First Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for February

Hot Cross Buns



Natural History



Pussy Cat



Warm Hands

Animal Crackers

Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,

That is the finest of suppers I think;

When I'm grown up and can have what I please

I think I shall always insist upon these.

What do you  choose when you're offered a treat?

When Mother says, "What would you like best to eat?"

Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?

It's cocoa and animals that I love most!


The kitchen's the cosiest place that I know;

The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,

And there in the twilight, how jolly to see

The cocoa and animals waiting for me.


Daddy and Mother dine later in state,

With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;

But they don't have nearly as much fun as I

Who eat in the kitchen with Nurse standing by;

And Daddy once said, he would like to be me

Having cocoa and animals once more for tea.

  Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Week 37 The Guardian of the Gates from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Daniel Webster and His Brother from Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston Apple Seeds from Seed-Babies by Margaret Warner Morley Mr. Vinegar from Fairy Tales Too Good To Miss—Around the Fire by Lisa M. Ripperton Alexander the Great from On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Synge The Mexican Twins from The Mexican Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins
San Ramon's Day in the Morning from The Mexican Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins 		The Scapegoat in the Wilderness from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
Blow, Wind, Blow, Anonymous 		Before Tea by A. A. Milne
The Rainbow Fairies by Lizzie M. Hadley 		The Little Land by Robert Louis Stevenson Can't by Christina Georgina Rossetti The Moon's the North Wind's Cooky by Vachel Lindsay How Many Seconds in a Minute? by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Tortoise and the Ducks

The Tortoise, you know, carries his house on his back. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot leave home. They say that Jupiter punished him so, because he was such a lazy stay-at-home that he would not go to Jupiter's wedding, even when especially invited.

After many years, Tortoise began to wish he had gone to that wedding. When he saw how gaily the birds flew about and how the Hare and the Chipmunk and all the other animals ran nimbly by, always eager to see everything there was to be seen, the Tortoise felt very sad and discontented. He wanted to see the world too, and there he was with a house on his back and little short legs that could hardly drag him along.

One day he met a pair of Ducks and told them all his trouble.

"We can help you to see the world," said the Ducks. "Take hold of this stick with your teeth and we will carry you far up in the air where you can see the whole countryside. But keep quiet or you will be sorry."

The Tortoise was very glad indeed. He seized the stick firmly with his teeth, the two Ducks took hold of it one at each end, and away they sailed up toward the clouds.


[Illustration]

Just then a Crow flew by. He was very much astonished at the strange sight and cried:

"This must surely be the King of Tortoises!"

"Why certainly—" began the Tortoise.

But as he opened his mouth to say these foolish words he lost his hold on the stick, and down he fell to the ground, where he was dashed to pieces on a rock.

Foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune.