First Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for May

Jack and Jill



King Arthur



Lavender's Blue



Ye Frog and Ye Crow




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 49 Nicholas Loses His Family from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Amelia C. Houghton
Nicholas Makes His First Gift from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Amelia C. Houghton
The Race for a Sled from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Amelia C. Houghton Why the Evergreen Trees Never Lose Their Leaves from The Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrook How the Fir Tree Became the Christmas Tree from For the Children's Hour by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey The Night before Christmas from The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Amelia C. Houghton Christmas at the Hacienda (Part 1 of 2) from The Mexican Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins Saint Nicholas (Part 2 of 2) from In God's Garden by Amy Steedman
Shoe or Stocking by Edith M. Thomas
From The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe
The Robber Kitten, Anonymous
A Song of the Snow by Madison Cawein An Old Christmas Carol, Anonymous Who Loves the Trees Best?, Anonymous A Christmas Carol by Christina Georgina Rossetti
First row Previous row          Next row Last row
The Aesop for Children  by Milo Winter

The Fox and the Grapes

A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine trained along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to burst with juice, and the Fox's mouth watered as he gazed longingly at them.


[Illustration]

The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it, The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain.

Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust.

"What a fool I am," he said. "Here I am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for."

And off he walked very, very scornfully.

There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach.