I decided to let the kids write the blog this week. Here are just some excerpts of student entries related to what's been going on in fourth grade….

You might think that remote learning means that the teacher and the students lose contact. You might think the kids turn into zombies and are impossible to get motivated. In some classes, this might be true, but not in this class. Kids are staying in touch with their teachers by having energizing Zoom meetings which almost everyone in our classroom attends. All the activities and worksheets we do are fun and easily accessible from a computer or Ipad. Also, to add to this long list of the wonderful things our teachers are doing, Miss Hanly and Mrs. O'Keefe do “Office Hours” where they make themselves available for questions and more. -Annabelle
Recently, we’ve been doing weekly meetings on every Friday to just have fun and see each other. We don’t discuss school really, we really just play games such as these riddles that are about a specific item that we have to go and obtain. We also did word games, like there's a category and we say words that fit the category for 45 seconds, and the last word said in the chat wins. And last Friday, we did a madlib that was about school and teachers. It was ridiculous!! And the most simple thing we’ve done is “Would you rather?” which is self explanatory. Oh, and by the way it is all optional. But, most choose to come since Ms. Hanly and Mrs. O'Keefe were rather clever and came up with (or were inspired by) these ideas. -Julie

During this lock down we have been reading the book “The one and only Ivan” and it is a really great book. Who knew a book narrated by a gorilla who never leaves his domain could be so good?? -Mac
The One and Only Ivan is based on a gorilla who loves to draw, be with friends, and tell stories. Ivan is a silverback gorilla, who lives in a cage in the big top mall. This is a very interesting book because he makes his own art and eats snacks all day long, like my dad. -Cash
I also think that Ivan is funny because he tries to eat everything including finger paint. Since Julia gave him the finger paint I think she cares for Ivan. Also because she introduced him to painting and drawing to keep himself entertained in his domain. -Dylan
Ivan is super smart and humans don't even realize how smart he is.  I love how inquisitive Ruby is and how she's making Ivan use his brains. The communication and relationship between the animals is really cool and makes you wonder if they can really do that? -Aliyah
The One and Only Ivan is an awesome book filled with interesting characters and lots of description. It makes you dig a little deeper into it because a lot of the meaning of things people say or think are not right there in the text. Ivan is a lovable gorilla with a big heart and you can’t help but root for him. It’s been really fun to read this book and I am always so excited to read more. -Eva

I'm going to talk about the daily writing journal. I have seen so many different types of prompts these past few weeks, my favorite one is the one where we have to say if we met an alien what would we say to them. -Juliet
The daily journal is an assignment where you answer a prompt each day. The great part about it is if you don't want to do the prompt you can make up your own. You just have to type. My favorite prompts have pictures. I really liked the one with the cat looking in a mirror. You had to type what the cat was thinking. I wrote "Who is this? What is this tomfoolery? Do I know this cat because he looks very handsome. I wonder what he’s thinking." I liked this prompt because I thought it was laughable and I had fun writing it. I don't like some of the prompts, but I still power through them. The moral of the story is basically don't give up! -Logan B

I should let them write the blog more often!!! Our Bucket Fillers last week were Donovan and Ziyad. Donovan is an absolute gem. Mrs. O'Keefe has been impressed with the effort he's been putting into math, and I've been impressed with his consistent positivity and flexibility. He's one of those go-with-the-flow kids with a "cool, calm, and collected" nature that makes him enjoyable to be around—even if it's just being around him on a virtual level! Ziyad joined our small group meeting last week for the first time in a little while, and seeing his face through the screen made me soooo happy. (Check out the picture of the sign he made me :)) I miss his enthusiastic, funny self, and it's been so nice reading some of the work he's been doing lately. Congrats, boys!