The boys and girls in the fourth grade devise a contest to "sink their substitute teacher by making her cry.

The fifth grade year gets off to a busy start as one student returns from winning a national Miss Pre-Teen Personality contest, a new girl with some interesting knowledge arrives, jealousy gets a grip on one particular student, and an "experiment" to see who's smart is conducted.

Desperate to pay back 50 dollars they owe, three 12-year-olds form a jazz combo and then receive some surprising assistance from a local disc jockey.

Patrick, the new boy in Richard's class, is always causing trouble, but his work on a science project about bats helps him make new friends.