Who's Afraid of Fourth Grade? by Nancy Krulik

before.”
    â€œMe neither,” Kadeem said.
    â€œDo you think it will be able to fly right away?” Emma S. asked Mr. Guthrie.
    The teacher shook his head. “I think that’s out of the question.”
    â€œBut what if it wants to spread its wings and fly?” Katie asked. “It wouldn’t be fair not to let it. Animals have rights too.”
    â€œI agree,” Mr. Guthrie said. “But in this case ...”
    â€œFlying isn’t going to be something this pet will want to do, Katie Kazoo,” George interrupted. He pointed into the cage.

    â€œWhoa!” Kadeem shouted. “It’s not a bird. It’s a snake!”
    Sure enough, a baby snake had emerged from the egg. It was red with black, white, and yellow markings.
    â€œIs it poisonous?” Emma W. asked Mr. Guthrie. She nervously moved away from the cage.
    â€œIt’s harmless,” he assured her.
    â€œI didn’t know snakes came from eggs,” Emma S. said with amazement.
    â€œSure,” Mandy told her. “Snakes are reptiles, just like turtles and lizards. All reptiles hatch from eggs.”
    â€œThat’s right,” Mr. Guthrie agreed. “We’re going to learn a lot more about reptiles in the next few weeks. That’s our new science unit.”
    Kevin looked over at the beanbag chairs in the middle of the room. “No more birds, huh?”
    Mr. Guthrie shook his head.
    â€œOh, well. There go our nests!” Kevin said.
    â€œWhat should we call our new pet?”
    Andrew asked.
    Katie watched the snake slither out of its egg. It was cute the way he slinked around the bottom of his glass cage. “How about Slinky?” she suggested.
    â€œThat’s a great name,” George told her.
    â€œI like it too,” Kadeem agreed.
    â€œHey, George and Kadeem finally agree on something,” Andrew pointed out.
    â€œNow we have to name the snake Slinky,” Mandy told the class.
    Mr. G. grinned. “Slinky it is.”
    The way Katie saw things, the kids in 4A were really lucky to have Mr. Guthrie for a fourth-grade teacher. A normal teacher would never have brought a snake egg to school. But what was so great about being normal? Forget about guinea pigs and hamsters. No animal in the whole school was cooler than Slinky!
    Take that, class 4B!