Just Grace and the Double Surprise (5 page)

Finally I just had to say, "Oh, forget it!"

WHAT IS NOT GOOD TO HEAR

While I was walking to my seat Robert Walters said, "Ewww! Why are you so sweaty?" I gave him a be-quiet look but he didn't care—he kept right on talking. "What? I was only asking, 'cause it's kind of gross." Right then I was hating Robert Walters more than I hated the purple shirt, and I hated the purple shirt a lot!

WHAT CAN MAKE ALL BAD FEELINGS GO AWAY SUPER FAST

Sometimes words can be just like a magic wand. I know magic wands don't really exist—as in, there is no such thing as a stick with magic powers—but still, there are things that have wandlike powers.

 

BEFORE THE MAGIC

 

THE MAGIC

 

AFTER

WHAT MAKES A THIRD GRADE CLASS SUDDENLY BURST INTO APPLAUSE

As soon as Mr. Frank walked in the door Owen 1 started clapping. About two seconds later everyone else joined in too. It was like Mr. Frank was a celebrity or something. We were all just so happy to see him—we couldn't help it. I think he and Miss Lois were both really surprised. Even though sometimes Miss Lois is not always my favorite teacher I hope she was not thinking that we were clapping because she was leaving. It wasn't true, but I could see how maybe she might be thinking that. It would have been good if someone had shouted, "Please, Miss Lois, we want you to stay too!" I looked at Sunni because she was the only one who would probably say that—she is Miss Lois's favorite student. But she had her hand up, trying to get Mr. Frank's attention instead.

Even if your brain thinks of something that would be good to do, it doesn't mean your body will do that thing. I looked at Miss Lois, but my mouth just couldn't say the words. I felt better after she and Mr. Frank whispered something to each other and both smiled. Maybe she didn't feel bad after all. Sometimes my empathy power can really get in the way of everyday life.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

Craziness!!!

WHY

Everyone wanted to talk to Mr. Frank at the same time. It had been forever since we had last seen him, and so we all had to tell him about the new stuff in our lives. Some people had more interesting new stuff than other people. Owen 1 being able to make a basketball go into the hoop with one eye closed was not anywhere as exciting or as important as Mimi getting a new sister.

Finally Mr. Frank had to ask everyone to stop talking at the same time. Even though he is more fun than Miss Lois, he still uses some of the same teacher sayings she does. It's probably the kind of thing they both learned at teacher school.

TEACHER SAYINGS

I NEED EVERYONE'S ATTENTION AT THE FRONT.

BOTTOMS IN YOUR CHAIRS, EVERYONE.

SETTLE DOWN, CLASS.

I STILL HEAR SOME TALKING.

LET'S HAVE ALL EYES ON ME.

You don't hear these kind of sentences unless you are sitting in a classroom.

WHAT IS SURPRISINGLY FUN TO DO

We have been learning a lot about geography and maps. At first I did not think that this was going to be very interesting, but Miss Lois has been working hard to make the boring parts more fun. So far my favorite part has been legends. A legend on a map is not the same as a legend that is in a story.

STORY LEGEND

MAP LEGEND

Map legends help you understand maps—they are like the clues so you can know what you are looking at when you read a map. Miss Lois had us do a map of our classroom and we got to use all sorts of crazy stuff in our legends. I used buttons for the chairs, Mimi used star stickers, but the weirdest one was Sammy—he used little pieces of chewed-up gum. I thought for sure he was going to get in trouble, but he didn't. Miss Lois said it was disgusting and she didn't want to touch it, but she let him hang it up in the hallway next to all the other class maps. I think everyone was pretty surprised about that.

WHAT WE HAVE TO DO

Mr. Frank said we have to use our map skills to make a map. It can be a map of anywhere or anything we want, but it has to be of something real. At first the class was really excited, but then people started to groan and complain that they didn't know what to do. "I don't have any ideas," said Sunni. This was really unusual because Sunni always knows exactly what to do. I think the fact that Sunni was stuck confused everyone else. If the superstar of the class didn't know what to do, how were we, the regular students, supposed to know what to do? The only person who had an idea was Robert Walters. "I am going to make a map of my bathroom," said Roger. He stood up, waved his pencil in the air, and then sat back down again. Like that was going to help anyone—plus, who was going to want to see that map anyway!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MR. FRANK

Mr. Frank thinks we are better and smarter than we really are. We are just a bunch of kids, but sometimes I think he forgets that. Kids need help deciding stuff, because they have amazing imaginations. It's hard to believe, but sometimes having too much imagination or too many choices can make it hard to decide what to do.

Deciding can be easier when there are not a lot of choices.