Authors: Nancy Krulik

Tip-Top Tappin' Mom! (3 page)

BOOK: Tip-Top Tappin' Mom!

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When Katie looked up at the ceiling, she saw a big map of the North Pole.

When she looked down at the floor, she saw a map of the South Pole.

When she looked in front of her, she saw a map of Canada.

When she looked behind her, she saw a map of South America. It was kind of like standing in a giant globe.

“What in the world . . . ?” Emma Stavros began.

“Exactly.” Mr. G. laughed.

“Are we studying foreign countries?” Kadeem Carter asked.

“Yes,” Mr. G. agreed. “Also mountain ranges, rivers, oceans . . .”

“That’s like studying the whole world,” Andy Epstein said.

Mr. G. grinned. “Welcome to the world of geography!”

Huh?
The kids all looked at their teacher strangely.

“Does anyone know what geography is?” Mr. G. asked the kids.

Emma W. raised her hand shyly. “It’s a science,” she said. “And it studies all the physical features of the Earth.”

“That’s right,” Mr. G. told her with a smile. He turned to the rest of the class. “By the time we’ve finished this learning adventure, you’ll all know the world a lot better. But before we can start, you dudes know what you have to do!”

“Decorate our beanbags!” Katie squealed excitedly.

“Exactly,” Mr. G. told her. “So go to it!”

Katie ran over to the big box of decorations Mr. G. had left for the kids to use. She loved decorating her beanbag. It was one of the most fun things about being in class 4A.

The kids in Katie’s classroom didn’t sit at desks like other kids. Mr. G. thought kids learned better when they were comfortable. So they all sat in beanbag chairs. And every time they started a new learning adventure, the kids got to decorate them.

Katie had an especially good time decorating her beanbag this time. Last year, her family had been to Europe. They’d visited England, France, Spain, and Italy. So Katie decorated her beanbag with magazine pictures from each of those countries.

As she worked, Katie looked around at what the other kids were doing.

Emma S. had taped pictures of Hawaii all over her beanbag. She’d even made a newspaper palm tree.

Kevin was busy using blocks to build the Great Wall of China all around his beanbag.

Kadeem had covered the sides of his beanbag with blue and green tissue paper. Now he was drawing fish all over it. Katie figured he was making an ocean.

George’s beanbag was the strangest one in the whole class. So far, all he’d done was cover it with white paper and cotton balls.

“What are you doing?” Katie asked him.

“My beanbag’s the North Pole,” George told her. “There’s nothing up there but ice and snow.”

“That’s not exactly true, George,” Mr. G. told him. “There are mountains, water, and other landforms up there. You’ll have to learn all about that before our Geography Bee.”

“Our what?” Mandy asked.

“Geography Bee,” Mr. G. repeated. “It’s like a spelling bee. But instead of spelling words, you’ll be asked questions about geography. The whole fourth grade is going to be participating.”

“Let’s make sure the winner is from our class!” Mandy declared.

“Definitely,” Andy agreed.

Katie knew Mandy and Andy were going to study really hard to win the Geography Bee. Winning was very important to both of them.

Then again, winning was important to a lot of kids in class 4B, too. Especially Suzanne and Jeremy. Katie figured they were going to work hard to make sure no one in Katie’s class won the Geography Bee. If that happened and class 4B wound up winning, Suzanne would never let Katie—or anyone else in class 4A—forget it!

The thought of that made Katie want to work extra hard.

“Hurry up, you guys, finish decorating,” Katie urged her classmates. “We have to get studying. It’s a big world out there!”

Chapter 6

“Thanks for inviting me to study at your house, Katie,” Emma W. said as the girls walked home together after school that afternoon. “It’s so noisy at my house.”

Katie nodded. She knew what Emma W. meant. Emma W. had three younger brothers and a teenage sister. Someone was always screaming, crying, or talking on the phone at her house. But Katie was an only child. It was always nice and quiet at the Carew house.

“I checked this atlas out of the library today,” Katie said, holding up a big book. “It’s got maps and facts about every country in the world.”

“Awesome,” Emma W. said. “We can make note cards with facts on them and test each other.”

“Great idea!” Katie agreed.

Katie’s mom was in the kitchen when the girls walked in. She was wearing a leotard and her tap shoes.

“Mom, you were dancing today!” Katie exclaimed happily.

“I just got home from my first lesson,” Mrs. Carew told the girls. “It was so much fun!”

“I knew you’d love it,” Katie told her.

“Why don’t you girls sit down? I’ll fix you a snack before you do your homework,” Katie’s mom suggested.

“Thanks,” Katie said. “Please make it a really big snack. We need lots of energy to memorize geography facts.”

“That’s true,” Emma W. agreed. “But maybe we should study while we eat so we don’t waste any time.”

“Great idea!” Katie told her. She sat down at the kitchen table and opened up her atlas. “Let’s start with Africa.”

As the girls read about the Aberdare mountain range in Kenya, Mrs. Carew busied herself getting the girls cookies and milk. Even when she walked over to the refrigerator, her tap shoes clicked and clacked on the floor.

“Heel tap, ball tap, shuffle,” Mrs. Carew murmured to herself. “Heel tap, ball tap . . .”

Katie smiled. Her mom was dancing in the kitchen. She’d had so much fun in class, she didn’t want to stop now.

“That’s pretty good, Mom,” she told her.

“It’s coming back to me,” her mom agreed.

“Tap dancing looks like a lot of fun,” Emma W. said.

“It is,” Mrs. Carew replied.

A few minutes later, when the girls had finished their snacks, they went into the living room. There was plenty of room for them both to look at the big atlas and to start making their note cards.

The only trouble was, the living room was right near the kitchen. And the kitchen was where Katie’s mom was.

Click, clack. Tap, tap. Click, clack. Tap, tap.

“Your mom sure loves tap dancing,” Emma W. told Katie.

“I know,” Katie agreed. “Those lessons were the best gift I ever got her.”

Tap, tap. Click, clack.

Katie tried hard to focus on the map of Africa in the atlas, but the noise was making it hard.

“Ruff! Ruff!”

Oh, no! Now Pepper was barking along with the tapping.

Tap, tap.

“Ruff! Ruff!”

Finally Emma W. looked over at Katie. “I think I’m going to go home,” she said in her sweet, kind voice. “I’m having a little trouble studying.”

“I know what you mean,” Katie agreed.

Emma W. picked up her book bag and started to laugh. “You know, I never thought any place could be noisier than my house,” she said.

Katie listened to the tapping and the barking coming from the kitchen. “I never did, either,” she told Emma W. “But today my house wins!”

Katie was sitting on the front porch when her dad’s car pulled up in the driveway that evening.

“What are you doing out here?” her dad asked her.

“Studying geography,” Katie answered.

“Outside?” He sounded surprised. “It’s getting kind of dark.”

“I know,” Katie agreed. “But it’s too noisy to study inside. Mom’s tap dancing. And Pepper is barking a lot.”

“Oh.” Mr. Carew sat down next to Katie. “Well, at least you know Mom liked your gift.” He looked down at the atlas Katie had been studying. “Geography, huh? That was always my favorite subject.”

“We’re having a Geography Bee next week,” Katie told her dad. “I’m trying to learn as much as I can.”

“An atlas is great,” Mr. Carew agreed. “But I have another book upstairs that might help you, too.”

“Ooh! Let’s go get it!” Katie pleaded.

“After dinner,” her dad promised.

“Do you think Mom will stop dancing long enough to eat?” Katie asked him.

Mr. Carew shrugged. “If not, we’ll have a show to watch with our dinner,” he joked. “Just like when we saw that flamenco dancer in Spain.”

Katie gulped. She remembered that show. That was the time the magic wind turned her into a flamenco dancer. She’d fallen off the stage and splashed rice and seafood all over the audience. What a mess!

She sure hoped tonight’s dinner would be more peaceful than that!