* * * Class Clown 2 - Page 1

Benny and Chimp go up to present their report and the entire class starts laughing. The other students realize that these two haven't prepared anything at all! Miss Eddy claps her hands for silence and asks Chimp and Benny to stay after class to speak with her. After class lets out for the day, Lucas and Maddie are the first to speak to Miss Eddy. 

Miss Eddy says to them, "I see you both have made really excellent architectural drawings of buildings and written up a very detailed report. This is definitely an "A+" report. Also, Lucas, your presentation was excellent. But what happened to your report's condition?" Miss Eddy asks. "It looks like it survived a tornado. Neatness is important too." [press Extra button]

Lucas wants to tell Miss Eddy how Chimp grabbed and ruined their report. But he doesn't want to be a tattle tale. Lucas looks down at his feet. Finally he mumbles, "Ask Chimp. Chimp will tell you what happened."

"What Lucas? What did you say?" Miss Eddy gently prods him.

"Ask Chimp," Maddie says softly.

Miss Eddy's eyebrows go up. She looks over at Chimp who is now looking down at his desk.

Miss Eddy nods. "Okay, I will. I'm wondering how we can smooth out the wrinkles in this report?"

Lucas speaks up. 

"My Dad thinks we can press the wrinkled papers between the pages of a large, heavy book overnight. Then we can copy the pages at a copy center and make color copies which will be almost as good as the originals."

"That sounds like a great idea Lucas," Miss Eddy says with a smile.  

"Yeah," Lucas agrees. "My Dad has lots of good ideas." 

After Maddie and Lucas leave, Miss Eddy calls Chimp and Benny over to her desk. 

"Chimp, Benny," Miss Eddy begins. "Your class project is not acceptable as a research report. Number one, you didn't research your topic. Number two, you didn't write down your research findings. Number three, you only provided one visual aid. And number four, you didn't prepare an oral presentation for the class."

Benny and Chimp don't say anything.

"What happened?" Miss Eddy asks.

Both boys just shrug their shoulders. 

"I want both of you to go back to your desks, take out your notebooks and get ready to work. I will help you think about your team project and make it better." 

Miss Eddy pulls up her chair and sits down with both of them. They discuss topics of interest and realize that rabbits love vegetables and tamarins love fruits and vegetables. After thinking about various subjects to write about, Chimp and Benny decide that a topic called "Growing and Harvesting Fruits and Vegetables" would be a better topic than "I Love Gardening". Miss Eddy writes up a list of good topic questions that the two of them should research and use to write up their report. They will have to present their revised report out loud to the class on Monday.

Miss Eddy writes up notes for Benny and Chimp to take home to their parents now that they will have to spend the weekend researching and writing their class project. When this discussion ends, Chimp and Benny prepare to leave. But Miss Eddy asks Chimp to stay behind and talk about something else.

Chimp knows it's about Maddie and Lucas' report. He knows he's in big trouble now. Miss Eddy asks him why he crumpled other students' work. He doesn't know why he made such a mess of their report, so just shrugs his shoulders.

"I didn't mean to," he says. "I just wanted to see it."
 
Miss Eddy sends him home with a second note which he has to get signed by his mother or father and return to her. He feels terrible and quietly put both notes in his backpack and leaves.

Then he goes outside and sees that Benny has waited for him. At least Benny isn't mad at him about his bad behavior. Instead Benny is excited about the new report. 

"How about if I begin looking for pictures of vegetables and farming, and you begin looking for pictures of fruits and fruit trees?" Benny suggests eagerly. Now that Miss Eddy had given them some structure, Benny understands what they are supposed to do.

Chimp just mumbles "okay". He's nervous about the two notes, so his mind is elsewhere. Benny then repeats himself. 

"Chimp, look here, I'll be responsible for vegetables and you'll be responsible for fruits. Okay?" 

Chimp agrees and they each go their separate ways home.