Second Grade Read Aloud Banquet

Songs for December

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 Christening from The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock	Socrates and His House from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin	Jenny Wren's Cousins from The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess	WATER: THE SECOND STORY from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum King Fergus and the Water-Horse from The Forge in the Forest by Padraic Colum	Vasco da Gama's Great Voyage from The Discovery of New Worlds by M. B. Synge	The One-Eared Bear (Part 1 of 2) from The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major	The Cripple at the King's Table from Hurlbut's Story of the Bible by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut
	A Crude Kind of Chimney from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Cooking a Turkey from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis Candles or Rushlights from Richard of Jamestown by James Otis	Berries for Bluebirds from Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch	The Lion and the Gnat from The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter	I Discover a Wreck from Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children by James Baldwin	The Forest Bailiff from Merry Tales by Eleanor L. Skinner	Old Mrs. Possum Grows Worried from The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum by Thornton Burgess	The Seaweed Story from The Sandman: His Sea Stories by Willliam J. Hopkins
	Where Go the Boats? by Robert Louis Stevenson	The Sun Travels by Robert Louis Stevenson		John Grumblie, Anonymous	The Song of Shadows by Walter de la Mare	The Babie by Hugh Miller	Lady Moon by Richard Monckton Milnes

The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

The Lion and the Mouse

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion's nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her.

"Spare me!" begged the poor Mouse. "Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you."

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter's net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.

"You laughed when I said I would repay you," said the Mouse. "Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion."

A kindness is never wasted.