Miss Mingo helps all of the animal students in her class overcome their shyness on the first day of school by encouraging them to share something special about themselves. Includes facts about animals.
At first, Trisha loves school, but her difficulty learning to read makes her feel dumb, until, in the fifth grade, a new teacher helps her understand and overcome her problem.
Other students laugh when Rigoberto, an immigrant from Venezuela, introduces himself but later, he meets Angelina and discovers that he is not the only one who feels like an outsider.
Mr. Ouchy, a new teacher, is nervous about his first day of school, but when he teaches the class about time and counting, they all enjoy the experience.
A first-grade girl who does not like to read stubbornly resists her school librarian's efforts to convince her to love books until she finds one that might change her mind.
Bobby thinks his teacher, Ms. Kirby, is horrible, but when he sees her outside of school and they spend a day in the park together, he discovers she might not be so bad after all.
When Lila, a worrier, moves to a new town, the what ifs only grow, and she feels alone and invisible until her teacher finds a creative and kind way to make Lila feel welcome and open to new experiences, a lesson that will stay with her long after second grade.
In this take on the well-known cumulative rhyme, a teacher inadvertently swallows a flea, then follows it with an assortment of classroom pets while her students look on in surprise.
