Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for April

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 18	Pinocchio Meets the Fox and the Cat Again from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	George Washington and His Hatchet from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	Drummers and Carpenters from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	The Clock Strikes and Maid-alone Stays from The Girl Who Sat by the Ashes by Padraic Colum	The Dark Ages from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	Elizabeth Ann Fails in an Examination (Part 3 of 3) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher	The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	Wineland the Good (Part 2 of 2) from Viking Tales by Jennie Hall	Mr. and Mrs. Crab from Seaside and Wayside, Book One by Julia McNair Wright	The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Explore My Island from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	Little White Rabbit from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner	A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess	The Second Night from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
	A Bird's Experience, Anonymous	Ariel's Song from The Tempest by William Shakespeare		The Fairies Have Never a Penny to Spend by Rose Fyleman	Off the Ground by Walter de la Mare	Over Hill, Over Dale by William Shakespeare	There Was a Cherry-Tree by James Whitcomb Riley

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.

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.