Anna All Year Round by Mary Downing Hahn, Diane de Groat Page B
Authors: Mary Downing Hahn, Diane de Groat
Tags: United States, Fiction, General, Historical, People & Places, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Family Life, Social Issues, Adolescence, maryland, Baltimore (Md.), German Americans, baltimore, Hahn; Mary Downing - Family, Sherwood; Anna Elisabeth, Baltimore (Md.) - Fiction, Family Life - Maryland - Baltimore - Fiction
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the other side of Aunt May. Beatrice Morgan's house is at the top of the hill. Wally Heinz's house is at the bottom of the hill. Patrick Reilly lives next door to Wally, and Charlie Murphy lives across the street from Anna.
Rosa and Beatrice are best friends. They go everywhere together, holding hands and giggling. Sometimes they let Anna play with them, especially if they need her to turn the jump rope. Sometimes they tell her to go home. "Two's company," Rosa says, squeezing Beatrice's hand, "but three's a crowd."
Anna doesn't care. Rosa and Beatrice are silly, boring girls. They never do anything but play jacks and jump rope and take their dolls for walks. Anna would rather roller-skate with Charlie Murphy any day. Unlike Anna, Charlie has lots of brothers and sisters, some older than he is and some younger. Once in a while Anna wishes she had a big family like Charlie's, but usually she's happy to have Father and Mother all to herself.
This year, Charlie, Patrick, Wally, Beatrice, Rosa, and Anna are in the third grade. They go to Public School 62, a tall red-brick building just down the street from Anna's house. It's three stories high, much bigger than any house in the neighborhood. When Anna started first grade, she often got lost trying to find her classroom, but now that she's eight, she knows her way around.
Anna's teacher, Miss Levine, has divided the class into two sections: a high third for the smart children and a low third for the others. Anna is in the high third. She has more gold stars on her chart than any other child.
Anna is very proud of those stars. So are Mother and Father. Mother tells Aunt May that Anna is "
ein kluges Mädchen,
" a clever girl. Aunt May is proud, too.
Wally, Rosa, and Beatrice are also in the high third, but Patrick and Charlie are in the low. Anna feels sorry for Charlie, but he and Patrick don't care. They hate school.
One day in October Miss Levine decides the high third is ready for long division. "Suppose we have 483 oranges," she says. "And we want to divide them among 23 boys and girls. This is how we do it."
Anna watches Miss Levine's chalk fly across the blackboard as she shows the children how to divide the oranges. Ever since Anna started school, she's been a top reader but she's always had trouble with arithmetic. In her opinion, numbers are much harder than letters. And not nearly as interesting. All you can do with numbers is make problems. But you can make stories and poems with words. Stories and poems are definitely more fun than problems.
"There!" Miss Levine turns to the class with a big smile. "Each of you smart children would get twenty-one nice juicy oranges! Do you see what I did to find the solution?"
Anna nods her head like the other children. Nothing Miss Levine has said or done makes sense to her, but Anna is afraid to raise her hand and ask a question. Miss Levine might think Anna does not belong in the high third.
Rosa sits beside Anna. She cannot read as well as Anna but she is very good with numbers. Anna is afraid she will lose her place at the top of the class to Rosa.
Instead of asking Miss Levine for help, Anna secretly copies Rosa's work. If Rosa knew what Anna was doing, she'd tell the teacher or cover her problems with her hand, so Anna is careful not to be caught. She feels bad about doing this, but she cannot risk telling Miss Levine she doesn't understand long division.
No one catches Anna until the day Miss Levine sends the children to the blackboard in groups of four. She tells them they are going to have long division races. Whoever solves the problem first will receive a gold star. Anna knows she will not get one today.
Miss Levine says, "The dividend is 6281. The divisor is 47. When you find the quotient, go to your seat."
The four children write the problem on the blackboard. Anna is so nervous she drops her stick of chalk. While she's picking it up, she steals a peek at Rosa's work, but she cannot see it well enough to
Rosa and Beatrice are best friends. They go everywhere together, holding hands and giggling. Sometimes they let Anna play with them, especially if they need her to turn the jump rope. Sometimes they tell her to go home. "Two's company," Rosa says, squeezing Beatrice's hand, "but three's a crowd."
Anna doesn't care. Rosa and Beatrice are silly, boring girls. They never do anything but play jacks and jump rope and take their dolls for walks. Anna would rather roller-skate with Charlie Murphy any day. Unlike Anna, Charlie has lots of brothers and sisters, some older than he is and some younger. Once in a while Anna wishes she had a big family like Charlie's, but usually she's happy to have Father and Mother all to herself.
This year, Charlie, Patrick, Wally, Beatrice, Rosa, and Anna are in the third grade. They go to Public School 62, a tall red-brick building just down the street from Anna's house. It's three stories high, much bigger than any house in the neighborhood. When Anna started first grade, she often got lost trying to find her classroom, but now that she's eight, she knows her way around.
Anna's teacher, Miss Levine, has divided the class into two sections: a high third for the smart children and a low third for the others. Anna is in the high third. She has more gold stars on her chart than any other child.
Anna is very proud of those stars. So are Mother and Father. Mother tells Aunt May that Anna is "
ein kluges Mädchen,
" a clever girl. Aunt May is proud, too.
Wally, Rosa, and Beatrice are also in the high third, but Patrick and Charlie are in the low. Anna feels sorry for Charlie, but he and Patrick don't care. They hate school.
One day in October Miss Levine decides the high third is ready for long division. "Suppose we have 483 oranges," she says. "And we want to divide them among 23 boys and girls. This is how we do it."
Anna watches Miss Levine's chalk fly across the blackboard as she shows the children how to divide the oranges. Ever since Anna started school, she's been a top reader but she's always had trouble with arithmetic. In her opinion, numbers are much harder than letters. And not nearly as interesting. All you can do with numbers is make problems. But you can make stories and poems with words. Stories and poems are definitely more fun than problems.
"There!" Miss Levine turns to the class with a big smile. "Each of you smart children would get twenty-one nice juicy oranges! Do you see what I did to find the solution?"
Anna nods her head like the other children. Nothing Miss Levine has said or done makes sense to her, but Anna is afraid to raise her hand and ask a question. Miss Levine might think Anna does not belong in the high third.
Rosa sits beside Anna. She cannot read as well as Anna but she is very good with numbers. Anna is afraid she will lose her place at the top of the class to Rosa.
Instead of asking Miss Levine for help, Anna secretly copies Rosa's work. If Rosa knew what Anna was doing, she'd tell the teacher or cover her problems with her hand, so Anna is careful not to be caught. She feels bad about doing this, but she cannot risk telling Miss Levine she doesn't understand long division.
No one catches Anna until the day Miss Levine sends the children to the blackboard in groups of four. She tells them they are going to have long division races. Whoever solves the problem first will receive a gold star. Anna knows she will not get one today.
Miss Levine says, "The dividend is 6281. The divisor is 47. When you find the quotient, go to your seat."
The four children write the problem on the blackboard. Anna is so nervous she drops her stick of chalk. While she's picking it up, she steals a peek at Rosa's work, but she cannot see it well enough to
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