Chapter 1
It was a sunny Monday morning in New York City as eight year old Zuri Ross sat smiling in her second grade classroom at Walden Academy. Zuri loved Mondays! On Monday mornings her teacher, Miss Jobe, would gather the children onto the classroom rug and tell them about all of the new things that they would learn throughout the week. It was exciting for Zuri. The possibilities were swirling through her head as Miss Jobe stepped up to begin the day.
"Good morning, everyone!" Miss Jobe enthusiastically exclaimed. "It's so good to see you all this morning!" Zuri smiled. She loved Miss Jobe and she loved her class.
"Before we begin this morning I want to let you know that we will be getting a new student today." Again Zuri smiled. She loved making new friends. Getting new students in the class always made Zuri excited. "Her name is Allee and she will be joining us sometime before lunch today. I know you will all do your very best to help her feel happy about joining our class!"
"Okay now…who wants to hear what we will learn about his week?" Hands shot straight up and a flurry of excitement filled the room. "Great!" Miss Jobe began to write each new learning target for the week onto the board as she explained each to the children. "In phonics we will work on reading and writing words with the double o sound (oo). In reading we will tell how a setting changes throughout a story. In writing…" Just then the door opened and Miss Jobe quickly walked over to it as Allee and some grownups walked through the door.
"This must be our Allee!" exclaimed Miss Jobe. Miss Jobe bent down and wrapped one arm around Allee. "Allee, we are so very happy to have you with us. Welcome to our classroom!" Allee smiled nervously up at her new teacher. "Miss Jobe this is Allee Hart and her guardians Mrs. Sandy and Mr. Mark Stillman," said Principal Scott. Miss Jobe shook their hands and assured them that Allee would be in great hands in our classroom. Mr. and Mrs. Stillman hugged Allee, patted her on the head, and walked out of the room with Principal Scott.
Miss Jobe took Allee by the hand and led her to a spot on the classroom rug. All of the children smiled at Allee. Zuri waved at Allee across the classroom. "Okay guys, lets start with Stuart here in the front and everyone tell Allee your name and your favorite thing to do when you are not at school." One by one the kids began to share. When it was her turn Zuri stood up and said, "My name is Zuri Zenobia Ross and I love to have tea parties with Milley the Mermaid and Chubby the Bear…and I'd like it if you could come too, Allee." Miss Jobe smiled proudly at Zuri. Allee smiled shyly. Zuri just smiled. It was turning out to be a greater than great Monday…and it was only 9:30am!