4 Ch4-Going on a Field Trip

Chapter 4 Going on a Field Trip I learned an important lesson in science class. If you mix raw sodium with water, your head will catch on fire. Mr. Docker wasn't in school for a few days after "the incident." We were worried about him. But finally the day before spring

vacation, Mr. Docker was back at school and we had science class. I almost didn't recognize him. He had a lot less hair. He looked more normal. Mr. Docker should have set his head on fire a long time ago, if you ask me. "Mr. Docker, where do bugs go in the winter?" Michael asked. "Some of them dig holes in the ground," said Mr. Docker. "Some go to sleep. Some die." "That's so sad!" said Emily. What a cry- baby! "Can we pick our noses and look at the boogers under the microscope?" I asked. "Not today," said Mr. Docker. "Today

we're going on a field trip." "Hooray!" everybody shouted. Field trips are cool because we get to leave school. Any place that isn't school is better than school. "Where are we going on our field trip?" asked Andrea. "To a field, of course!" said Mr. Docker.

"That's why it's called a field trip." "Booooo!" I said. "Fields are boring. We should go someplace cool, like a skate park." We had to walk a million hundred miles to the field behind the school. Then we had to walk around some more in the field. To Mr. Docker, everything is science. Every five seconds he would stop and tell us the name of some tree. He picked up leaves and showed them to us. He threw a rock into the pond and told us about the ripples in the water. We watched the birds and smelled the flowers. The best part was when Mr. Docker let

us take a rest and have some pretzels he brought along. We all sat down on a big log. To Mr. Docker, even a dumb log is science. "Part of this wood is rotted away," he said. "Let's see what's inside." He pulled off a piece of the log and we saw the most amazing thing in the history of the world— bugs were crawling all over. "Eeeeek!" shouted the girls. They got off the log and started screaming their heads off. "Kill them!" shouted the boys. We grabbed sticks and started hitting the log. "Don't be afraid," Mr. Docker said "Bugs are our friends."

"Oh yeah?" said Ryan. "Well, one of our friends is on Emily." It was true. This big, black, disgusting thing was crawling up Emily's arm. "Eeeeek!" she screamed, and then she went running around in circles. It was hilarious. What a crybaby! Mr. Docker got down on his hands and knees and started telling us about the little critters on the log. Nobody wanted to touch them. "Relax," Mr. Docker said, and he actually picked up some gross bug with his fingers. "It's just a beetle grub." And then he did the most amazing thing in the history of the world. Mr.