Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom is composed of thirty separate, but interconnected stories that involve the kids in the eponymous Wayside School.
"A Million" tells the story of Mrs. Jewls' lesson on what a million is. To prove her point, she tells her class that they must collect a million of something. Terrence injures his toe after kicking things for the rest of the morning. In an attempt to ease his pain, he takes out nail clippers and snips off the injured toenail. This inspires Mrs. Jewls, who decides that she will collect a million toenails.
"The Closet That Wasn't There" follows Mac, who one day comes across a closet with quite a few locks on it. As Mac begins to fiddle with the closet and the locks that are on it, other students start to notice the closet as well. Mrs. Jewls suddenly comes back and scolds the students for playing with the closet and its locks, reminding them that they have to stay away from it. Mrs. Jewls' admonishment doesn't deter Mac, though, and he remains as curious as ever about what is in the closet.
"Science" follows Mrs. Jewls' students as they go up to the roof of Wayside School to study clouds. One student draws pictures of traditional clouds in her notebook; another, however, notices an ominous dark cloud in the distance. Frightened, Mrs. Jewls explains to the students that the cloud they see in the distance is the cloud of doom and that they must run inside.
