HOMEREADING

REPORT

FIRST GRADING
 I. Title: The Ant and the Grasshopper
II. Author: Benita N. Miranda
III. Characters: Ant and
Grasshopper
IV. Settings: Meadows
V. Theme/Plot: The ant wants
to teach the grasshopper how
to save food for the rainy days.
VI. Publisher: Book Wise
Publishing House, Inc.
VII. Date of Publication: Copyright 2008
VIII. Number of pages: 2

IX. Brief Summary:

One summer morning, the ant was busy gathering foods that will
be consumed during the rainy days, while the grasshopper was
singing joyfully under the sun. The grasshopper asked the ant
why is he very busy working and gathering foods when there
is so plenty to eat at that moment. The ant replied that he is
saving food for the coming rainy days and asking the grasshopper
to do the same. But the grasshopper didn’t heed. Then the rainy
days came. The grasshopper couldn’t find any food and he was
very hungry. On the other hand, the ant was happy and he had
enough food stacks until the season’s ends. The grasshopper
visited his friend ant. He asked his friend to spare him some food
for he was dying in hunger. The ant sadly replied that he can’t
give anything to him for the food is just enough for his family.

X. Moral Lesson: The story tells the importance of saving

so that we can use it in times of need.
XI. Comment: The ant shows the value of work and the
benefits of saving.
 .

The Grasshopper and the Ants

In a field one summer's day a grasshopper was hopping about,
chirping and singing to its heart's content. A group of ants
walked by, grunting as they struggled to carry plump kernels of
corn.

"Where are you going with those heavy things?" asked the
grasshopper.

Without stopping, the first ant replied, "To our ant hill. This is
the third kernel I've delivered today."

"Why not come and sing with me," teased the grasshopper,
"instead of working so hard?"

"We are helping to store food for the winter," said the ant, "and
think you should do the same."

“Winter is far away and it is a glorious day to play," sang the

grasshopper.

But the ants went on their way and continued their hard work.

The weather soon turned cold. All the food lying in the field was
covered with a thick white blanket of snow that even the
grasshopper could not dig through. Soon the grasshopper found
itself dying of hunger.

He staggered to the ants' hill and saw them handing out corn
from the stores they had collected in the summer. He begged
them for something to eat.
"What!" cried the ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything
away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last
summer?"

"I didn't have time to store any food," complained the

grasshopper; "I was so busy playing music that before I knew it
the summer was gone."

The ants shook their heads in disgust, turned their backs on the
grasshopper and went on with their work.
HOMEREADING

REPORT

Second GRADING
 I. Title: The City Mouse and the Country Mouse
II. Author: Benita N. Miranda
III. Settings: Barrio, Kitchen, City Mouse’s
hole.
IV. Characters: City Mouse, Country Mouse
V. Theme/Plot: The City Mouse wants to
bring his cousin Country Mouse to the City
to enjoy the delicious foods.
VI. Publisher: Book Wise Publishing House, Inc.
VII. Date of Publication: Copyright 2008
VIII. Number of pages: 1

IX. Brief Summary:

One day, Country Mouse visits his cousin Country Mouse. The
Country Mouse prepared some food but the City Mouse didn’t like
the food. H e convinced his friend to live with him in the city
where there are lots of delicious foods. So Country Mouse went
with the City Mouse to the city. City Mouse took him to the
kitchen of a big house. They were enjoying eating cheese
and biscuits in the cupboard when a cat came. They run away as
fast as they can to the City Mouse hole. TheCountry Mouse
d ecid ed to go b ack to his own home that very d ay. He
said to his cousin that even though he hasn’t much food in
the country, he felt much safer to his home rather than in the city.

X. Moral Lesson: The story tells that it is not bad to live

simple and not to be greedy.
XI. Comment: The City Mouse lives luxuriously in expense of
danger while the Country Mouse wants to live simple yet
peaceful.
 The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

A country mouse invited his cousin who lived in the city to

come visit him. The city mouse was so disappointed with the
sparse meal which was nothing more than a few kernels of corn
and a couple of dried berries.

"My poor cousin," said the city mouse, "you hardly have
anything to eat! I do believe that an ant could eat better! Please
do come to the city and visit me, and I will show you such rich
feasts, readily available for the taking."

So the country mouse left with his city cousin who brought
him to a splendid feast in the city's alley. The country mouse
could not believe his eyes. He had never seen so much food in
one place. There was bread, cheese, fruit, cereals, and grains of
all sorts scattered about in a warm cozy portion of the alley.

The two mice settled down to eat their wonderful dinner, but
before they barely took their first bites, a cat approached their
dining area. The two mice scampered away and hid in a small
uncomfortable hole until the cat left. Finally, it was quiet, and the
unwelcome visitor went to prowl somewhere else. The two mice
ventured out of the hole and resumed their abundant feast.
Before they could get a proper taste in their mouth, another
visitor intruded on their dinner, and the two little mice had to
scuttle away quickly.

"Goodbye," said the country mouse, "You do, indeed, live in a

plentiful city, but I am going home where I can enjoy my dinner
in peace.”
HOMEREADING

REPORT

THIRD GRADING
 Footnote to Youth
by: Jose Garcia Villa

The sun was salmon and hazy in the west. Dodong thought to himself he
would tell his father about Teang when he got home, after he had
unhitched the carabao from the plow, and let it to its shed and fed it. He
was hesitant about saying it, but he wanted his father to know. What he
had to say was of serious import as it would mark a climacteric in his life.
Dodong finally decided to tell it, at a thought came to him his father might
refuse to consider it. His father was silent hard-working farmer who
chewed areca nut, which he had learned to do from his mother, Dodong’s
grandmother. I will tell it to him. I will tell it to him. The ground was
broken up into many fresh wounds and fragrant with a sweetish earthy
smell.

Many slender soft worms emerged from the furrows and then burrowed
again deeper into the soil. A short colorless worm marched blindly to
Dodong’s foot and crawled calmly over it. Dodong go tickled and jerked his
foot, flinging the worm into the air. Dodong did not bother to look where it
fell, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself he was not
young anymore. Dodong unhitched the carabao leisurely and gave it a
healthy tap on the hip. The beast turned its head to look at him with dumb
faithful eyes. Dodong gave it a slight push and the animal walked alongside
him to its shed. He placed bundles of grass before it land the carabao
began to eat. Dodong looked at it without interests. Dodong started
homeward, thinking how he would break his news to his father. He wanted
tomarry, Dodong did. He was seventeen, he had pimples on his face, and
the down on his upper lip already was dark these meant he was no longer
a boy. He was growing into a man he was a man. Dodong felt insolent and
big at the thought of it although he was by nature low in statue. Thinking
himself a man grown, Dodong felt he could do anything. He walked faster,
prodded by the thought of his virility. A small angled stone bled his foot,
but he dismissed it cursorily. He lifted his leg and looked at the hurt toe
and then went on walking.In the cool sundown he thought wild you
dreams of himself and Teang. Teang, his girl. She had a small brown face
and small black eyes and straight glossy hair. How desirable she was to
him. She made him dream even during the day. Dodong tensed with desire
and looked at the muscles of his arms. Dirty. This field work was healthy,
invigorating but it begrimed you, smudged you terribly. He turned back the
way he had come, and then he marched obliquely to a creek. Dodong
stripped himself and laid his clothes, a gray undershirt and red kundiman
shorts, on the grass. The he went into the water, wet his body over, and
rubbed at it vigorously. He was not long in bathing, and then he marched
homeward again. The bath made him feel cool. It was dusk when he
reached home. The petroleum lamp on the ceiling already was lighted and
the low unvarnished square table was set for supper. His parents and he
sat down on the floor around the table to eat. They had fried fresh-water
fish, rice, bananas, and caked sugar. Dodong ate fish and rice, but did not
partake of the fruit. The bananas were overripe and when one held them
they felt more fluid than solid. Dodong broke off a piece of the cakes
sugar, dipped it in his glass of water and ate it. He got another piece and
wanted some more, but he thought of leaving the remainder for his
parents. Dodong’s mother removed the dishes when they were through
and went out to the batalan to wash them. She walked with slow careful
steps and Dodong wanted to help her carry the dishes out, but he was
tired and now felt lazy. He wished as he looked at her that he had a sister
who could help his mother in the housework. He pitied her, doing all the
housework alone.His father remained in the room, sucking a diseased
tooth. It was paining him again, Dodong knew. Dodong had told him often
and again to let the town dentist pull it out, but he was afraid, his father
was. He did not tell that to Dodong, but Dodong guessed it. Afterward
Dodong himself thought that if he had a decayed tooth he would be afraid
to go to the dentist; he would not be any bolder than his father .Dodong
said while his mother was out that he was going to marry Teang. There it
was out, whathe had to say, and over which he had done so much
thinking. He had said it without any effort at all and without self-
consciousness. Dodong felt relieved and looked at his father expectantly.
Adecrescent moon outside shed its feeble light into the window, graying
the still black temples of his father. His father looked old now.
“I am going to marry Teang,” Dodong said.
His father looked at him silently and stopped sucking the broken tooth.
The silence became intense and cruel, and Dodong wished his father would
suck that troublous tooth again.

Dodong was uncomfortable and then became angry because his father
kept looking at him without uttering anything. “I will marry Teang,”
Dodong repeated. “I will marry Teang.” His father kept gazing at him in
inflexible silence and Dodong fidgeted on his seat.
“I asked her last night to marry me and she said…yes. I want your
permission. I… want… it….” There was impatient clamor in his voice, an
exacting protest at this coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his
father sourly. He cracked his knuckles one by one, and the little sounds
itmade broke dully the night stillness. “Must you marry, Dodong?” Dodong
resented his father’s questions; his father himself had married. Dodong
made a quick impassioned easy in his mind about selfishness, but later he
got confused.
“You are very young, Dodong.”
“I’m… seventeen.”
“That’s very young to get married at.”
“I… I want to marry…Teang’s a good girl.”
“Tell your mother,” his father said.
“You tell her, tatay.”
“Dodong, you tell your inay.”
“You tell her.”
“All right, Dodong.”
“You will let me marry Teang?”
“Son, if that is your wish… of course…” There was a strange helpless light
in his father’s eyes.
Dodong did not read it, so absorbed was he in himself. Dodong was
immensely glad he had asserted himself. He lost his resentment for his
father. For a while he even felt sorry for him about the diseased tooth.
Then he confined his mind to dreaming
of Teang and himself. Sweet young dream….
Dodong stood in the sweltering noon heat, sweating profusely, so that his
camiseta was damp.He was still as a tree and his thoughts were confused.
His mother had told him not to leave thehouse, but he had left. He had
wanted to get out of it without clear reason at all. He was afraid, he felt.
Afraid of the house. It had seemed to cage him, to compares his thoughts
with severe tyranny. Afraid also of Teang. Teang was giving birth in the
house; she gave screams that chilled his blood. He did not want her to
scream like that, he seemed to be rebuking him. He began to wonder
madly if the process of childbirth was really painful. Some women, when
they gave birth, did not cry. In a few moments he would be a father.
“Father, father,” he whispered the word with awe, with strangeness. He
was young, he realized now, contradicting himself of nine months
comfortable… “Your son,” people would soon be telling him. “Your son,
Dodong.” Dodong felt tired standing. He sat down on a saw-horse with his
feet close together. He looked at his callused toes. Suppose he had ten
children… What made him think that? What was the matter with him? God!
He heard his mother’s voice from the house: “Come up, Dodong. It is
over.” Suddenly he felt terribly embarrassed as he looked at her.
Somehow he was ashamed to hismother of his youthful paternity. It made
him feel guilty, as if he had taken something noproperly his. He dropped
his eyes and pretended to dust dirt off his kundiman shorts. “Dodong,” his
mother called again. “Dodong.” He turned to look again and this time saw
his father beside his mother. “It is a boy,” his father said. He beckoned
Dodong to come up. Dodong felt more embarrassed and did not move.
What a moment for him. His parents’ eyes seemed to pierce him through
and he felt limp.He wanted to hide from them, to run away.
“Dodong, you come up. You come up,” he mother said. Dodong did not
want to come up and stayed in the sun
“Dodong. Dodong.”
“I’ll… come up.”
Dodong traced tremulous steps on the dry parched yard. He ascended the
bamboo steps slowly.
His heart pounded mercilessly in him. Within, he avoided his parents eyes.
He walked ahead of them so that they should not see his face. He felt
guilty and untrue. He felt like crying. His eyessmarted and his chest wanted
to burst. He wanted to turn back, to go back to the yard. He
wantedsomebody to punish him.His father thrust his hand in his and
gripped it gently.
“Son,” his father said.
And his mother: “Dodong…”
How kind were their voices. They flowed into him, making him strong.
“Teang?” Dodong said.
“She’s sleeping. But you go on…”
His father led him into the small sawali room. Dodong saw Teang, his girl-
wife, asleep on the bed with her black hair soft around her face. He did not
want her to look that pale. Dodong wanted to touch her, to push away that
stray wisp of hair that touched her lips, but again that feeling of
embarrassment came over him and before his parents he did not want to
be demonstrative. The massage was wrapping the child, Dodong heard it
cry. The thin voice pierced him queerly. He could not control the swelling
of happiness in him.
“You give him to me. You give him to me,” Dodong said.
Blas was not Dodong’s only child. Many more children came. For six
successive years a new child came along. Dodong did not want any more
children, but they came. It seemed the coming of children could not be
helped. Dodong got angry with himself sometimes.Teang did not complain,
but the bearing of children told on her. She was shapeless and thin now,
even if she was young. There was interminable work to be done; cooking,
laundering, cleaning, taking care of children. She cried sometimes, wishing
she had not married. She did not tell Dodong his, not wishing him to dislike
her. Yet she wished she had not married. Not even Dodong, whom she
loved. There has been another suitor, Lucio, older than Dodong by nine
years, and that was why she had chosen Dodong. Lucio had married
another after her marriage to Dodong, but he was childless until now. She
wondered if she had married Lucio, would she have borne him children.
Neither nor that was a better lot but she loved Dodong…
Dodong whom life had made ugly .One night, as he lay beside his wife, he
rose and went out of the house. He stood in the moonlight, tired and
querulous. He wanted to ask questions and somebody to answer him. He
wanted to be wise about many things.
One of them was life did not fulfill all of Youth’s dreams. Why it must
be so? Why one was forsaken after love? Dodong would not find the
answer. Maybe the question was not to be answered. It must be so to
make youth Youth. Youth must be dream sweet. Dodong returned to the
house humiliated by himself. He had wanted to know a little wisdom but
was denied it.When Blas was eighteen he came home one night very
flustered and happy. It was late at night and Teang and the other children
were asleep. Dodong heard Blas’s steps, for he could not sleep well of
nights. He watched Blas undress in the dark and lie down softly. Blas was
restless on his mat and could not sleep. Dodong called him name and
asked why he did not sleep. Blas said he could not sleep.
“You better go to sleep. It is late,” Dodong said.
Blas raised himself on his elbow and muttered something in a low
fluttering voice .Dodong did not answer and tried to sleep.
“Itay …,” Blas called softly.
Dodong stirred and asked him what it was.
“I am going to marry Tona. She accepted me tonight.”
Dodong lay on the red pillow without moving.
“Father, you think it over.”
Dodong lay silent.
“I love Tona and… I want her.”
Dodong rose from his mat and told Blas to follow him. They descended to
the yard, whereeverything was still and quiet. The moonlight was cold and
white.
“You want to marry Tona,” Dodong said. He did not want Blas to marry
yet. Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be
hard…
“Yes.”
“Must you marry?”
Blas’s voice stilled with resentment. “I will marry Tona.”
Dodong kept silent, hurt.
“You have objections, Itay?” Blas asked acridly.
“Son… none…” (But truly, God, I don’t want Blas to marry yet… not yet. I
don’t want Blas to marry yet….)
But he was helpless. He could not do anything. Youth must triumph…
now. Love must triumph… now. Afterwards… it will be life.

As long ago Youth and Love did triumph for Dodong… and then Life.
Dodong looked wistfully at his young son in the moonlight. He felt
extremely sad and sorry for him.
 I. Title of the Story: “Footnote to Youth”
II. Characters:
 Dodong - Main character of the story who got married at the age of
17 . Represents the typical youth that experiencing a lot of
uncertainties in life that make him realize that he sacrifice his youth
just for the sake of proving himself that he can manage his own life
because he is matured enough to face this life’s challenges.
 Teang - Dodong’s wife ; regretted marrying at an early age
 Lucio - Teang's other suitor who got married after she did and
who's childless until now
 Blas- Dodong and Teang's oldest son who followed their footsteps
in the end. Blas contemplated to marry Tona when he was 18.
 Tona- Woman whom Blas wants to marry

III. Settings:
Dodong’s residence near his parent farm lot.
The time setting is almost the whole day from the morning until evening.
The period of history on this story is on the 20th-21st century. It is the
time of planting season almost June to August. There is no specific time of
the day because it happens almost the whole day.

IV. Plot:
It was a story of a boy who was only 17 when he decided to marry his love
one. He asked for the permission of his father and his father unsurely
asked him if he really wants to get married at that early age. His father
didn’t hinder in his decision. Dodong love Teang so much that he could not
wait for the right age to settle down in a relationship that is hard to
escape. It's the "marriage". At the age of 17 Dodong and Teang got
married without thinking of the risk being in an uneasy part of life. They
just follow what they feel. They don't think what would happen in their
future. They bore six successive children. Teang realized how hard being a
young parent. She regretted what she has done and thinks, what would be
my life if I marry my other suitors instead of Dodong. Until one day, Blas
their first son turned eighteen, he asked to his father if he can marry,
Dodong felt the guilt on what he has done before, and he remained silent
not knowing what to say. He has nothing to do but to agree to his son.

Deep inside him doesn’t want Blas to marry because he might suffer the
risks of marrying in an early age. But then again he can’t control the arms
of fate he let Blas marry.
 V. Values Learned:
I learned that having a family is really hard to do and needs a lot of
thinking before pursuing to do it. Marriage is not a food that can be eaten,
that if you don’t want it anymore you can throw it away. Marriage is a
serious bond between two people who are capable in building a firm
foundation for a family. Love is not a game, so as marriage. You cannot
quit whenever you want to. You have to find the right time and right
person that you know will make your life worth taking risks. Marriage is not
a joke. Also, being aware and conscious of the Filipinos in terms of our
status in life that it is not practical for a typical youth to get married if they
are not physically, financially, emotionally, psychologically stable.
Furthermore, it is better for us to follow what our parents think best for us
because our parent really knows how life should be. They already
experienced these things and they do not want to experience this kind of
things. Finally, we must have proper education about responsible
parenthood to avoid consequences when we engaged to have a family.
HOMEREADING

REPORT
FOURTH GRADING
 The Turtle and the Rabbit

One day a rabbit was bragging about how fast he could run. He
bragged and bragged and even laughed at the turtle, who was so
slow. The turtle stretched out his long neck and challenged the
rabbit to a race, which, of course, made the hare laugh.

"My, my, what a joke!" thought the rabbit.

"A race, indeed, a race. Oh! What fun! My, my! A race, of
course, Mr. Turtle, we shall race!" said the hare.

The forest animals met and mapped out the course. The race
begun, and the rabbit, being such a swift runner, soon left the
turtle far behind. About halfway through the course, it occurred
to the rabbit that he had plenty of time to beat the slow trodden
turtle.

"Oh, my!" thought the rabbit, "I have plenty of time to play
in the meadow here."
And so he did.

After the rabbit finished playing, he decided that he had time

to take a little nap.
"I have plenty of time to beat that turtle," he thought. And he
cuddle up against a tree and dozed. The turtle, in the meantime,
continued to plod on, albeit, it ever so slowly. He never stopped,
but took one good step after another. The rabbit finally woke
from his nap. "Time to get going," he thought. And off he went
faster than he had ever run before! He dashed as quickly as
anyone ever could up to the finish line, where he met the turtle,
who was patiently awaiting his arrival.
Title: The Turtle and the Rabbit
Author: Benita N. Miranda
Settings: Mango Tree near the river and
the Nipa hut beside the farm
Characters: Rabbit and Turtle
Theme/Plot: The rabbit insults the turtle about being slow.
They bet in a race and the turtle won because of patience and
hard work
Publisher: Book Wise Publishing House, Inc.
Date of Publication: Copyright 2008
Number of pages: 1
Brief Summary:
One day, a rabbit met a turtle. He asked the turtle why he can’t
run as fast as him. The turtle felt insulted and said that he can
also run fast as he does. To prove it, they had a race. So, the
race started early in the afternoon at a tree near the river. The
rabbit ran fast and he was very much ahead of the turtle. He felt
tired and took a rest under the shade of the tree and went fast
asleep. The turtle continued to walk though he felt tired. Soon he
was nearing the finish line. He just rest when he was already
done. The rabbit woke up. He looked back but he didn’t see the
turtle. He ran as fast as he could but the turtle was already at the
finish line. The turtle was the winner.

Moral Lesson:
The story tells that you must not give up easily and not to judge
the book by its cover.

Comment:
The rabbit learned his lesson not to underestimate another
because of their appearance and disabilities.