the frogs and toads,

And sees the pretty plants in flower.


The city mouse eats bread and cheese—

The garden mouse eats what he can;

We will not grudge him seeds and stalks,

Poor little timid furry man.

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Week 18 The Leader of the Lions from The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
The Monkeys' Council from The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting 		How Washington Got Out of a Trap from Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston The Oldest Dragon-Fly Nymph from Among the Pond People by Clara Dillingham Pierson Snow-white and Rose-red from Fairy Tales Too Good To Miss—Around the Fire by Lisa M. Ripperton The Adventures of Ulysses from On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Synge After the Storm from The Filipino Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins A Midnight Wrestling Match from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
The Rain by Robert Louis Stevenson 		The Three Foxes by A. A. Milne
The Robin by Laurence Alma-Tadema 		From a Railway Carriage by Robert Louis Stevenson What Every One Knows, Anonymous A Dewdrop by Frank Dempster Sherman Brownie by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

Belling the Cat

The mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:

"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful. All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:

"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question Who will bell the Cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it.


[Illustration]