Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for September


The Sugar-Plum Tree

Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?

'Tis a marvel of great renown!

It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;

The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet

(As those who have tasted it say)

That good little children have only to eat

Of that fruit to be happy next day.


When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time

To capture the fruit which I sing;

The tree is so tall that no person could climb

To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!

But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,

And a gingerbread dog prowls below—

And this is the way you contrive to get at

Those sugar-plums tempting you so:


You say but the word to that gingerbread dog

And he barks with such terrible zest

That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,

As her swelling proportions attest.

And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around

From this leafy limb unto that,

And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground—

Hurrah for that chocolate cat!


There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,

With stripings of scarlet or gold,

And you carry away of the treasure that rains

As much as your apron can hold!

So come, little child, cuddle closer to me

In your dainty white nightcap and gown,

And I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree

In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.


  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
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The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Old Lion and the Fox

An old Lion, whose teeth and claws were so worn that it was not so easy for him to get food as in his younger days, pretended that he was sick. He took care to let all his neighbors know about it, and then lay down in his cave to wait for visitors. And when they came to offer him their sympathy, he ate them up one by one.

The Fox came too, but he was very cautious about it. Standing at a safe distance from the cave, he inquired politely after the Lion's health. The Lion replied that he was very ill indeed, and asked the Fox to step in for a moment. But Master Fox very wisely stayed outside, thanking the Lion very kindly for the invitation.

"I should be glad to do as you ask," he added, "but I have noticed that there are many foot prints leading into your cave and none coming out. Pray tell me, how do your visitors find their way out again?"

Take warning from the misfortunes of others.


[Illustration]