Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rob Buyea
Danielle. I know now that Jessica is my real friend. I pray that you can help Alexia not be so mean. And I pray for James. He was awful upset today. Please help him feel better and learn to handle when time is up. Thanks. Amen
.
Alexia
L ike, Peter knew what he was doing out there on that soccer field—hitting me with that Frisbee. So, like, I was constantly reminding him that he had killed our plant. “I told ya so,” I kept telling him. Yesterday he told me to stop annoying him.
Peter’s always picking on me. I bet it’s because he likes me. Like, all the boys think I’m pretty. They like my fancy clothes and sparkly lip gloss. They sure don’t look at Danielle. Like, she got so upset with me. She’s never yelled at me before. Must be she’s getting braver as she gets fatter. I’ll have to fix things with her again.
I do like going to the Collaborative Classroom. I don’t have to worry about things down there. The kids in that room love you no matter what. It’s nice. Teach had a goodidea with that one. Joey likes my feather boas. I always wear them to his class so he can see them. Like, I think I’m going to ask if I can put some lip gloss on Emily. I think maybe she’ll like it. Like, every girl should try some lip gloss.
december
Peter
L ast month Mr. T told us we had to read some stupid book and go spend time with the retards. That was what I thought at first, anyways. That was what I had always thought. The Collaborative Classroom was where the retards went to school. I guess it was James who made me change my mind. I mean,
The Summer of the Swans
was okay—sort of—but the Collaborative Classroom wasn’t what I thought at all.
The kids were actually pretty cool, especially James. If something spilled on the floor, or if there was a bunch of objects spread out on the table, he could tell you how many there were just by looking at them. I mean it, he could tell you immediately. No counting required. No matter how many there were—312 forks, or 813 Legos. He always got it right. And James was kind of cool to hang out with. He gaveme low fives—not high fives, because eye contact was tough for him—and we played games. I liked going to see him.
So I liked Mr. T’s next idea. He never ran out of ideas.
“Okay, guys. Here’s the deal,” he told us in December. “We’re going to have a holiday party like every other class, but it’s going to be different.”
“Of course,” I blurted out. “That’s no surprise.” I do that sometimes, open my mouth before thinking. A lot of times, actually. Everybody—even Mr. T—cracked a smile, because I was right.
“You’ll form small groups and work to create a center focused on a certain holiday. It might be Christmas, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah.” Mr. T kept going with the directions, but I didn’t catch most of it. I was thinking. Then I did that blurt-out thing again.
“Mr. T, can we invite James and his friends to our party?”
Everyone was quiet and looked at me. Then Jessica said, “That’s a great idea.” And the rest of the class agreed. Mr. T had a smile stretched across his face. He just nodded. And I thought I saw him wipe at his eyes. I don’t know why he did that, though.
Jessica
A ct 4, Scene 1
I chose Ramadan as my holiday. I wanted to research something I knew very little about. I ended up in a group with Anna, Danielle, Jeffrey, and Alexia. Alexia wanted to be with Katie, Wendy, Natalie, and Heather, but Mr. Terupt didn’t go for that. If he was looking for trouble, he got it.
Our task was clear. When Mr. Terupt announced the project, he said, “Your centers will need to include a research component, a game, an arts and crafts activity, and food. Your center will need to operate all by itself, because you’ll be visiting the other centers when people come to visit yours.”
My group started talking about who could do what, but Alexia didn’t let that go on too long. “Like, you need to dothe research,
.
Alexia
L ike, Peter knew what he was doing out there on that soccer field—hitting me with that Frisbee. So, like, I was constantly reminding him that he had killed our plant. “I told ya so,” I kept telling him. Yesterday he told me to stop annoying him.
Peter’s always picking on me. I bet it’s because he likes me. Like, all the boys think I’m pretty. They like my fancy clothes and sparkly lip gloss. They sure don’t look at Danielle. Like, she got so upset with me. She’s never yelled at me before. Must be she’s getting braver as she gets fatter. I’ll have to fix things with her again.
I do like going to the Collaborative Classroom. I don’t have to worry about things down there. The kids in that room love you no matter what. It’s nice. Teach had a goodidea with that one. Joey likes my feather boas. I always wear them to his class so he can see them. Like, I think I’m going to ask if I can put some lip gloss on Emily. I think maybe she’ll like it. Like, every girl should try some lip gloss.
december
Peter
L ast month Mr. T told us we had to read some stupid book and go spend time with the retards. That was what I thought at first, anyways. That was what I had always thought. The Collaborative Classroom was where the retards went to school. I guess it was James who made me change my mind. I mean,
The Summer of the Swans
was okay—sort of—but the Collaborative Classroom wasn’t what I thought at all.
The kids were actually pretty cool, especially James. If something spilled on the floor, or if there was a bunch of objects spread out on the table, he could tell you how many there were just by looking at them. I mean it, he could tell you immediately. No counting required. No matter how many there were—312 forks, or 813 Legos. He always got it right. And James was kind of cool to hang out with. He gaveme low fives—not high fives, because eye contact was tough for him—and we played games. I liked going to see him.
So I liked Mr. T’s next idea. He never ran out of ideas.
“Okay, guys. Here’s the deal,” he told us in December. “We’re going to have a holiday party like every other class, but it’s going to be different.”
“Of course,” I blurted out. “That’s no surprise.” I do that sometimes, open my mouth before thinking. A lot of times, actually. Everybody—even Mr. T—cracked a smile, because I was right.
“You’ll form small groups and work to create a center focused on a certain holiday. It might be Christmas, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah.” Mr. T kept going with the directions, but I didn’t catch most of it. I was thinking. Then I did that blurt-out thing again.
“Mr. T, can we invite James and his friends to our party?”
Everyone was quiet and looked at me. Then Jessica said, “That’s a great idea.” And the rest of the class agreed. Mr. T had a smile stretched across his face. He just nodded. And I thought I saw him wipe at his eyes. I don’t know why he did that, though.
Jessica
A ct 4, Scene 1
I chose Ramadan as my holiday. I wanted to research something I knew very little about. I ended up in a group with Anna, Danielle, Jeffrey, and Alexia. Alexia wanted to be with Katie, Wendy, Natalie, and Heather, but Mr. Terupt didn’t go for that. If he was looking for trouble, he got it.
Our task was clear. When Mr. Terupt announced the project, he said, “Your centers will need to include a research component, a game, an arts and crafts activity, and food. Your center will need to operate all by itself, because you’ll be visiting the other centers when people come to visit yours.”
My group started talking about who could do what, but Alexia didn’t let that go on too long. “Like, you need to dothe research,