Enemies of Plants and Trees

Trees and plants have enemies. Some insects are the

enemies of plants. They lay their eggs on the leaves of trees. Some
animals are plant enemies, too. They eat the young leaves of plants.
Rats eat the seeds of plants. They like rice and corn. Snails are also
harmful. The giant snail is the most harmful. It eats the leaves,
flowers, and fruits of plants. It is very hard to kill them.

Strong winds are bad for the trees and plants. They blow
down the leaves and small branches during storms.

Sometimes girls and boys are also enemies of plants. Some

of them play with the branches and leaves of trees. They break the
branches when they pick leaves or flowers.

Trees and plants are our friends. We should take care of

them.
 The Happy Flower

Merry Sunflower lived in a big garden. There were many

other flowers in the garden. Some were prettier, bigger, and
brighter than the sunflower. But Merry Sunflower didn’t care
because she was happy.

One day, she saw Pinky Rose with a sad face. She asked,
“Why are you sad? You are so sweet and pretty. Everybody loves
you.”

Pinky Rose said, “Yes, I’m pretty, but I have thorns. I wish I
didn’t have thorns.”

“But those thorns are helpful to you, aren’t they? They hurt
those who want to hurt you,” said Merry Sunflower.

Little Cosmos answered, “I should be sadder than you are

because I have a very bad smell. That is worse, isn’t it?”

Yellow Bell said, “I don’t smell very good, too. But I’m happy
because people like me anyway.”

“That is right thing to do. There are other things that make
us happy. The sun, the air, and the rain give us things to make us
grow. The children take good care of us to keep us healthy,” said Red
Gumamela.

“We make people happy. We make insects happy, too. so we

should be happy,” said Merry Sunflower.
 A Bee Family

A bee family is a big family. Can you believe that a mother

bee has hundreds and hundreds of baby bees? You see, she does
nothing in her life but lay eggs. She can lay 100 eggs in a day. So a
beehive has more bees than you can count.

There is only one mother bee in a bee family. When she is

born, her body is different from the other bees. She is born a queen
and she does no work in the beehive. The queen bee is the mother of
the bee family.

A great number of bees are workers. They do all the work in

the beehive. They go out to get food for the family. They serve the
queen and take care of the baby bees.

The bees are often seen among the flowers. They sip the
sweet nectar from the flowers. They go from one flower to another
to gather nectar. Sweet nectar is the food of the bees.
 Talking about Weekend Activities

Sunday is family day for the Santos family. Father, Mother,

Alma, and Roy have their own favorite pastimes.

Father likes reading. He keeps on reading the newspaper

until it’s time to eat.

Roy likes to read, too. He reads books and magazines. He

likes to read the comic section of magazines.

Mother loves plants. She enjoys cultivating the soil and

planting new plants in her garden. Roses are her favorite flowers.
She tries to grow roses of different colors.

Collecting beautiful pictures is Alma’s favorite pastime. She

cut pictures from old magazines and pastes them in her album. She
enjoys looking at the beautiful pictures.
 The Race

There once lived a king in a faraway country. He had only one

daughter. He was very proud of her for she was very beautiful. Everybody in
the kingdom loved her.

Princess Alberta loved playing games when she was a young girl. She
had playmates in the palace. They had a big playground inside the palace.

Princess Alberta liked to go horseback riding with her father. When

she grew up, she was the fastest rider in the country. And she was the
fastest runner, too. This made her very proud.

Just for fun, the princess held races in the palace. Her father built
a racetrack in the palace compound. Each time she ran in the race, she always
won. Nobody could defeat her. She became very, very proud.

One day, a handsome prince came. He was Prince Rodin. A race was
planned for that day. The prince took part in it.

Prince Rodin and Princess Alberta were now in the racetrack. Then
one of the palace guards fired a gunshot. It was time to start the race. At
first, the princess was ahead. In a little while, the prince was close to her.
Prince Rodin threw a magic ball. The princess stopped to pick it up. She
stopped a long time to look at the beautiful ball. When she looked at the
prince, he was far ahead.

Princess Alberta tried to overtake the prince but she could not. The
prince stayed ahead. He was getting very tired, but he kept his horse
galloping ahead. The prince was overjoyed when he defeated Princess Alberta.

Princess Alberta was so unhappy. From that time on she was not
proud anymore.
 Sepak Takraw

Sepak takraw or sipa is a ball game. The ball used by the

players is made of light materials like rattan or plastic. The players
never touch the ball with their hands. They toss the ball over the net
using their head or kicking it using their legs and feet. Once a player
touches the ball with his hands, the other team gets a point.

Players are divided into two teams. Each team is composed

of three players. One team begins the game by kicking the ball over
the net. The players on the other team try to kick the ball back over
the net. Once a player of a team fails to kick the ball back over the
net and the ball touches the ground, their opponent gets one point.

The players are always watching the direction of the ball.

They perform different movements to hit the ball. They perform
different movements to hit the ball. Some of them twist their heads
to the right or to the left to hit the ball. It is fun watching sepak
takraw. Good players kick the ball over the net quickly. They are
careful not to touch the ball with their hands.

A Christmas Story
 Long ago, one December night, the shepherds in the fields
of Jerusalem were keeping watch over the fields. Suddenly, a light
shone around them, and they were afraid. But an angel came to them
and said, “Fear not, for I bring you glad news of great joy. Today, in
Bethlehem, Jesus, the Son of God, is born. He comes to save the
world from sin.”

Then suddenly a great number of angels appeared in heaven

and sang, “Glory to God in the highest.”

When the angels went back into heaven, one of the

shepherds said, “Let us go now to Bethlehem, and see the Child
Jesus.”

So they left their flocks and went to Bethlehem. In a stable,

they found Joseph and Mary with the little Child Jesus in her arms.

The three kings saw a very bright star in the sky. They
rode on camels and followed the star. They came to a stable where
there were some cows and sheep. They went in and found Baby Jesus
lying in a manger. His mother welcomed the Three Kings. They knelt
before the Child and gave Him gifts.