07 Bad-Mood Itch

Bad-Mood Itch Pssst. Pssst. When Judy got to school the next morning, her friends (minus Amy, plus Jessica Finch) were whispering outside Class 3T. As soon as they saw Judy, they stopped. Since when were Rocky and Frank so palsy-walsy with Fink- Face Finch? Oops. That wasn't good-mood thinking. WWJFD? What Would Jessica Finch Do? Judy tried to sound cheery. "Hey, guys. Happy Thursday!" Frank waved. Jessica smiled. Rocky gave her a strange look. "We better get inside," he said. "Mr. Todd already blinked the lights once."

It was so-not-working to try to be like Jessica Finch. Her friends just thought she was battier than Batgirl. Mr. Todd had tons of alarm clocks on his desk. "Three, two, one..." BZZZZZZZZ! The clocks went off. Half the class jumped. The other half held their fingers in their ears. "It's time!" Mr. Todd smiled brightly. "Time to Measure Up! Today we begin our new math unit. We're going to go the distance. We're going to have gallons of fun. All day long we'll be measuring time and space, our classroom, and one another. Take out your math journals."

Judy did not even have to search her desk or

her backpack. She pulled out her math journal from the top of the nice neat stack inside her desk. "What are some tools we might use to measure things with?" Mr. Todd asked. Hannah raised her hand. "Ruler!" Dylan raised his hand. "Yardstick!" Jessica Finch raised her hand. "Measuring cup!" Judy wanted to participate, just like Jessica Finch. "String!" Judy called out. "Judy? Did you forget to raise your hand?" asked Mr. Todd. Oof. Judy stretched her hand in the air. "Yes?" asked Mr. Todd. "I was going to say Elizabeth Blackwell

Women of Science ruler," said Judy, holding up her favorite ruler. "But somebody said ruler. So, I was thinking, you could measure something with a piece of string." "Very good," said Mr. Todd. "In ancient times, the length of your foot or the width of your thumb could be used to measure things." Judy stuck her hand in the air again. "Mr. Todd," she started, with her hand still raised. "Did you know that the longest guitar is thirty-eight feet and two inches? It says so right here on my Yardstick of Bubble Gum box." "Thank you, Judy. That's interesting." He rolled the chalk in his hands. "But let's try not to interrupt." "I raised my hand!" said Judy. "That's a good start. But please wait to be

called on." Mr. Todd held up a jar of something that looked like rice. He wrote on the board: 1 inch =3 grains of barley. Judy raised her hand again. Mr. Todd peered over his glasses. "Yes, Judy?" "The longest grain of rice is eight and a half millimeters, I'm pretty sure." "She's like the Interrupting Chicken from that book," said Brody. Judy's face got hot. Her ears turned as red as a turtle. A red-eared slider, that is. "Let's all work on not interrupting, Brody," said Mr. Todd. He turned back to the board. "In old England, the king made a rule that if you took three grains of barley and put them end to end, that made an inch." Judy could not help thinking about the