somehow during the last week you realized realized they weren’t so bad And all during the last few days I had been thinking that Mrs Eldridge had thought of some good ideas and that this had been a pretty good year We had gone on some interesting trips and not just to the Museum of Natural History History If you live outside of New York City a trip to the Museum is probably a thrill But if you have lived all of your life in New York then by the time you are eleven you have certainly gone to the Museum 279 times Yet every year whatever teacher we have drags our class there and when we groan and protest the teacher says You don’t know how lucky you are to have such a great museum in your city Well we had visited a court gone ice-skating shopped at the Job Lot Trading Mart which is an enormous store with thousands of things 10
for sale and even if you have only a dollar dollar saved up you can buy about ten different different things with your money Mrs Eldridge was OK and I was glad that we would have her next year I really mean it about the homework she said When all the boos and shouts subsided subsided she explained Let me tell you about it Why do you think it is good to study for ten months of the year and then for two months not do any reading or thinking at all I think called out Fred Brandon I think what score the Mets are going to get in their next game and who is going to win Human beings think every moment they are awake said Mrs Eldridge paying no attention to Fred But it is important to think creatively I want you all to make a summer project for yourself 11
What kind of project called out Julie There aren’t any computers or encyclopedias encyclopedias at my camp You don’t need reference materials in order to learn Use your eyes and your ears Study nature insects birds plants the sky at night Wherever you go this summer there will be something for you to learn A girl in my class named Elisa was traveling traveling with her family across the country They were stopping at some of the National Parks like the Grand Canyon The only place I would get to would be the Grand Union our local supermarket I called out What if you aren’t going anywhere I’m spend ing the whole summer on 87th Street I’m not going to study cockroaches Everyone laughed and I was sorry about what I had said because my mother is a good housekeeper housekeeper and we don’t have any cockroaches 12
which is quite a feat in New York City where there are more people and more roaches than just about any other city in the world You can study people you can learn wherever you are Mrs Eldridge turned to the board and started to make a list of suggestions Collect seashells and learn their names Learn a new sport A lot of cheers here How about diving I can swim and this summer I’m going to learn how to dive called out Maryellen That’s perfect Mrs Eldridge said And eight kids had instantly chosen their summer summer project I’d be lucky if I got to the beach a couple of times After that they all began raising their hands with ideas cooking knitting One boy in my class had just gotten a unicycle for his birthday birthday He said he would learn how to ride it 13
