Just Grace and the Terrible Tutu Read Free Page A

write in cursive. I don't think boys care so much about fancy writing. They never practice fancy letters like girls do.
    Mimi and I have been practicing our names since last year. I already know how to make the big G and the big S all swirly and fancy. My name looks fantastic in script. I am glad that my name is not Valerie Newcome—she is not so lucky.

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    MISS LOIS IS VERY FAIR
    Miss Lois said that everyone had to learn how to write all the letters in the whole alphabet, even the ones that were not in our names. Some people in the class were thinking the only reason to learn cursive was so that they could know how to sign their names fancy. They were not so excited about learning all the letters.
    Sandra Orr put her hand up and said that she knew exactly why the girls should learn all the letters. Miss Lois is always really patient with Sandra, even though she knows that the words that come out of Sandra's mouth will probably not make any sense. Mostly this is because Sandra does not pay very good attention. Miss Lois's most favorite thing to say to her is, "Sandra, please try to keep your head out of the clouds." Sandra is an expert daydreamer.
    Sandra said, "When girls get married they sometimes get a new last name, so it's probably good to be ready by knowing all the letters before that happens." Miss Lois smiled and said, "Thank you, Sandra—that may be true, but there are many other reasons to learn cursive that are useful for both boys and girls." I bet the boys were not so happy to hear that. For sure Sammy was not happy, because he crossed his arms and flopped his head down. Learning cursive was not making him feel happier about Mrs. Luther leaving. I bet if I had the superpower of hearing thoughts, his brain would be saying something very grumpy.

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    WHAT OWEN 1 SAID
    Miss Lois said one of the very helpful things about cursive was that it was a faster way to write down words than printing. She said the brain could think of words very fast, but a lot of the time it was hard for the fingers to keep up. As soon as she said this, Owen 1 started waving his hand around to ask a question. He was back in class and trying really hard not to play with his shoes. I saw him touching them, but he did not pull on the Velcro.
    Finally Miss Lois pointed at him. She was probably expecting him to ask to go to the bathroom. That was one of his regular questions, but instead he wanted to talk about cursive writing. This was something of a surprise.
    Owen 1 said that he had rocket-fast fingers when he played video games, but when he picked up a pencil to write they worked more like crummy old roller skates. I thought he was going to get in trouble for being so negative, but Miss Lois got really excited. She said that Owen 1 had used a wonderful analogy to explain how he felt. Of course Owen 1 was instantly proud even though nobody, and for sure not even him, knew what Miss Lois was talking about. Miss Lois loves to teach new stuff, so right away she explained what an analogy was.
    An analogy is an example of one thing that you can use to help you explain another thing.

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    Once she told us about it, I instantly knew that I had already been using analogies for a long time, even though I didn't know I was using them. It's nice to find out you are smarter than you thought you were. Thank you, Miss Lois!
    ONE OF MY ANALOGIES

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    WALKING HOME
    Sammy and Max walked home with us. Max wanted us to all hang out in his front yard, but Mimi said we couldn't because we had to go inside and work at her house. I didn't know what work she was talking about, but it was a good thing we weren't going to be with Sammy, because Sammy and Mimi were thinking two very different things about Mrs. Luther leaving.

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    As soon as we got inside Mimi ran upstairs to the old filled-with-junk room that is next to her bedroom. This was the room that was going to be changed from the junk room into the new sister's room.
    FOUR THINGS I WAS