Who's Afraid of Fourth Grade?

by Nancy Krulik

  “Wow!” Katie was impressed. “It sounds like fun.”

  “It was. I wanted to stay there forever. You know, run away with the circus.”

  “Sometimes I feel that way too,” Katie agreed.

  “Do you know what happened to the kid who ran away with the circus?” George asked her.

  Katie shook her head. “What?”

  “The police made him give it back!” George chuckled at his own joke. Katie and Emma giggled too. Nobody told jokes like George did.

  Kadeem was standing just behind Katie and George. He didn’t laugh at George’s joke. Instead, he told one of his own. “What do you call a spoiled tightrope walker?” he asked Katie.

  “What?”

  “An acro-brat!” Kadeem laughed so hard, he almost fell down. “Get it?”

  George frowned. “I get it,” he said in a nasty voice. “And I wish I could give it back.” He turned to Katie and Emma. “Now, do you want to hear a real joke? Why was the human cannonball fired?”

  “Because he was acting like a big shot!” Kadeem finished George’s joke for him. “That’s an old one.”

  George’s face turned really red. His eyes seemed to bulge out of his head.

  Katie gulped. George was really mad. Suzanne had been right. Having George and Kadeem in the same class wasn’t a good thing at all.

  “Come on, George,” Katie said, trying to steer him away from Kadeem. “Come inside with Emma and me.”

  “But that was my joke,” George moaned. “He stole the punch line.”

  “It’s okay,” she whispered to him. “You would have told it much funnier.”

  That seemed to make George feel better. He followed Katie and Emma into the school without saying another word.

  “Oh, wow!” Mandy Banks exclaimed as she walked into class 4A.

  “Check this out!” Emma S. agreed.

  “This is the coolest room,” Kevin Camilleri declared. He turned to Katie and George. “Nothing like Mrs. Jerkman’s room, is it?”

  Katie nodded. The room definitely wasn’t anything like the neat, orderly room Mrs. Derkman had prepared for them when they’d arrived in third grade. The desks in class 3A had been arranged in even, straight rows. The walls had been almost bare, except for posters that said things like “Check Your Work” and “Learn to Ask Questions.” Mrs. Derkman didn’t like anything distracting in the classroom.

  She definitely wouldn’t have approved of class 4A. This classroom was totally wild! The bulletin board had been covered with neon-colored paper birds. Each of the kids’ names had been written on a bird. Katie’s name was on a yellow bird.

  There were posters in the room too. But they didn’t seem to have anything to do with school. The posters showed kids surfing, skateboarding, bike riding, skiing, and climbing mountains. A banner that read “Try Something New Today” was tacked up over the blackboard.

  The classroom ceiling had been decorated with kites that were hanging from the light fixtures. The words “Fly to New Heights!” were written on some of them.

  But the most amazing thing of all was that there were no rows of desks in the room. In fact, there were no desks at all. Instead, brightly colored beanbag chairs had been thrown into the middle of the room. The only regular chairs were beside a long table in the back of the room that was covered with mountains of twigs, yarn, glitter, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and construction paper.

  “What’s this all about?” Katie whispered to Emma W.

  “I’ve never seen a classroom like it,” Emma whispered back. She fiddled nervously with one of her long, brown braids.

  “Hey there, everybody.” A deep man’s voice filled the air.

  Katie looked toward the blackboard in the front of the room. Or was it the back of the room? It was hard to tell, since there were no desks pointing in any direction.

  Well, either way, Katie’s new teacher was standing near the board. At least, she thought he was her teacher. The man didn’t look like any teacher she’d ever seen before! He had long reddish-brown hair that he’d pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a pair of brown corduroy slacks, a jeans shirt, and a brown suede jacket.

  “I’m Mr. Guthrie,” he greeted them.

  Okay, so he was her teacher.

  “Put your backpacks over there by the coat hooks, then take a seat on one of the beanbags.”

  “Any beanbag?” Andrew asked, surprised.

  “Sure. Pick a color you like,” the teacher replied.

  “Aren’t you going to assign seats?” Kevin asked.

  Mr. Guthrie shook his head. “Now why would I want to do that?”

  Katie looked at her teacher’s long hair and corduroy pants. She stared up at the kites on the ceiling. Then she studied the beanbags and the mounds of twigs, straw, and yarn in the back of the room. This didn’t seem at all like school.

  “Man, this year is going to be awesome!” George whispered to her.

  But Katie wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter 5

  “Okay, so I’ll bet you’re wondering why I’ve got all this junk here,” Mr. Guthrie said. He walked over to the table that was covered with twigs, string, ribbons, and sticks. “Well, here’s the sitch.”

  Katie looked at him strangely. “The what?” she whispered to Emma W. Emma was sitting in the pink beanbag right next to Katie’s yellow one.

  “He means the situation,” Emma W. whispered back. “My big sister Lacey says that all the time.”

  “Our first science unit is birds,” Mr. Guthrie explained. “And I think the best way to learn about birds is to become birds! So you’re all going to spend the rest of the morning building your nests.”

  “Our what?” Andrew asked, surprised.

  “Nests,” Mr. Guthrie repeated. “Instead of desks and chairs, you’re going to spend your days sitting in nests—at least until we’ve finished this unit.” He smiled at all of their surprised faces. “First, let’s put some paper on the floor, under your beanbags.” He pointed to a big roll of brown paper.

  “Then gather your materials from the back of the room. After you have your stuff, glue the twigs and sticks together in a big circle around your beanbag. After that, you can weave the yarn and ribbons into your nests.”

  “Is there any special way we should do it?” Mandy asked.

  “Build it however you like. Your nest should reflect your personality. If you like soccer, you can glue a construction paper ball onto your nest. If you like flowers, make some out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners. If music’s your thing, you can decorate with musical notes and pictures of instruments. I want to be able to look at your nest, and know about you. It’s a way we can get to know one another.”

  “So there are no rules?” Mandy asked, surprised. She was used to all the rules in Mrs. Derkman’s classroom.

  “Just one,” Mr. Guthrie admitted.

  Kadeem moaned. “I knew there would be a catch,” he said softly.

  “Make your nest sturdy enough to last a few weeks,” Mr. Guthrie continued as if he hadn’t heard Kadeem. “Just like a real bird’s nest would be.” He smiled broadly at the class. “Okay, little birds, go to work!”

  George was the first one to jump out of his seat and start collecting twigs and yarn. Katie had never seen him so excited about an assignment before.

  “You know what kind of bird Kadeem is?” George asked Kevin.

  “What kind?”

  “A chicken!” George laughed loudly. Kevin chuckled too.

  Katie frowned. George was obviously still mad that Kadeem had ruined his joke this morning.

  “In fact, he’s a crazy chicken,” George continued. “A cuckoo cluck!” He and Kevin laughed even harder.

  Kadeem stopped what he was doing and stared at George. “At least I’m not the kind of bird you are. You’re part chicken, part space alien. A real eggs-traterrestrial!”

  Mr. Guthrie stared at the two boys.

  “Uh-oh,” Mandy whispered to Katie. “They’re gonna get
it now. You remember how mad Mrs. Derkman used to get when George told jokes during class?”

  Katie nodded. It was hard to forget something like that.

  But Mr. Guthrie didn’t get angry at all. Instead, he started to laugh. “Hey, we’ve got comedians in this class. Rock on, dudes!”

  Katie stared at her new teacher. Rock on, dudes? That wasn’t the kind of thing a teacher said. At least not any of the teachers Katie had ever known. “You like jokes?” she asked, amazed.

  “I love to laugh,” Mr. Guthrie assured her. He turned to George and Kadeem. “Do you two dudes know the most important part of comedy?”

  “Being funny?” Kadeem asked him.

  Mr. Guthrie shook his head. “Nope. It’s all about timing. And that’s what you guys have to learn. There’s a right time to kid around, but this isn’t it.”

  “Sorry,” George said quietly.

  “I’ll tell you what,” Mr. Guthrie continued with a grin. “If you two can behave all day long, I’ll let you have a joke-off at the end of the day.”

  “A joke-off ?” George asked. “What’s that?”

  “It’s kind of a contest,” Mr. Guthrie told him. “To see who can be the funniest dude in the class.”

  Kadeem rubbed his hands together excitedly. “I’m ready for that.”

  “Me too,” George said.

  “Cool,” Mr. Guthrie told the boys. “Now let’s get back to work. I want all you birds in your nests before lunchtime!”

  Chapter 6

  “Hey, Suzanne, wait up!” Katie shouted as she left school at the end of the day.

  Suzanne was walking with Jessica Haynes, one of the girls in class 4B. They both stopped as Katie called out.

  “Hi, Katie,” Suzanne said. “How’s Mr. Guthrie?”

  “Kind of weird,” Katie admitted. “But he’s nice. But definitely not like any teacher we’ve had.”

  “Ms. Sweet is awesome!” Suzanne boasted. “She brought homemade cookies for us for snack. They were shaped like birds.”

  “And they were delicious,” Jessica added.

  “We had pretzel bites,” Katie told her with a frown. She really didn’t like pretzel bites.

  “Bummer,” Suzanne replied.

  “But George and Kadeem had a joke-off at the end of the day,” Katie added excitedly.

  “A what?” Jessica asked, her hands on her hips.

  “It’s kind of a joke-telling contest. Mr. Guthrie lets them . . .”

  “We drew pictures of our favorite birds,” Suzanne interrupted. “I drew a peacock—with lots of gorgeous feathers.”

  Katie thought about telling her that she’d built a nest to sit in, but she changed her mind. Suzanne would probably just come up with something they did in her class that was even more wonderful. Or at least more normal.

  “Oh. Well, anyway, I thought maybe you’d want to have a playdate,” Katie said, changing the subject. “I have some homework, but we can...”

  “Homework!” Suzanne was shocked. “On the first day? We don’t have any.”

  Katie frowned. That didn’t seem very fair.

  “Anyway, Jessica and I already made plans for today,” Suzanne continued.

  “Oh, I just figured that since we didn’t see each other all day, we could . . .”

  Suzanne shook her head. “My mom thinks I should play with kids in my new class for a while, to get to know them better.”

  “Okay,” Katie said quietly.

  “Maybe in a few weeks, when we’re used to being with other kids, we can play,” Suzanne suggested.

  “Sure. Whatever.” Katie didn’t know what else to say.

  As Suzanne and Jessica walked away, Katie noticed that Emma W. was standing nearby. She seemed very sad.

  “What’s wrong?” Katie asked her.

  “Jessica’s my best friend,” she explained quietly. “We play together all the time. But . . .”

  She pointed toward Suzanne and Jessica, who were walking down the street arm in arm. A few tears began to form in Emma’s huge brown eyes.

  Katie knew just how Emma felt. “I know. Maybe we can do something together today,” she suggested. “Do you want to come to my house?”

  “Sure.” Emma seemed happier. Then her face fell. “Except . . .”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “It’s just that today’s my turn to take care of my little brother Matthew. He’s in first grade. I was just going to pick him up in the school yard when I saw Jessica and Suzanne.”

  Katie smiled at her. “Why don’t you bring Matthew too? Unless . . .”

  “Unless what?”

  “Well, is he afraid of dogs? Because I have a cocker spaniel and . . .”

  “You have a dog?” Emma interrupted. “You’re so lucky! I’ve always wanted a dog. All I have are brothers and sisters.”

  “It’s just me and Pepper,” Katie said as the girls headed over to where the little kids lined up at the end of the day. “I can’t believe Matthew’s in first grade. He was just a baby when you and I were in kindergarten together.”

  Emma nodded. “He’s not even the baby of my family anymore. The twins, Tyler and Timothy, are. They’re two-and-a-half.”

  Wow! Katie was amazed. Emma had five kids in her family. That was a whole basketball team.

  Katie was an only child. Lots of times, she had to play on her own or with Pepper. But her dog wasn’t very good at board games. Katie bet Emma never had to be alone. She always had playmates around. Lucky Emma.

  “There’s Matthew,” Emma said, pointing to a dark-haired boy in a pair of jeans with a tear in the knee. “Oh, boy. Those are brand-new jeans. Well, I guess I can sew a patch on them for him.”

  “You know how to sew?” Katie was amazed.

  “Sure. My mom taught me,” Emma said. “When you have so many kids, the big ones have to know things like that, so they can help out. Next I hope my mom’s going to teach me to cook. That looks like more fun than sewing.”

  “I’m taking cooking classes on Wednesdays,” Katie told Emma. “Maybe you can take them too.”

  Emma shook her head. “I’m not always free on Wednesdays. Sometimes I have to help out at home.”

  “Oh,” Katie replied, a bit disappointed.

  “At least I’m free today. You stay here. I’ll go get Matthew. I can call my mom from your house and tell her what we’re doing.”

  Mrs. Carew was waiting on the front steps with Pepper when Katie, Emma, and Matthew got there. She had a big plate of cookies waiting beside her.

  “Hi, Mom,” Katie said, pulling her backpack up the steps. “Do you remember Emma?”

  “Sure,” Mrs. Carew replied with a smile. “I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

  “This is my brother Matthew,” Emma told Katie’s mom.

  “Nice to meet you, Matthew.” Mrs. Carew held out the plate of cookies. “Are you hungry?”

  Matthew nodded. He took two cookies off of the plate and shoved them in his mouth.

  “What do you say?” Emma coaxed him.

  “Thank you,” Matthew replied. Pieces of chewed-up cookie flew out of his mouth.

  Emma bent down and scratched Pepper’s chin. “Your dog is so cute,” Emma told Katie. “I’ve always wanted a dog. But my mom says that taking care of five kids is enough work for her.”

  Mrs. Carew smiled. “I think your mother’s right.”

  “So, do you want to do our homework first?” Emma asked Katie.

  “You have homework?” Mrs. Carew asked.

  “Can you believe it?” Katie answered. “On the first day!”

  “Why don’t we do our homework now?” Emma suggested. “It’s so quiet here. It’s never this peaceful at my house. Somebody’s always running around or shouting about something.”

  “That sounds like fun!” Katie exclaimed.

  “It is fun, sometimes,” Emma agreed. “But it’s also hard to get your work done that way. We could do our math homework really fast here.”

 
“Pepper’s already got a ball in his mouth,” Katie pointed out. “How about we play now, and do our homework later? We have plenty of time.”

  Emma looked down at the happy cocker spaniel. He was hard to resist, especially for someone who wanted a dog of her own so badly. “Okay,” she said finally.

  Katie took the slobbery ball from Pepper’s mouth. She threw it clear across the lawn.

  Katie and Emma laughed as both Matthew and Pepper took off after the ball.

  “See, you have a dog too,” Katie teased. “He’s just got two legs and a pair of ripped pants!”

  Chapter 7

  The next morning, Katie walked into class 4A and placed her homework in the purple, black, and yellow box that sat on top of one of the cabinets. Then she went and perched herself in her nest.

  Katie was really proud of her nest. She’d taken a lot of time making sure that the twigs and sticks were arranged in a neat circle around her beanbag. She’d brought in a picture of Pepper and glued it to her beanbag. Then she’d put black construction paper musical notes all around the sides to show that she was looking forward to being in the school band. Finally, she’d written “Katie Kazoo” across the front of the beanbag with pieces of yellow yarn and glue so Mr. Guthrie would know her special nickname.

  Katie picked up her plastic clipboard and began to copy down the vocabulary words on the board. Mr. Guthrie might not have any desks in his classroom, and he might say things like, “Rock on, dudes,” a lot, but he was still a teacher. And, like any teacher, he expected the kids to start working the minute they walked into the classroom.

  She looked up as Emma W. entered the room. Katie waved to her friend, but Emma didn’t notice her. Instead, Emma walked nervously up to Mr. Guthrie.

  “Hey, Emma, how’s it going?” the teacher asked kindly.

  “Not so great,” Emma murmured. “I started to do my math homework last night. But when I got up to sharpen my pencil, my little brother used his safety scissors to cut up the paper.” She looked shy and embarrassed.