Stories for Primary 2 Children (4)

Ruminants

Some animals cannot protect themselves against their stronger, fiercer and faster predator. As these animals cannot move quickly, they have a special way of eating. Whenever they find somd food, they run away to hide after swallowing the food quickly without chewing it for fear of being attacked. Once safe in their hiding place, they will force the food out from their stomachs, biting it over and over again, chewing the food at their leisure. This is called chewing the cud and animals that do this are called ruminants.

One such ruminant is the cow. Its stomach has five parts. Each of these parts does something different to the food.

Another ruminant, the camel, has three parts in its stomach. It uses the first to store food while grazing in the field and to form the food into cud. In the second part is the digestive juice while the chewed cud is digested in the third.

Source: Adapted from "Tell Me How?" By Chanceller Press
==================================

A Shopping Trip

Mrs Lee wanted to buy new clothes for her children, Mei Mei and Tze Min, as they had outgrown their old ones. She wanted to go to the mall because there was a sale on. Mother knew that the mall was especially crowded on weekends so she wanted an early start.

Mrs Lee and her children had breakfast. Then, the children got dressed. The thought of open spaces to run around and the numerous toys to play with was too much for the children. The children jumped up and down in the car and squealed in delight when they reached the mall. Mrs Lee reminded them they would only get new clothes if they behaved.

The Lee family spent three hours in the mall. IT was a more worthwhile trip for the children than Mrs Lee. Tze Min had two new pair of pants and three shirts, while Mei Mei had two pretty dresses. Mrs Lee ended up with a dress. Before they left for home, Mrs Lee bought chocolate ice-cream to reward her children for their good behavior.

Tze Min and Mei Mei had a tiring but memorable trip.
==========================

Father and Son

Mr Chiam came home from work late, tired and irritated. He found his five-year old son, Calvin waiting for him at the door. Calvin asked him how much he earned an hour. He told Calvin that he earned twenty dollars an hour. Calvin lowered his head sadly. Looking up all of a sudden, he asked to borrow ten dollars from Mr Chiam.

Mr Chiam was furious. He scolded Calvin for being childish and sent him to bed. Calvin quietly went to his room and shut the door. After about an hour, Mr Chiam had calmed downa nd thought that he might have been too hard on his son. Mr Chiam went to Calvin's room and opened the door. He apologised to Calvin and gave him the ten dollars he had asked for.

Calvin sat straight up smiling. "Oh thank you, Daddy!" he yelled.

Reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some crumpled notes. Calvin slowly counted his money, then he looked up at his father.

Calvin said, "Daddy, I have twenty dollars now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."
=============