Homework Hassles Read online

“What’s wrong with that?” my mom said. “Robbie’s a very smart little boy.”

  “He’s a big science geek,” Suzie said.

  “He is not!” I said. “He’s my best friend, so just shut up, Fathead!”

  “All right, you two,” my mom said. “Suzie, sit down and let Freddy do his report for you. He’s nervous, so he needs to practice a bit in front of an audience.”

  “I don’t want to do it for her.”

  “Well, I don’t have time, anyway. I have to do my homework.”

  “You have five minutes,” my mom said, leading Suzie over to a chair. “Just sit.”

  “Do I have to do it for her?”

  “Yes, it’s good practice. Now come on.”

  I recited my report.

  When I was finished, my mom said, “See, Freddy, there’s nothing to be nervous about. You just did great!”

  “I don’t get nervous in front of Suzie, Mom, but I know I’m just going to freeze up in front of the class.”

  “I was really nervous before my first oral report, too,” Suzie said. “You know what Dad told me to do?”

  “No, what?”

  “He told me to just imagine everyone sitting there in their underwear. I did, and it was so funny, I totally forgot about being nervous.”

  “It really worked?”

  “Yep.”

  Just then the phone rang, and my mom got up to answer it. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Your report is missing something, though,” Suzie said.

  “What?”

  “Pictures. Kids like to see pictures.”

  “I could cut and paste these from the computer.”

  “They’re not big enough.”

  “Well, with my arm like this, I can’t draw any.”

  “I’ll make some for you,” Suzie said.

  “Really? You’d do that for me?”

  “I’ll make you a deal. I will draw you pictures for your report, if you promise to carry your own backpack from now on instead of making me do it. You didn’t break both your arms. Your left one still works, right?”

  “But Mom and Dad …”

  “Do we have a deal or not?”

  “Deal,” I said as we locked pinkies. Of course I had to use my left one. “You’re the best sister in the whole world.”

  “I know.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Teddy Bear Underwear

  The next day at school when it was time to do our reports, Mrs. Wushy picked me to go first.

  As I got up in front of the class, my stomach started doing flip-flops. I thought I was going to throw up right there, but then I remembered what Suzie told me and closed my eyes. I imagined everyone in his underwear. Chloe had on pink underwear with flowers and lace, but Max’s were the best. He had on undies with little teddy bears. The biggest bully in all of first grade had teddy bear underwear!

  “Are you OK, Freddy?” Mrs. Wushy whispered in my ear.

  I opened my eyes and smiled a great big smile. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just great,” I said. Then, with Robbie holding up my pictures, I recited my whole report perfectly.

  When I finished, everybody clapped.

  “Well, Freddy,” said Mrs. Wushy, “you did a fabulous job, even with a broken arm. You should be proud of yourself.”

  I barely heard her. I was still thinking about Max in his teddy bear underwear.

  Freddy’s Fun Pages

  FREDDY’S SHARK JOURNAL

  A shark can never break a bone like I did.

  Shark skeletons are not made of bone. They are made of cartilage.

  Cartilage is very strong, but it can bend and is more flexible than solid bone.

  You have cartilage in your nose and your ears.

  Because a shark’s skeleton is made of cartilage, a shark can turn and twist its body very quickly.

  A VERY SILLY STORY

  by Freddy Thresher

  Help Freddy write a silly story by filling in the blanks on the next two pages. The description under each blank tells you what kind of word to use. Don’t read the story until you have filled in all the blanks!

  HELPFUL HINTS:

  A verb is an action word (such as run, jump, or hide). An adjective describes a person, place, or thing (such as smelly, loud, or blue).

  I have a problem. A really, really, an adjectiveproblem.

  A a big animal ate my homework! It all started because we had to write aa number -page report on living things Luckily, a friend has some in his a room in a house We took the the same living things out of their something you store things in and observed them. They tried to a verb, but we a verb ending in -ed them right away. Then, we ran downstairs to find a a vegetable and a a type of junk food to see which one they would rather a verb

  When we got back,the same friend’s pet the same big animal, a really silly name, was sitting on the a piece of furniture where we had left the the same living things He looked very proud of himself. And then he burped! “Oh no!” I wailed. “Your the same big animal ate our homework! What are we going to do?” “Don’t worry,” said the same friend“I also keep some smelly living things under my bed. We’ll do a report on those instead. They’re so an adjective that the same really silly namewon’t go near them!”

  GO BATTY

  Try making this stuffed bat to hang upside down in your room.

  —Freddy

  1. Stuff a long, black sock with newspaper or stuffing.

  2. Tie the open end into a knot.

  3. Trace the wings and ears onto black construction paper or cardboard. Cut them out and glue them onto the stuffed sock as shown.

  4. Trace the eyes onto white paper. Cut them out and glue them on.

  5. Tie a string to the knotted end, and hang it upside down in your room or home.

  EARS

  EYES

  You can also make these patterns larger if you like.

  Freddy has another problem—a really, really, big problem!

  FREDDY THRESHER is in trouble with the class bully—again! Everyone knows that Max Sellars is the meanest kid in first grade. He’ll push you, he’ll punch you, and he’ll even sit on your lunch! Can Freddy survive a competition with Max?

  Find out in Don’t Sit on My Lunch!

  And don’t miss Freddy’s other adventures….

  Copyright

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, please write to: Permissions Department, Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  Text copyright © 2004 by Abby Klein

  Illustrations copyright © 2004 by John McKinley

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  Special thanks to Robert Martin Staenberg.

  First printing, November 2004

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

  e-ISBN: 978-0-545-32475-5

 

 

 
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