Feifei Wan, 9, Portland, OR My School Feifei Wan, 9 Even though the pandemic is still here, it doesn’t stop me from going to my school every day. This Sunday, just like any other day, my mom and I decided to ride our bikes. While we were passing by a small pond near the school driveway, we saw a toad! The trick to spot a toad is to make sure the sun is out. It was a warm and sunny day. The toad whom I call Mr. Grogg was just like an old friend waiting for us to visit on the bank. Not far away from the pond, surprisingly, the cherry blossoms had bloomed a lot over the past week. Because the flowers were too beautiful to ignore, we took a lot of pictures. My favorite picture was the one where my mom and I did the photobomb. Even though my mom was in the background, I could still see her big smile. Our next stop was the grass field. There were a bunch of little daisies sparkling in the sun. I wish we could have taken more photos with the beautiful flowers, but I didn’t forget that our original plan was to get some exercise and enjoy the sun. So here we go! Our bike rides, one lap, two laps, three laps…… I felt so happy that spring was here! It was Monday, but not a normal Monday. My school was open for K-2 for the first day of hybrid learning! It was so exciting since we have been studying on a computer for a whole year. Even though I am a 3rd grader, I was so happy for the lower grades that I decided to walk to school during my lunch break. Guess what I saw? A busy school with parents picking up their kids. Teachers were giving directions to the kids to find their parents. Kids were running up to the parents and kept talking. Some people were taking pictures of their kids in front of the entrance to memorize this special day. And there was the bright yellow school bus picking up kids to go home. I felt happy and sad at the same time. I was happy because, finally, the kids were going back to their classrooms to meet friends and teachers. I was sad because I also wanted to be there in a BIG classroom with my backpack on my back. Tuesday was different. We didn’t even go to school because I went to my friend’s backyard to play in a bouncing house. But don’t worry, we caught up on Wednesday. There was no school so we got a good chance to take a window visit. It is so cool that each class has its own entrance. Teachers used chalk art and made cute arrows to guide students to keep their distance while entering the classroom. It was so kind and warm. What impressed me the most was in each classroom there were more desks and chairs than I expected. I thought it might only be a few sets since a lot of kids are still learning online like me, but surprisingly there were more than 10 almost in all the rooms we could see. It looked cool and full of hope. I could imagine myself sitting in the class and doing my math worksheet in the Fall. When we were walking back home, there were just so many plans for school days in my mind, and I wanted to say “Wait for me, my dear school!” Thursday my mom and I didn’t go to school either. We just walked around the neighborhood. It’s like all the even numbered days we don’t walk to school. Tuesday stands for 2 and Thursday stands for 4! So we had to take the school walk no matter what on Friday. It was a beautiful day outside with a few clouds, but mostly a light blue sky. On the sidewalk, I found so many dandelions! My mom told me a saying that if you make a wish and blow your dandelions in one whip, your wish will come true. So I tried my best…whoooooooooosh…all the little feathers flew into the air like little ballerinas dancing in the sky. This was not the only excitement; we met Mr. Grogg and his son in the pond! They were sitting together in the shining bright sun. Wait, was that snow falling? Oh, NO! That was just flower petals blown from cherry blossom trees. Everything is growing in spring. Kids started to come out to play in the school playground. I saw them playing on the basketball court, sliding down from the slides and swinging in the high swings. What a perfect Friday, not to mention my favorite show would be on at night. Yay! Saturday was another perfect day to go on a bike ride. Different from the weekdays, I got to go bike riding with my friends! We first started the ride around the front parking lot of our school. “Click, Click, Clack, Click, Click, Clack…” I could hear my bike chain making sounds while I was pedaling hard. The boys pretended this was a race. They went at a turbo speed to beat us, the girls. But it seemed like we didn’t care at all. While we enjoyed talking about random stuff, we finally crossed the finish line even though it wasn’t a race :). The boys decided to run a few more laps while my friend and I found something more interesting. We went onto the green grass and I watched my friend do a bunch of super gymnastics moves. We even created a cool handstand giggly wiggly dance. Everyone laughed so hard that, basically, all the kids came to join the game. This was the BEST afternoon of all time. Even though it might be a difficult time in the pandemic, if we wear a mask, and keep our distance, it will still feel like how
diary
Spread Love Not Hate
“Injustice for one is injustice for all.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dear Diary, Today I went to a protest march. I went to support people who are against racism and especially to support Black people as they are treated unfairly. I went to show Black people that I am with them and will stand up for them. It is not enough to not be a racist. You have to stand up and show up in support. I went because I believe Black Lives Matter. I went because I believe racism is wrong and people should not be judged by the color of their skin or how they look. Just because of the skin color, Black people have to face a lot of discrimination. They are not given the same opportunities to grow as others. And I don’t understand why this injustice? We all are the same inside, just like two eggs. If we crack a brown egg and a white egg, it will be the same inside, there is no difference. The world belongs to all of us. We share the same earth, water and air. When Nature doesn’t treat us differently, why should we treat each other differently? What happened to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many other Black people is so unfair. And this is what the protest is for. When our peaceful march started,It was raining, yet a lot of people came. Everyone had masks on. A lot of them were holding banners that said “Black Lives Matter.” I made one which said “Spread Love Not Hate.” I loved reading all the different slogans. One of them said “Injustice for one is injustice for all.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” We all were repeating after the person who led the March. Leader: “Black Lives Matter.” Us: Black Lives Matter Leader: what do you want? Us: Justice Leader: When do you want it? Us: Now We kept repeating more slogans for about 2 miles and reached our destination. Then two Black women talked about how it was different for them growing up than their white friends. They were followed for no reason and could not go to the coffee shop without a cop staring at them. It made me realize the difference between privileged and not-privileged. They spoke about cops and their brutality. How just because of their skin color, Black people are more likely to be stopped by police. How people around them are suspicious of them. Their speeches were powerful and I was thinking how people can be so mean. I felt sad hearing their stories. We observed 8 mins and 46 seconds silence for George Floyd by kneeling down. Doing so made me realize how difficult it must have been for him with the knee on his neck and unable to breathe. I think everyone had the same thoughts as me since the whole crowd was quiet even after the time was up. I am glad I joined the protest. I learnt a lot of things and what I can do to stop racism. We can start by not treating others badly due to their skin color or how they look. If we see someone being treated unfairly, we should speak up and tell someone about it. We can also help them by listening to them and understanding them. The most important thing that I learnt from going to this March is that “Silence is violence.” That means we should not keep quiet when something wrong is happening in front of us.
A global epidemic through the eyes of a 10-year-old, a journal by Ryan Marcinkowski
Ryan Marcinkowski, 10Basalt, CO A global epidemic through the eyes of a 10-year-old Ryan Marcinkowski, 10 Then I googled it. “Corona is an island kingdom and the birthplace of Rapunzel in Disney’s 2010 animated feature film, Tangled. The central hub of Corona’s kingdom was built on an island and grew over many years.” I had a conversation with my mom’s cousin who was visiting us. He said, “Coronaviruses were first discovered in the mid to late 1900’s. Knowing how witty the writers can be I am sure they had knowledge of these viruses and slipped that in there as a joke back then.” Little did they know how much interest they would create later. * * * Since social distancing, I’ve adjusted to the changes. I have a schedule Monday – Friday which helps. This is what my day looks like. I wake up around 8:00 A.M then brush my teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, do homework, exercise, have lunch, do homework, go outside to bike, family time, dinner, get ready for bed. I feel okay about the changes in our community but the people in our town and our community have to come together, listen and stay home. People are more cautious but I still notice that people go and hangout with their friends when they should be social distancing. Instead they are not listening and putting everyone at risk. It’s frustrating to see. Local businesses are being affected due to COVID-19. Stores have had to close during this time or offer limited services. Everyone has to wear face masks to enter a restaurant or store. Restaurants have been able to offer food “To Go”, retail shops have been limiting customers to ten people at a time allowed or offering curbside pick up. As a family we have been shopping locally and supporting a local business two times a week. Just think if everyone could do that to support local businesses. It would help out our community. My Journal Log Friday, March 13, 2020 Today school tells us 3 extra days of Spring break due to COVID-19 as a safety precaution. Sunday, March 15, 2020 Today is my birthday party. A lot of people couldn’t come because they were social-distancing, but we still had fun with close friends and family that were visiting. Monday March 16 ,2020 Day 1 of social distancing for our family. Mom and Dad told us that we are not going anywhere for spring break. We originally planned on going to Japan and Thailand. That’s where COVID-19 was, so we changed our travel plans to Hawaii. We ended up cancelling as a safety precaution. Then we found out that no one could travel from England into the United States due to COVID-19. My aunt, uncle and cousin were going to fly out from London over Easter for two weeks to visit. My Grand Dad was going to fly out from California for ten days. They had to cancel their trip. Friday March 20, 2020 My Dad had to tell his managers they don’t have jobs for 2 to 3 months. It is called furlough which is a temporary lay off. It was one of the hardest things he’s had to do. We are very lucky my Dad still has his job. Monday March 23, 2020 My Mom started a realistic homeschooling schedule. Tuesday March 24 ,2020 The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo officially postponed until summer 2021. This has not happened since the Berlin Summer Olympics in 1916 due to the outbreak of World War 1. Thursday March 26, 2020 The stay at home order was issued starting today through April 17, 2020. April 1, 2020 Today Dad drove to Boulder to pick up my god sister who goes to CU to bring her to our home to keep her safe. She can’t fly home to Australia as they quarantine all passengers at a hotel in Sydney for two weeks and her parents did not feel comfortable having her go through that. She will be staying with us until it is safe for her to go back to university or fly home to Australia. I got to speak to my teachers today about online learning. It was great to hear the plan and also so nice to talk to them. I miss them! The Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis announced that schools are ordered to stay closed at least until April 30. We still have not heard an official date from the school district when we will be able to go back to school. April 2, 2020 Today we went on a field trip to check out the free lunches the Roaring Fork School District is handing out off the school bus. It was fun to actually see people for a change. April 3, 2020 My Mom and Dad told me that my archaeology trip to Crow Canyon in June was cancelled due to COVID-19. I was really looking forward to this trip with my teacher and friends. April 6, 2020 The Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis announced that the stay at home order is now through April 26, 2020. April 9, 2020 I had my first online Crew meeting with my class today. It was great to see and talk to my teacher and classmates. April 11, 2020 This morning we woke up to this alert. April 13, 2020 We had an online Crew with our class today. We got to see our teacher and classmates and participate which was a lot of fun. April 14, 2020 We had class online office hours today. We got to do a show and tell. I showed my drumstick I received from the drummer Chris Culos from the O.A.R concert I went to in February. It was great to see what other kids brought and ask questions. April 20, 2020 Governor Jared Polis announced that Eagle County will be the first county in Colorado to open back up. April 21, 2020 Our school district announced that school
