First Grade Froggies

I stopped by Betty Simpson's first grade classroom recently, and the students wanted to recite a George Cooper poem for me.  They were enthusiastic and uninhibited, and so proud of what they had learned.  I had heard Mrs. Wright's first grade class recite the same poem just a few days before, so I was looking especially forward to hearing their little voices go down deep to capture Mr. Bullfrog in the second verse.  Here they are, with "Twenty Froggies":

Twenty froggies went to school,
Down beside a rushy pool.
Twenty little coats of green,
Twenty vests all white and clean.

"We must be in time," said they,
"First we study, then we play;
That is how we keep the rule,
When we froggies go to school."

Master bull-frog, brave and stern,
Called his classes in their turn.
Taught them how to nobly strive,
Also how to leap and dive.

From his seat upon a log,
Taught them how to say, "Ker-Chog!"
Taught them how to dodge a blow,
From the sticks that bad boys throw.

Twenty froggies grew up fast,
Bull-frogs they became at last.
Not one dunce among the lot,
Not one lesson they forgot.

Polished in a high degree,
As each froggie ought to be.
Now they sit on other logs,
Teaching other little frogs.

- George Cooper