Third Grade Read Aloud Banquet



Songs for December


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 52 Attacked by Wolves from The Christmas Reindeer by Thornton W. Burgess The Story of How Prince Hal Was Sent to Prison from Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall The Christmas Invitation from The Christmas Reindeer by Thornton W. Burgess The Martyr Maid of France from The Beautiful Story of Joan of Arc by Viola Ruth Lowe The Christmas Vision from The Christmas Reindeer by Thornton W. Burgess The Wooden Shoes of Little Wolff from Good Stories for Great Holidays by Frances Jenkins Olcott The Golden Cobwebs from How To Tell Stories to Children and Some Stories To Tell by Sara Cone Bryant
The Birds' Christmas Tree from Kristy's Christmas Surprise by Olive Thorne Miller How the Horse Told from Kristy's Christmas Surprise by Olive Thorne Miller The Cat's Charm from Kristy's Christmas Surprise by Olive Thorne Miller May's Happy Thought from Kristy's Christmas Surprise by Olive Thorne Miller The Magic Figure from Kristy's Christmas Surprise by Olive Thorne Miller Christmas in the Alley from Kristy's Christmas Surprise by Olive Thorne Miller The Tailor of Gloucester from The Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter
Santa Claus and the Mouse by Emilie Poulsson Christmas Carol by Sara Teasdale The Holly by Edith King The New Year by Dinah Mulock The Joy of Giving from Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier The Glad New Year by Mary Mapes Dodge Ring Out, Wild Bells by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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READING-LITERATURE: Third Reader  by Harriette Taylor Treadwell

The Fox as Herdsman

Once on a time there was a woman who went out to hire a herdsman, and she met a bear.

"Whither away, Goody?" said Bruin.

"Oh, I'm going out to hire a herdsman," answered the woman.

"Why not have me for a herdsman?" said Bruin.

"Well, why not," said the woman, "if you only know how to call the flock? Just let me hear you call."

"Ow, Ow!" growled the bear.

"No, no! I won't have you," said the woman as soon as she heard him say that, and off she went on her way.

When she had gone a bit farther she met a wolf.

"Whither away, Goody?" said the wolf.

"Oh," said she, "I'm going out to hire a herdsman."

"Why not have me for a herdsman?" said the wolf.

"Well, why not, if you can only call the flock? Let me hear you call," said she.

"Uh, Uh!" said the wolf.

"No, no!" said the woman, "you'll never do for me."

Well, after she had gone a while longer she met a fox.

"Whither away, Goody?" asked the fox.

"Oh, I'm just going out to hire a herdsman," said the woman.

"Why not have me for a herdsman?" asked the fox.

"Well, why not," said she, "if you only know how to call the flock? Let me hear you call."

"Dil-dal-holom!" sang out the fox in a fine clear voice.

"Yes, I'll have you for my herdsman," said the woman, and she set the fox to herd her flock.

The first day the fox was herdsman he ate up all the woman's goats; the next day he made an end of all her sheep; and the third day he ate up all her cows. So, when he came home at even, the woman asked what he had done with all her flocks.

"Oh!" said the fox, "their skulls are in the stream, and their bodies in the holt."

Now, the Goody stood and churned when the fox said this, but she thought she might as well step out and see after her flock. While she was away the fox crept into the churn and ate up the cream. When Goody came back and saw that she fell into a rage. She snatched up the little morsel of cream that was left and threw it at the fox as he ran off. He got a dab of it on the end of his tail, and that's the reason why the fox has a white tip to his brush.

Norse Folk Tale