a Coffeepot, and a Sack of Potatoes

"Galileo was a great scientist," said Mrs. Drazil. "He was born in Italy in 1564 and died in 1642. He was the first person to use a telescope to study the stars. And he also helped figure out the laws of

gravity."

"Oh, I know about gravity," said Joe. "Mrs. Jewls pushed a computer out the window. It fell a lot faster than a pencil."

"I don\'t think so," said Mrs. Drazil. "Galileo proved that all objects fall at the same speed. He conducted a very famous experiment. He dropped lots of different objects off the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is in Italy. It was built in-"

Todd raised his hand. "You\'re getting a little boring," he said.

"Oh, my goodness, am I?" asked Mrs. Drazil.

Rondi, Leslie, Paul, and Calvin nodded their heads.

"I\'m sorry," said Mrs. Drazil. She thought a moment. "I know!" she exclaimed. "Let\'s do the experiment here!"

The children cheered. They loved experiments.

Mrs. Drazil rubbed her hands together. "Let\'s see. We\'ll need a coffeepot, a pencil sharpener, a light bulb, and . . ." She thought a moment. "We need something heavy."

"An elephant\'s heavy," said Benjamin.

"There are no elephants in Wayside School," said Mrs. Drazil.

Everyone laughed.

"How about a sack of potatoes?" asked Ron. "I bet Miss Mush has one."

"Go see," said Mrs. Drazil.

"There\'s a coffeepot down in the office," said Stephen.
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"Go get it," said Mrs. Drazil.

"If I had a screwdriver, I could get the pencil sharpener off the wall," said Eric Fry.

"I\'ve got a screwdriver!" said Jenny.

"Can we use a fluorescent light bulb?" asked Bebe. She looked up at the ceiling.

"I guess so," said Mrs. Drazil.

"How do I get it?" asked Bebe.

"You\'re the scientist," said Mrs. Drazil. "You figure it out."

Bebe put her chair on top of her desk and stood on it. She still couldn\'t reach the ceiling. "Hey, Benjamin, let me have your chair!"

She put Benjamin\'s chair on top of hers, but she still wasn\'t tall enough.

Calvin dumped the wastepaper basket onto the floor. "Try this," he said.

Bebe turned the trash can upside down and put it on top of Benjamin\'s chair. Then she climbed on top, but she still couldn\'t quite reach.

Leslie brought the class dictionary. Jenny and Dana donated their math books. Sharie grabbed Mrs. Drazil\'s old blue notebook.

"Put that down!" yelled Mrs. Drazil. "Right now!"

Sharie dropped the notebook. Mrs. Drazil\'s kindly old face had suddenly turned mean.

"Don\'t ever touch that again!" Mrs. Drazil ordered.