Amelia records in her diary a nightmare come true when her embarrassing older sister tags along on a sixth-grade class trip, and then she learns about the nasty side of gossip when rumors start about her at her new school.

Second grader Ali Tahir considers himself to be a dinosaur expert, but on a class field trip to the natural history museum, Ali keeps getting his facts wrong, and is embarrassed in front of his friends and classmates.

The Water Sprites, are giving a special performance at a fancy ski resort, and Gracie decides to book a ski lesson in her free time; but having her teammates watch (and sometimes laugh) at her efforts is uncomfortable, so her instructor takes her up the hill to ski one of the beginner trails--and when Gracie discovers that her ski instructor cannot swim, Gracie realizes that it is okay to have trouble when learning a new sport.

Yasmin and her friend Emma are going to the ice rink, but Yasmin is nervous and does not want to admit that she has never skated, so she delays going on the ice as long as possible--but when she falls down Emma's mother offers to teach her, and Emma helps.