What The Frost Does - Background For Reading And Expression

[Music] [Applause] [Music] one morning in autumn before the first frost a boy who lived on a farm was going to school do you know what his name was well sometimes his mother called him sometimes his father called him Sam his friends called him Sammy and that's what wheel Carly oh my he forgot his lunch Sammy had been wondering about the frost and if it would come tonight mothers but not as she felt the warm breeze on her face maybe not for another few weeks and with that off to school by a shortcut through the corn field some of the corn was already gathered in shacks the pumpkins had been picked and stacked in piles but this time there wasn't even one extra big pumpkin and that wasn't good especially for a boy who wanted a real big jack-o'-lantern but what's that way off at the edge of the field it was something orange and Sammy had to find out if Colly a pumpkin on the fun that we don't growing and it will grow bigger and bigger until the forced kills the bus and if the frost doesn't come for two weeks oh boy [Music] if only to frost we'll wait then Sammy will have the biggest jack-o'-lantern ever [Music] but Sammy could see signs that the frost was coming soon if you look you could see them too off in the woods a squirrel was gathering nuts if you look carefully among the leaves of a bush you could see a caterpillar getting ready for wizard and it isn't at all unusual to see flocks of birds flying south of course Sami spent most of his time during the next few weeks in school as the days passed the wind blew stronger and colder but the pumpkin kept growing the caterpillar had made his cocoon for the coming winter but on the farm there was work to be done before the frost came mother had just finished picking tomatoes mmm don't they look good father was getting ready to harvest the rest of the corn before the frost came and how were things with Sammy that October afternoon his pumpkin had grown bigger and he was a little eager to carve his jack-o'-lantern Sammy liked to help with the hay in the barn for the winter but he wanted to know if the frost would come tonight well Sammy asked father would the answer be no again well and father thought about it for a while and decided yes I think there'll be our hard Frost tonight Sam really [Music] now there's a pumpkin a boy could be proud of and tomorrow after the frost Sammy would pick it for his Jacqueline just before the sunset the family came out to finish the work that had to be done before the frost father brought cry-baby the calf into the barn crybaby was too young to spend the cold night outdoors mother and Sammy picked the last of the ripe vegetables and father drove the tractor into the barn so that it would be easier to start the next morning then the work was all done the Sun set the warmth of the day passed and the cold night came Sammy pulled up an extra blanket when he went to bed that night for the first time in many months the temperature was going to be freezing and then Sammy fell asleep and while he slept the moon was big and bright not a cloud was in the sky not a tree was moving the air was cold and still the next morning when Sammy woke up can you guess what was the first thing he saw [Music] it was crossed on the window in beautiful patterns and designs and over the whole farm that was Frost it was a thin coating of ice [Music] do you know a poem about the frost when the frost is on the pumpkin and the father's in the shock and you hear the kick can gobble of the struggling turkey-cock and the clacking of the guineas and the clucking of the hens and the roosters hallelujah as he tiptoes on the fence oh it's then the times a fella is of feeling at his best with the Rising Sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest and he leaves the house bareheaded then goes out to feed the stock when the frost is on the and the father's in the shop by the time Sam he got outdoors the frost was almost all gone but it was still quite cool now for some exploring to see what the Frost had done the first place he looked was in the flower garden the zinnias were killed by the frost but mother would plant new ones next spring and look the iris leaves had all fallen down well the IRS would bloom again next year Americans were dead but the Faust hadn't hurt the sweet alyssum at all and look at the leaves zoo now they would fall and the trees would be bare in the vegetable garden Sammy found that the frost had wilted the cabbage leaves the parsley was killed but the pretty green gourd was ready for picking and reminded Sammy of something [Music] the pumpkin was fine the frost had melted but the vine had wilted and the pumpkin had grown as big as it would get so big but Sammy couldn't lift it so big that Sammy would need some help [Music] and to tell the truth that was so big that it was even heavy for father do you remember what Sammy was going to do with the pumpkin well he made it into the biggest jack-o'-lantern that he had ever seen [Music] [Music] Wow now that's a story that's why