Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

Elf and Dormouse

Under a toadstool

Crept a wee Elf,

Out of the rain

To shelter himself.

Under the toadstool,

Sound asleep,

Sat a big Dormouse

All in a heap.

Trembled the wee Elf

Frightened, and yet

Fearing to fly away

Lest he get wet.

To the next shelter

Maybe a mile

Sudden the wee Elf

Smiled a wee smile.

Tugged till the toadstool

Toppled in two

Holding it over him

Gayly he flew.

Soon he was safe home,

Dry as could be.

Soon woke the Dormouse

"Good gracious me!

Where is my toadstool!"

Loud he lamented,

And that's how umbrellas

First were invented.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 23	Pinocchio Flies with a Pigeon to the Ocean from Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi	How Napoleon Crossed the Alps from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	A Robber in the Old Orchard from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	The King of the Birds (Part 1 of 2) from The Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said by Padraic Colum	A Spanish Hero from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	The New Clothes Fail (Part 2 of 2) from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher	Saint Columba (Part 2 of 2) from Our Island Saints by Amy Steedman
	We Make Sail Again from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis The First Island from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Captain Smith Accused from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	Mr. Crab and His Friends from Seaside and Wayside, Book One by Julia McNair Wright	The Travelers and the Purse from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Harvest My Grain from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	Munachar and Manachar from Nursery Tales from Many Lands by Eleanor L. and Ada M. Skinner	Buster Bear Gives It All Away from The Adventures of Prickly Porky by Thornton Burgess	At Home from The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
	Bumble-Bee and Clover, Anonymous	Little Blue Pigeon by Eugene Field		The Caterpillar, Anonymous	The Little Green Orchard by Walter de la Mare	Hark! Hark! The Lark! by William Shakespeare	Dandelion by Nellie M. Garabrant

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.