Dear Grandchildren,
Today I am going to send you a flannel board story. This kind of story has pictures that you can color and cut out. If you want, you can glue flannel, or fuzzy cloth to the back, and then stick them to the back of your couch or a flannel board, and they won't fall off. You can also just glue them to a piece of colored paper and hold up the right picture when you talk about it in the story.
I hope you help Mama and Daddy by doing chores. Doing work is a really good thing. I really like to work and get a lot of things done. Sometimes we don't feel like working, but we do it anyway. Sometimes when my boys and girls said, "I don't want to do my work. I'm tired!" I would say, "You don't have to like it, you just have to do it."
This story is about some animals that didn't want to work, and what happened to them. It is called, "The Little Red Hen". You remember that a hen is a mama chicken. She was a really good worker.
The Little Red Hen
One day, the little Red Hen was scratching in the farmyard, when she found some grains of wheat.
"Who will help me plant the wheat?" she asked.
"Not I", said the Duck.
"Not I", said the Cat.
"Not I", said the Pig.
"Very well", said the Little Red Hen. "I will do it myself!"
So she planted the grains of wheat. After awhile, the wheat grew tall and ripe.
"Who will help me cut my wheat?" asked the Little Red Hen.
"Not I", said the Duck.
"Not I", said the Cat.
"Not I", said the Pig.
"Very well", said the Little Red Hen. "I will do it myself."
So she cut the wheat.
Then she asked, "Who will help me thresh the wheat?"
"Not I", said the Duck.
"Not I", said the Cat.
"Not I", said the Pig.
"Very well, I will thresh it myself," Said the Little Red Hen.
"Who will help me take the wheat to the mill to have it ground into flour"?
"Not I", said the Duck.
"Not I." said the cat.
"Not I." said the pig.
"Very well," she said, "I will do it myself."
So she took the wheat to the mill to have it ground into flour.
"Who will help me eat the bread?" asked the Little Red Hen.
"Oh, I will!" said the duck.
"Oh, I will!" said the cat.
"Oh, I will!" said the pig.
"Oh no you won't. I'll do it myself."
And she and her babies ate the bread all by themselves."
Will you, will you, will you get up?
Lazy Mary, will you get up?
It's ten o'clock in the morning!
Wasn't that a great story? You always want to help get the work finished. When people don't work, we say they are "lazy." You have heard of people called, "lazybones". That means they don't help.
Here is a little song about a lazy girl.
Grandma has to get back to her work now. I don't want to be lazy.
Love, Grandma