Planet 5: Fifth-Grade Reflections of the Year 2020

CREDITS: PAGE ARTISTS SPEECHES & DESIGN - THE 5TH GRADE PAGE EDITOR - MR. CARROLL COVER ARTISTS FRONT & BACK DESIGN- MARISOL BEA & HAZEL HANTMAN CREDITS PAGE DESIGN - BECKETT SEYMOUR & WILL SPELLER THE PLANET 5 MANAGER MR. CARROLL

2020 the weird year The year started with a bang going off to a hockey tournament but the problem was That I got very sick in the middle. I felt like I was in a box with one hole in it. I could barely breathe but we could not go to the hospital because we were in a different state. A few weeks after we got back home my mom and brother were going to new jersey for a tournament. I was going to have a play Annie to be exact our last practise my mom had just gotten back but things were starting to get bad this morning.My fourth grade teachers had ran us through a video and a speech about the virus if you want to call it a speech and my mom came to the practise because she thought we might not go to school together not because we didn't want to but my mom thought that the school might close.She was right the next day everything shut down but we went to school for half the day but we had to leave the subject before the play and we got a cookie that said Annie on it. Witch just made me feel sadder when me and my brother roger got back home we were crying. I have to admit I was scared when we got home my mom let us play on our school iPad I only mention this because it is example that everything is changing my mom normally forbids any iPad Two weeks later we are starting distance learning this morning we all think it's going to be awesome because we can start school later and relax at home. But In a few days we started to realize that distance learning sucked this was because me and my mom were going further apart.

We were fighting a lot when we finally finished distance learning over the summer we did nothing much until august before school. I did a paddle boarding camp but when we came back to school my family were all very thankful. We WERE GOING BACK TO REAL SCHOOL most other schools would not be doing this not even distance learning. School was awesome we had awesome teachers and I would not feel comfortable with any other class and the virus seemed to be getting better but of course anything that goes up must come down. By thanksgiving everything was going back down the virus was getting worse we were getting loads of homework. But then the vaccine came out I am not saying everything will be better next year but I hope this vaccine will work and we can be done with the virus. Then we heard that we had two weeks until brake for new years and christmas. But at this point we had a second vaccine and it just got approved by the safety food and medicine association. But Kids cant take it and all the while the virus was just getting worse.One week before break We got some snow witch lifted all our moods in fact at school we had a snow day and then a half day where we played in the snow. Finally it was break and There was snow. Snow means happiness. We went sledding everyday with my friends until Thursday where the happiness started to go away but I got to have my friends over on christmas eve.Finally what we've all been waiting for CHRISTMAS I got a lot of presents including my first gift card because my brother got and quad bike. The next week was just relaxing and watching movies but finally the week after new years we had to do distance learning for a day. When we joined they were talking about new classes one of my friends would be in my class the other would not be in my class anymore. I was sad to hear this but I was even sadder to see the taped in front of our desks on zoom it meant we would have to be even farther physically and not sadly some of the tests that we took before coming back to school got lost so we had to have another day of distance learning.It was fine I guess but the day just never ended when we finally went back to school it was fine. by max messinger

2020

Not My Year When I learned that we were doing school at home because of the Coronavirus, I was excited to be at my house and near my family. I thought that it would be fun to stay at my house, but boy was I wrong! We went to Florida for March break, and it was pretty fun. We went to the pool, and swam with dolphins (sort of). It was definitely worth it. But my mom was worried to go on the plane, so she canceled our flight. We had to drive from the tip of Florida back to Westport cramped into a car with all of our luggage. It took about two BORING days (But there were good snacks!). The next thing I knew was that I was stuck in my house and I couldn’t go anywhere. I was doing school from my dining room for 3 months. I was sick of my house, and of my family.

I just wanted Coronavirus to be over. We ate the same things almost every single day. I didn’t see my friends (at least not in person). Finally, it was summer. We rented a waterslide, and my neighbor’s granddaughter came from New York to Westport for the summer. It was ok, considering that I couldn’t see people.

But I was most excited for in-person school. Hopefully that wouldn't be canceled.Now, we have been doing in person school for 16 weeks with only one day being virtual school. It’s close to Christmas (yay!), and I am happy that 2020 is almost over. I hope that 2021 will be very different from this year. Goodbye 2020 (I will not miss you, you were the worst), and hello to the new year, 2021.

By Elisa DiMiceli

The Year Of a Disaster It was summer of July 29, 2020 in sunny Texas. Okay, first off, I was in a jet ski accident, not like where two jet skies crash together but I'll tell you the story. So, it started off on a pretty day in Texas and I had just been on the jet ski with my au pair, Skye, and my little sister named Calla.

We just went to a little sand island in the middle of lake LBJ and after a few minutes we left and went back home, me and Calla jumped off and went on our water trampoline wich some trespassers in the middle of the night, tried to puncture and steal. Anyways , me and Calla were jumping on the tramp and Skye docked the jet ski, once she was done Calla got out and went inside the house, and that is when my little brother, Bowie came down. I saw him say something to Skye but I didn't quite hear it. That's when Skye asked if i wanted to go back to the island but this time with Bowie instead of Calla, and you may guess, I said yes. We did the same thing that we did before but this time when we docked, I stayed on. Everything was fine until we docked. We have to gun it to get up the ramp because it was steep, so we did and that was a HUGE mistake.

We were gunning it right a big wake boat drove by and it made very large waves, so we stopped and waited then the jet ski turned and fishtailed my leg into the dock and I looked down to see what just happened and I went into complete shock. I thought it was a bad dream and I wanted to wake up now. Skye must’ve seen it and Bowie had gotten off because they both started screaming for my parents. They came down and carried me to the table and poured bottles of hydrogen peroxide onto my leg and guess what. I had to watch the whole thing. I was screaming but after screaming twice, I was in such shock that I stopped and was quiet for the rest of the time. I couldn't even cry. I was in such pain, and if i haven’t already told you, my leg was cut open. We rushed to the emergency room but it was two hours away. Fast forward, I got there and waited for a little bit.

By: Henley Ross

They took me in, gave me an IV and was flushing my body with salt water and pain meds, and did that help? Not at all. The doctor and nurse came in and poured hot salt water on my leg then cold. The doctor introduced himself then told me he used to be an army doc ( he would roughly give surgeries and help injured soldiers). And oh boy you did not want to be next to room B67. I didn’t scream or anything but my mom had to put the volume on my ipad up all the way because you could hear him working and it wasn’t pretty to hear or watch.

Fast forward again cause i’m super lazy and i don't like going back to this, we got out it was 1:46 a.m we got some Whataburger i was on major anesthesia and here's what Skye said i did and said. Me: “ look at the sun it's so bright!” Skye: “ That's the moon Hen,” Me “Don’t sass me woman !” and I also started laughing at one of the inflatable men who you see at a car dealership with me thinking it was a chicken (like bruh -_-). I also started banging my head against the window thinking I was immortal. The day after I had to get a tetanus shot and they realised that I never got crutches. Fast forward a few days again and I had a CANKLE ( an ankle that looks like a camel's ankle). So we had a phone call with my doctor and she told me that i should go back but this time to a different place, and that was Dell Children's Hospital. And I was eventually admitted for three weeks. I also learned that it was infected. I had to get a big surgery and there was a tube in my leg it was called a vac bag. So then I had to get that changed every Tuesday and Friday. And normal kids do it awake but not me, i had to be put under anesthesia. And the best part? I was one of the 10% of people who feels like the anesthesia feels like knives are being stabbed into your head and that your throat is on fire. So after a few more surgeries they did it differently, the following Tuesday, they gave me a medicine that made me super chill and tired , and.... It worked! So then I got a skin graft a couple weeks later. Then…. I got to go home! Now i am here and it is much better. This experience made me realise what some kids go through everyday and that this was an experience like no other. I also got to spend some time with my lovely mother. That is the end of my story in 2020.

and

K R A D E H T E N O D IS

By Gordon Fat

herley

The dark is done,it’s nice to see the light it’s nice to be here.It’s nice to see faces that don't glitch or freeze it’s nice to see morning due and skies shady blue once again the dark is done.After sleeping every night and waking up every day. after the pretending that everything was ok, my thoughts running around like a toy train, the dark is done.After stepping out of my zone, pushing a bone and after the heart breaks and presidents and dreams and aspirations all went down the drain.And the cold hard bad days, the sad days.But i’m here,In the present right now and no body can plow me down.The dark is done

2020, worst but be ----

By: Rikki

TODAY IS 12/17/20. 2020 HAS BEEN A CRAZY YEAR, FOR ALL OF US, SO THIS IS A LITTLE BIT OF IT ALL STARTED ON MARCH 11 2020. HERE IS MY STORY ON IT. IT WAS ONE OF MY BEST FRIEND’S BIRTHDAYS, SO I WENT ON THE BUS HOME WITH HER. BEFORE WE LEFT, THEY ANNOUNCED THAT WE WOULD BE TAKING A WEEK BREAK FROM SCHOOL BECAUSE OF SOME NEW THING CALLED “CORONAVIRUS”. IT WAS A DISEASE THAT STARTED OUT IN CHINA AND NOW IT WAS IN THE UNITED STATES. THEY SAID WE WOULD NOT BE DOING FACETIME/ ONLINE CLASSES/ ZOOM (WHICH I WAS A LITTLE UPSET ABOUT BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN) BUT INSTEAD THEY HANDED OUT 2 WEEK PACKETS FOR READING, WRITING, AND SPANISH. I REMEMBER THE TEACHER WENT OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM AND THEN CAME BACK AND HANDED OUT 1 MORE PACKET. “HEY VIVI,” I SAID, “WHAT ARE THESE FOR?” AND SHE SAID “JUST IN CASE WE STAY OUT OF SCHOOL FOR 4 WEEKS INSTEAD OF 2, BUT IT PROBABLY WON'T HAPPEN.” WELL, IT HAPPENED.

I WENT TO ELLA’S BIRTHDAY PARTY NORMALLY AND THEN WENT HOME. DAYS PASSED BY THAT THEN TURNED INTO WEEKS PASSING BY THAT EVENTUALLY TURNED INTO MONTHS AWAY FROM SCHOOL. I MISSED ALL MY FRIENDS AND HAVEN'T SEEN OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE IN FOREVER. I SPENT MY TIME GOING ON THE TRAMPOLINE, SWIMMING IN OUR POOL, PLAYING BOARD GAMES, AND TAKING BIKE RIDES. ON MARCH 24 2020, I WROTE A NOTE ON HOW THE WORLD WAS. SOME PARTS OF IT SAID, “NOW EVERYTHING IS CLOSED. RIGHT NOW SCHOOLS, SALONS, MOVIE THEATERS, AND SO MANY MORE ARE CLOSED. MY SCHOOL HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR 2 WEEKS GOING INTO THE 3RD. I'M ACTUALLY OK. WE ARE SCARED THE SUPERMARKETS ARE GOING TO CLOSE. MY MOM SAYS THAT AT THE STORE PEOPLE ARE JUST GRABBING THINGS. I AM NOT SEEING ANYONE AND NOT EVEN GOING GROCERY SHOPPING WITH MOM. SCHOOLS MIGHT BE CLOSED TILL THE FALL AND I'M SCARED THAT I WON'T BE ABLE TO GO TO CAMP AND MY FIRST DAY OF GREENS FARMS ACADEMY WILL BE ONLINE!”

WELL MY FIRST DAY OF GFA WASN'T ONLINE (YAY!) BUT ON MAY 19, ONE OF MY CAMP FRIENDS BIRTHDAYS, SALLY’S, CAMP GOT CANCELLED! THE CAMP GROUP CHAT WAS FILLED WITH “I'M SO SAD!” AND “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SALLY!” IT WAS CRAZY.

est year of my life ------

i Frankel

MY FIRST TIME GOING OUT TO A STORE WAS AROUND THAT TIME. I'D NEVER WORN A MASK BEFORE. WE WENT TO WALMART. WHEN WE CAME BACK, WE READ AN ARTICLE THAT SAID KIDS ARE NOW GETTING COVID. I REMEMBER WE WERE IN THE KITCHEN AND MOM SAID “ I REGRET BRINGING YOU GUYS I'M SORRY!” AND I HUGGED HER. GOING OUT TO STORES WAS NOW A REGULAR THING. I STARTED GOING TO SCHOOL, AND MY SISTER, SOPHIE, WENT TO COLLEGE. I STARTED SEEING ALL OF MY FRIENDS AGAIN! A FEW WEEKS LATER HER DORM SHUT DOWN SO SOPHIE CAME BACK FOR 2 WEEKS. A LITTLE WHILE AFTER THAT, I GOT EXPOSED TO COVID SO I GOT TESTED FOR THE FIRST TIME. I WAS NEGATIVE! SOON AFTER, ON MAY 25, 2020, A MAN NAMED GEORGE FLOYD DIED. THIS STARTED THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT. THE STREETS WERE FILLED WITH PROTESTERS. PEOPLE WERE EVEN THROWING FIRE! COVID WAS BETTER

BY THEN BUT GOT WAY WORSE WHEN PROTESTERS WOULD NOT WEAR A MASK. TIME WENT BY AND THEN THE ELECTION STARTED. PRESIDENT TRUMP V.S. JOE BIDEN. IT WAS A LONG STRESSFUL TIME BUT EVENTUALLY……. BIDEN WON.

BACK AT SCHOOL I HAD MANY AMAZING FRIENDS AND TEACHERS. TO KEEP THE SCHOOL OPEN WE WEAR A MASK, STAY 6 FEET APART, AND WASH OUR HANDS. I HAVEN'T BEEN ON A PLANE SINCE THANKSGIVING OF 2019. IF YOU TRAVEL TO A PLACE THAT HAS A LOT OF CASES, YOU WOULD HAVE TO GET TESTED AND QUARANTINED FOR 14 DAYS (2 WEEKS) YESTERDAY. IF YOU ARE EXPOSED TO COVID-19, OR YOU GET IT, YOU WILL DO HYBRID LEARNING. IT IS NOW JANUARY 6, 2021. LOOKING BACK ON 2020, THE LESSON IT TAUGHT ME IS THAT THINGS GET BETTER. NOW THAT IT'S 2021, COVID ISN'T AUTOMATICALLY GONE. BUT, IT'S NICE TO KNOW THAT I MADE IT TO ANOTHER CHECKPOINT IN MY LIFE.YES, 2020 WASN'T THE BEST, BUT LUCKILY, I HAVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS HERE TO HELP ME GET THROUGH IT.

2020 not my year The first big event that happened in 2020 for me was Quarantining last march..

I was supposed to go to Florida for spring break with my cousins.

Two days before we were supposed to leave, everything started to change. Fortunately we got out just in time, we flew to Florida which we thought we were going to be back in a week or so, but we were mistaken. When we got there, we started hearing a lot of stuff about a virus called Covid 19. I heard a little bit about it, but didn’t think much of it. After a week was gone we were going to leave, but all the plane flights were canceled!! So we stayed for a while, a week turned into two weeks and two weeks turned into three weeks! I started to miss my dog and my home, finally we decided we would drive all the way back to our house in Fairfield Connecticut.

It was Going to be a long journey, two days! We packed up and said goodbye to our cousins and set off. About half way we stopped at my cousin's house who stayed in Florida for a little longer, so we could stay the night to get ready for the next day. The next day when we were driving back, we found out that after break we wouldn’t be going back to school. We are going to be doing online learning for the rest of the year.

The second big event was that our big trip to Africa was cancelled.

Our big trip that summer was going to be a trip to Africa with all my family members on my dads’ side. I was so excited! I couldn’t wait to see all of the cool animals and sleep in tents. It is a long flight though, but I didn’t care! I’m a big animal and nature lover so it was so amazing in my opinion. Because there are a lot of different diseases and insects that we weren’t used to. I had to get a lot of shots! But still, I didn’t care! I was just super happy that I will have such an incredible experience! Well… That's what I thought, now I know that the Coronavirus is such a big deal and it's worse than the flu. And I was getting worried about all the plans we had that summer. Then, the worst thing that could happen, happened. My mom and dad told me that our trip to Africa got cancelled and was going to be postponed for to more years! I was so upset, and I realized that I would be 13 years old before I would go to Africa.

The Third

big event was about the wildfires in California.

I knew what wildfires were at the time, but didn’t know they could get as worse as this did. Every day on the news I would hear all about this huge fire that is spreading for hundreds and hundreds of miles. I started to get really worried because we had friends who lived there. We called them and texted them, they said that they were all right. But we were still worried. These fires could spread very quickly and are very dangerous.Once it got worse, I heard that they had to wear fireproof masks and had to stick nose blockers in their nose so they didn’t breathe in the smoke. I was now very very worried. Luckily, after a while, the wildfires started to burn out and there are only a few fires still burning.

This is definitely one of the worst years for me so I am going to start from the beginning of the famous year 2020. In January, the year started, I remember

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being in Jupiter, Florida celebrating the new year and everyone including me

BY CHASE POWERS

thought it was going to be the best year… well not really. First, I got to play with twelve year olds when I was only 9, It was probably my most happy moment in soccer. I also had a really fun birthday party with my friend for her birthday which was a really fun time.

Next up, February. I don't remember that much bad or good things that happened in February, but February is always my least ffa avvoorriittee m moonntthh:: nnoo ssp poorrttss,, lloottss ooff sscch hool work,

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February when I watched my favorite app TikTok when everyone was making jokes about Coronavirus because it was a silly virus.

NOW THE WORST MONTH, MARCH. I WAS GETTING SO EXCITED FOR SPRING BREAK STARTING ON MARCH 14. ON MARCH 10 I HAD SOCCER PRACTICE AND WE HAD 14 KIDS ON MY TEAM AND OUT OF 14 KIDS ONLY 6 PEOPLE SHOWED UP INCLUDING ME AND WE ONLY HAD PRACTICE FOR 30 MINUTES BECAUSE IN THAT 30 MINUTES WE WERE THERE FOR THE FIRST DEATH IN CONNECTICUT AND THAT IS WHEN I REALISED THAT IT WAS PRETTY BAD.

I was still really excited about spring break because I was tired of school, but I did not know that I was going to regret that, but I did. I was getting on the van in the morning, waving goodbye to my parents, going to school. After a long morning it was time to have lunch and little did i know, the last. Finally the teachers started to look scared and were telling us to pack up all the stuff from the school which we only do at the end of the year so i was a little scared.

Finally, Spring Break started. But it wasn’t that good because i wouldn’t see my friends for 3 or 4 more months.

The only good thing in March was going to Florida for two weeks, or maybe not? Me and my whole family were having a great time in Florida, going to beaches, eating ice cream, and the warm weather. Finally, on one of the last days we would be in Florida, we all sat down right before dinner and my Mom and Dad told me and in a very confused way that we are going to possibly stay in Florida for the rest of the year.

My heart dropped with sadness and confusion and I did not know how to respond. So i didn't.i

APRIL, IT WAS QUARANTINE, ONLY PERSON I OR REALLY ANYONE COULD SEE RIGHT NOW WAS MY FAMILY, GAME NIGHT, WALKS, AND ONLINE SCHOOL. MAY, IT WAS BIRTHDAY MONTH, ME AND MY MOM AND MY SISTER ALL HAD BIRTHDAYS. I WAS A LITTLE SAD BECAUSE I COULD NOT SEE MY FRIENDS. BUT WE DID A DRIVE THROUGH WHICH WAS REALLY FUN. BUT MY SISTER AND MOM HAD THEIR BIRTHDAYS BEFORE ME SO THEY HAD THEM IN FLORIDA WITH NO ONE BESIDES THE FAMILY. NEXT THING YOU KNOW IT WAS SUMMER, I LOVE SUMMER. EVERYONE DOES. IT WAS BETTER THAN QUARANTINE BECAUSE I GOT TO SEE PEOPLE OTHER THAN MY FAMILY. IT WAS NOT BACK TO NORMAL BUT IT WAS STILL ONE OF THE BEST SUMMERS. I ALWAYS GO TO THIS PLACE IN LONG ISLAND C A L L E D S H E L T E R I S L A N D . I H A V E B E E N G O I N G F O R A L L M Y L I F E , A ND BELIEVE ME IT IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES I HAVE BEEN TO. ALL SUMMER I KIND OF JUST HUNG OUT WITH FRIENDS, BUT TIME WENT BY SO FAST THAT IT WAS SEPTEMBER AND THAT MEANS SCHOOL. THAT ALSO MEANS I WOULD BE GOING INTO MY FIRST YEAR OF MIDDLE SCHOOL. EVERYTHING GOT A LITTLE HARDER IN 5TH GRADE. NOW THAT WE HAVE TO WEAR MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCE. BUT ALL MY FRIENDS AND TEACHERS WERE GREAT SO THAT WAS NOT A PROBLEM. MY FAVORITE SUBJECTS WERE MATH AND HISTORY. SURPRISINGLY, I ACTUALLY LIKED MATH FOR ONCE. THEN OCTOBER CAME, HALLOWEEN MONTH. I LOVE HALLOWEEN, THE CANDY, HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS, AND DRESSING UP. NOVEMBER WAS ALL NOT VERY INTERESTING SO I AM GOING TO SKIP THAT MONTH. NOW THAT LEAVES DECEMBER, WHICH IS CHRISTMAS, MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY. I GOT SO MANY GIFTS AND I HAVE A TWO WEEK BREAK FOM SCHOOL AND YOU GET TO CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR. 2020 WAS A HARD YEAR FOR ME AND EVERYONE. BUT I THROUGH IT.

2020 REALLY WILLIAM SPELLER

JANUARY STARTED WITH WILDFIRES IN AUSTRALIA LOSING OVER 5 MILLION SUFFERING KOALAS AND 8000 ENRAGED KANGAROOS. SOMETHING GOOD WAS THE US BLOWING UP AN IRAQ BASE? I GUESS THAT’S GOOD. BUT MOST OF ALL CRONA STARTED BECAUSE A STUPID BAT IN CHINA AND TOILET PAPER WAS OFF THE WALL. IN FEBRUARY THE RONA OF C’S GOT WORSE, THE FIRST REPORTED CASE CAME TO THE US AND MANY OTHER EXCUSES. IN MARCH A GIANT CRUISE SHIP SPREADED IT EVERYWHERE AND THE WORST OF ALL NO SCHOOL WELL ONLINE SCHOOL WHICH IS TEN TIMES WORSE BUT AT LEAST YOU LEARN SOMETHING IN PERSON IN ONLINE SCHOOL WE ZOOMED EVERY OTHER WEEK FOR 10 MINUTES AND FINISHED EVERYTHING IN LESS THAN AN HOUR, IT WAS HORRENDOUS. IN APRIL IT WAS HORRENDOUS FOR EVERYONE ONLINE NO ONE COULD LEARN A THING ALSO PEOPLE WHO HAD APRIL BRAKES WERE CANCELED THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO LIFE WAS MISERABLE IT WAS ALSO GETTING REALLY ANNOYING BECAUSE THE TEACHERS SAID WE WOULD BE BACK IN APRIL BUT OBVIOUSLY THAT WAS A MISTAKE. MAY WAS SAME OLD SAME OLD STILL SUCKED SAME ONLINE SCHOOL SAME EVERYTHING NO TOILET PAPER NO LIFE BUT THERE WAS ONE REALLY BAD THING MURDER HORNETS IT DIDN’T KILL AS MANY PEOPLE BUT IT SCARED THE CARP OUTTA PEOPLE NOT JUST FROM THE PANDEMIC BUT FROM THESE ANNOYING BUGS. TWO WORDS SAME OLD BUT NOT FOR ME IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY THE FIRST DAY OF JUNE YAY BUT NOT I ONLY HAVE 3 FRIENDS OVER AND ONLINE SCHOOL STILL SUCKED EVERYONE WAS BORED TO HECK AND COVID KEPT ACCELERATING BECAUSE THOSE DARN MASKLESS KARENS.

WAS BAD, BAD WILLIAM SPELLER

JULY WAS THE START OF SUMMER BREAK AND KICKED OFF WITH ONE OF THE WORST PARTS OF THE YEAR: NO CAMP, NOT JUST COVID ACCELERATING BUT BOREDOM WE FINALLY HAD AN EXCUSE TO BE BORED OUT OF YOUR MIND. LIFE WAS A BIG TURD. IN AUGUST CASES LOWERED BUT NOT ENOUGH TO GET THESE MASKS OUT MY FACE MY FACE HURTS ALL DAY EVEN THE SECOND I AM WRITING THIS ALSO MORE AND MORE JUST LIKE IN JANUARY SAME PLACE JUST 7 MONTHS LATER WILDFIRES IN DARN CALIFORNIA PEOPLE WERE EVACUATING AND LIFE FOR PEOPLE IN CALIFORNIA WERE SAD. IN SEPTEMBER DUMB POLICE OFFICERS KILLED A MAN NOT A INNOCENT ONE BUT SOMEONE WHO THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE KILLED BUT IT STARED A WHOLE MOVEMENTY ALL AROUND THE WORLD PROTESTS EVERY DAY ALSO DARN TRUMP DOESN’T WANT BALLOTS SO HE DEFUNDS THE MAIL WITCH RUINS OTHERS LIVES WELL DONE TRUMP. IN OCTOBER ONE MAINLY GOOD THING HAPPENED AND UHH THE REST WERE BAD LET'S START WITH THE GOOD NEWS PRESIDENT TRUMP FINALLY TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID HE HAS BEEN ONE OF THOSE MASKLESS KARENS THE WHOLE TIME AND FINALLY HE GETS HIS PUNISHMENT JUST LIKE WE HOPED KIM JONG UN DID BUT HE CAME BACK LIKE TRUMP ALSO IN OCTOBER ONE OF ME AND OTHERS FAVORITES HOLIDAYS WERE CANCELLED HALLOWEEN BUT THAT'S GOOD FOR SOME PEOPLE LIKE PARENTS WHO CANT HELP THEMSELVES TO CANDY OR KIDS WHO TRY NOT TO GET CAVITIES BUT MOST MOMS JUST BOUGHT CANDY. IN NOVEMBER MOST KIDS WERE FINISHING UP THERE CANDY AND WERE BACK IN SCHOOL BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY WE WERE FINALLY GETTING A NEW PRESIDENT AND THIS ONE IS WAY WAY BETTER WE USED TO HAVE A PEACH AS ARE PRESIDENT NOW WE ACTUALLY HAVE SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT ALL AMERICANS AND WHO WILL LEAD US THROUGH A PANDEMIC BUT AS BIDEN WON FROM A LANDSLIDE TRUMPY BUMPY WAS A SORE LOSER AND WAS AFRAID TO ADMIT TO HE LOSE AFTER RUINING OTHERS DAYS

BY MAKING 2 BILLION RECOUNTS HE DIDN’T GIVE UP EVEN SOME HIS SUPPORTERS DID. DECEMBER WAS PROBABLY THE BEST MONTH OF THE YEAR IT WAS A 7 FOR ME WHICH IS A ALL TIME HIGH FOR THIS YEAR IN DECEMBER IT WAS THE MONTH OF THE GREATEST HOLIDAY CHRISTMAS NOTHING COULD STOP CHRISTMAS BECAUSE CHRISTMAS IS A HOLIDAY OF FAMILY AND GIVING 2 THINGS THAT COVID CAN'T STOP BUT SOME PEOPLE CAN HOLD THEMSELVES AND WANTED TO SPEND CHRISTMAS AS A FAMILY GOOD IDEA BUT NOT IN COVID SOME PLACES YOU HAVE TO TAKE A AIRPLANE AND THAT SPREADED IT BIG TIME BUT IF YOU DROVE GOOD FOR YOU BUT AS A FAMILY CHRISTMAS WITH NO GRANDPARENTS THERE IT WAS BEST ONE YET I GOT MY DREAM FULL SUSPENSION MOUNTAIN BIKE STILL HASN'T CAME DUE TO BACK ORDERS BUT ALSO TRUMP STILL DIDN’T GIVE UP HE CALLED IT “UNFAIR” AND STILL HE ACTUALLY THOUGHT HE WON WOW GOOD ONE TRUMP.

At the beginning of 2020, the teachers sat us down and said the school had to close down because of Covid. We all were sad but left early. Then we went remote and I got to say that was horrible! Then at the end of that, I was going to go to summer school but, then we had to quarantine, so I could not go. So I had to do it but, Virtual.

Then that was done and it was so boring to stay at home and do nothing.

Then I went to the store a few times.

After about 7 months, we had to get ready for our first day of 5th grade in person!

4 months passed and that is where we are now. And lastly, I had a dream that I forgot my French notebook and Ms. Bouyssie yelled at me! But that was not true and the next day I did not forget it.

The Worst Year Ever 2020

By: Sophia Stapleton

My 2020 pictures

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THE FIRST TIME I FIGURED STUFF ABOUT IS WHEN MY COUSIN GOT COVID-19 AND HE WAS FEELING HORRIBLE AND IT MADE HIM VERY TIRED.NEXT I WAS IN CANADA AND I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THE NEW YEAR BUT THEN IN MARCH SOMETIME THE WHOLE CLASS WAS SO HAPPY BECAUSE WE WERE GOING TO USE A COMPUTER AND STAY HOME FOR SCHOOL BECAUSE OF COVID-19, IT WAS GOOD THE FIRST COUPLE DAYS THEN, WHEN IT WAS WEEK TWO I ALMOST DIED BECAUSE EVERYTHING WAS SHUT DOWN AND BY SHUTDOWN I MEAN I CAN'T GO ANYWHERE BECAUSE OF COVID I COULDN'T EVEN SEE MY FRIENDS.THEN I WAS GOING TO GO TO CALIFORNIA BUT THEN WE DIDN'T BECAUSE WE COULD NOT GO ANYWHERE OR DO ANYTHING OR SEE ANYONE WHICH WAS SO BORING BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO JUST BECAUSE OF COVID-19.LUCKILY WE ENDED SCHOOL MAY 29TH, AND IT IS EARLY FOR IT TO END SCHOOL BUT THE TEACHERS AND THE STUDENTS WERE SO BORED OF SITTING ON A COMPUTER FOR A DAY SO THEY ENDED VERY EARLY

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CREATED BY NATHAN DELOTTIE

WE NORMALLY ENDED SCHOOL JUNE 5 OR JUNE 4. THEN AUGUST CAME AROUND AND WE WERE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL NO DISTANCE LEARNING BUT WE HAD TO WEAR A MASK BUT I WAS OK WITH IT AND NOW IT IS ALMOST 2021 AND WE ARE STILL DOING NORMAL SCHOOL,IT HAS KINDA FELT LIKE A NORMAL YEAR BUT WE HAVE TO WEAR A MASK AND STAY 6FT, THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN LIKE 8 PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE SCHOOL THAT I KNOW HAD COVID19 SO I THINK THAT WE ARE DOING SUPER GOOD BECAUSE I THOUGHT THAT WE WOULD BE GOING TO DISTANCE LEARNING ALREADY BUT WE HAVEN'T. 2020 WASN'T THE BEST YEAR, A LOT OF PEOPLE DIED, BUT MOST OF US MADE IT TO 2021.

My year 2020. Twenty twenty. The canceled year. A mistake. That’s what people are calling 2020. It’s a year full of COVID, sadness, fear, and insanity. I’m going to tell you about my year from MY view, because nobody else knows exactly how I felt. But, there were also some good times. We got a dog, Denali, before Covid-19 spread. We got quarantine chickens that now lay eggs regularly. Sad. Lonely. Angry. That’s what I was feeling when I was “trapped” with my sister. I was pent up in the house, doing the same things over and over again. My year.

Here we go. It started in gym class, 4th grade. We were playing dodge ball and a team chose the name Covids. I didn’t know what it was at that point.

By Marisol Bea Fast forward to the day before spring break. The teachers told us some facts about Covid-19, and that we were not likely to go remote. Then Covid-19 spread. We went remote. Now come the weeks of boringness and depression. Cue the weather to be rainy, everything to be canceled, and you have a perfect COVID-19 month. I think that I went crazy. Then my summer club opened up, and it was my light at the end of the tunnel.

Covid numbers were going down. Later, like, later later, swim practice started again. Another good-ending tunnel. I honestly don’t remember much from there, because 2020 was so slow. I guess I’ll continue from the start of 5th grade. Orientation, here I come. This was the first time I’d seen anyone from school since before spring break. I was nervous, and when people didn’t wear their masks correctly, it spooked me. I’ll keep going. Oh! Wait! Most people got quarantine puppies, but we got quarantine chickens. 11 chickens. I loved seeing people in person at school. That’s my story, or at least what I’m willing to say without getting too sad. Happy (hopefully) New Year.

2020 THE YEAR OF LIVING ZOMBIES

ON NEW YEARS EVE WE WERE ALL MAKING OUR WISHES FOR 2020.

WHEN THE BALL DROPS WE WERE ALL READY FOR THE BEST YEAR EVER. LITTLE DID WE KNOW THAT MOST OF OUR WISHES WOULDN T COME TRUE. A FEW WEEKS LATER EVERYONE WAS PANICKING ABOUT THIS BRAND NEW THING CALLED CORONAVIRUS. THEN THE NEXT DAY WE HOPED THAT THIS NEW VIRUS WOULD JUST GO AWAY IN A FEW WEEKS. WE THEN GOT TAKEN OUT OF SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY AND HAD ZOOM SESSIONS. FINALLY WE GOT STRUCK WITH THE FACT THAT IT WOULDN T GO AWAY AS EASILY AS WE THOUGHT IT WOULD. AT FIRST WE WERE ALL PLAYING SPORTS, AND ONLY A FEW PEOPLE WORE MASKS. LATER WE WERE ALL REQUIRED TO WEAR MASKS, AND ALL SPORTS WERE CANCELLED. SO WE WERE ALL BORED OUT OF OUR MINDS AND WERE STUCK IN QUARANTINE. ’

’

EVERY VIDEO SAYING FIND THINGS TO DO AND SUGGESTING THEM, BUT REALLY IT WASN T THAT EASY. SOON THERE WERE CRAZY WILDFIRES ALL OVER CALIFORNIA AND AUSTRALIA, THAT LEFT THE NEWS WITH TOO MANY TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT. YES, FINALLY WE CAN GO BACK TO SPORTS, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE TO WEAR MASKS WE ARE OUT OF QUARANTINE! SUMMER GOES BY NORMALLY WITH MASKS AND EVERYTHING BUT MOST OF THE PART NORMALLY. THE ELECTION HAPPENS BUT THAT IS WAY TOO LONG TO TALK ABOUT. ANYWAYS STILL NO ONE IS REALLY TRAVELING AND WE ARE BACK IN IN PERSON SCHOOL. AND IT WASN T REALLY AFORGOOD YEAR. SO THAT IS 2020 YOU. ’

’

A Tale It was a cold March day, It was like any other day. At 10:00 the teachers told us that it was an early dismissal and that the school was closing down because of COVID-19, So my mother picked me up from school. Then we went to pick up my sister from school. When we went home my sister and I did the usual things we do when we go home. My mom got an email from school saying that school was cancelled and we had to do distance learning.

Today was the start of distance learning. I did it and after that I hated distance learning I did not want to do it ever again. But I did it and it was horrible. Like when I had to do assignments it was hard because I did not have the right materials. Especially when I had to make a windmill

e of a Corona nothing

By: Ilias Konstantinidis

and I had to make a guitar. Also we used this thing called a seesaw it was so hard to use. It was so dumb.

I hated it. I played a lot of Fortnite, Minecraft, Battlefield 5, Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Battlefront II and last but not least Battlefield 1. I did the summer math academy which was kinda fun, I had a lot of time on my hands so it was good. I did start trying to learn greek by using an app. I went on walks like I said I have a lot of time on my hands. I do not have a yard or backyard, but I practiced my pitching. Baseball started so I signed up for it and I had a blast.

When I heard that school started again I was so happy, I was scared but when I went to school I was very excited.

Hellllllllloooooooooooo it is Quentin and this is my 2020 review. I did so many things in 2020.

Jk I sat inside basically the whole year.

But out of all the things I didn’t do let's talk about the things I did do.

I went to Montana twice once in the summer and once in the winter. In the summer I did ziplining white water rafting and other stuff. And in the winter I went skiing and ziplining again and you know kinda got covid. I mourned over celebrity’s deaths, supported BLM. And read the news about covid. I did some tests made a fashino style. And pelted some people with snowballs. I sat inside and played video games did some cooking (which I suck at). I tried to not get stung by murder hornets wore some masks. I dressed up a vsco. Sung some Hamilton and jumped down some stairs. I went to South Carolina.

Had some food and water and lived

Quentin's

k n k a n h a T h T ! u ! o u y o y

2020

k k

ife. I went to some different beaches went on boats. And learned i’m moving. Had some crushes celebrated christmas and thanksgiving. And went ziplinging on my birthday in Montana. That is basically my 2020 I didn’t do that much but it is fun. And I can’t wait for 2021 and see what that brings.

Have a goooooooood daaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!

Staying Up North “Ring ring” my alarm clock went off and it was time for school but who knew this would be the last day of real school for 4th grade? I jumped out of bed waiting for the dress rehearsal of the play, Annie. I was so excited. We got to school and it was time for everything you heard to be about Covid 19. It was kind of hard to put it out of your head if that's all everyone talked about. When the dress rehearsal was done there was one period left till school ended. That was a class meeting and I knew what was going to happen. The teachers told us that we would be ending school early and be going right to spring break. Of course, I was really happy but the question in my mind was am I going to see my friends again? probably would but it would be completely different.

When we got home from school I had to pack for Florida but I didn’t know how long we were going to be there for. When we arrived in Florida everything was different. Almost everything was also shut down and you really couldn’t go anywhere. We stayed with my grandparents every time we went there but they were getting nervous so we knew it was time to go soon.

We left 1 week after we got there but we wanted them not to stress so much while we were there so that's why we thought it was best to do what we did. We arrived back in Connecticut and now I knew I would be spending the next probably 3 months at home, stuck. Well, it actually sort of turned out like that. Except we went on our daily Dunkin’ runs at like 4:00 every day. We started doing online learning and it was okay but nothing can beat going to school every day and seeing your friends in person. In May we heard that the golf course was open and we decided to go out and play after I was done with online learning but I didn’t know that I was going to be playing all summer.

Online school ended and my mom put together a slideshow for the grade and it made me sad to see all those memories and all I could think about was why is this happening? We went through the slideshow and it was glitchy. It was like a sloth. Even though it was glitchy It was still amazing though and it couldn’t take away all those memories.

Since school had now ended it was time for summer which was one of my favorite seasons. The pool at the club that was like 10 minutes away from our house wasn’t open, so we decided to go swimming in our pool at home. I made a little show for my family in the pool and the show was, as I would like to say, funny. We did that for a little while and then it eventually opened. Though I didn’t know that I wouldn’t spend any time there. Instead, I hung out with some of my very good friends at their house and we were the only ones we saw so it was fine that we were hanging out.

With Caroline, we started playing golf together and doing lessons together and it was so much fun to have a partner. It was so much fun and we had a blast. We ended up doing it for a little while. I then did them by myself. We went through the summer and it was time for orientation and I was so excited I hadn't seen any of my friends in so long.

By Lila Reiling We went through orientation and I was so excited to start fifth grade with so many new people. A week into school somebody said that I was close to attracting the virus and I was quarantined. My sister came into my room saying that my mom was on the phone with somebody and that I might have to be on quarantine. I ran into her room and she got off the phone and she told me. I was then balling out crying and couldn't hold anything in with all the emotions going through my body. I then tried to think of the positive of being in quarantine. I ended up having a great experience with zoom. I felt inclusive and so happy. All my friends would come up to the computer and say hi and that would always make my day.

Quarantine ended and it was time to go back to school and when I arrived it was a Thursday and I had math first and when I walked in all my friends were like Lila and it made me feel so great. people even wrote on my math board saying welcome back Lila and it was just so exciting. Everybody was so excited to see me.

Later in the year 2020, I was asked to be in an open house video and I was so excited to say yes. I was scared but super excited. I was planning on what to say when my mom helped me out. It came to the day when we were going to do it. I heard that I was the youngest one on it and it made me feel like I was a superstar. I had a bit in my stomach as we went through it. I didn’t know what to say. I was making this up as I went along. It ended and everybody was congratulating me on it. When my mom picked me up after it she wanted to see the final result later on so she thought that it would be a great idea to email them to see it. But I felt weird having other people seeing me do that. After that everything just rolled on and it was pretty much normal.

Oh wait, I forgot about something when we went to Florida for Thanksgiving but we didn't fly. We decided that it would be great if we rented a car and drove down and that's exactly what we did. I ended up sitting on the way back right a single seat and all the bags right next to me. Right, where my right would go about 3 minutes into the car ride a big case of water started falling down the side and we had to pull over and my dad had to move them. It was just one small bump along the way but a really funny one. It was a 3day trip because we stopped at places. I think it was the second or 3rd day when traffic was backed up and there was one place that there was a lot of dirt that you could go over and we saw a bunch of people doing it so we did it. And of course, my mother was saying no but she wasn’t the driver so she couldn’t do anything about it. We went through with me squeezing my eyes praying that we wouldn’t get stuck and we didn’t. That was also just a small bump along the way. Oh and also my mom told us that my cousins wouldn’t be going because since we got tested she found out that she had COVID so they couldn’t come but that didn’t stop us but it almost did actually.

We made it and we told our grandparents all the funny stories and we all laughed and thinking back to this memory I actually would do it again.

2020 wasn't exactly... the best

It started in January. I first heard the word “Coronavirus” when I was on a ski trip with my friends family. We were sitting in the kitchen of the house while the parents were talking. I heard one of them talking about a virus that was spreading in China. They said the word “Coronavirus” and started to talk about how bad it was. I didn't think much about it. I thought it was just something that would go away after a week or two.

After that I continued my life as normal. Going around seeing people going out and playing basketball and lacrosse inside. What I didn't know was that that word “Coronavirus” would be my new least favorite word. After a while I knew that Covid wasn't getting any better and was slowly spreading. I didn't hear about it for a while, but then people started to act a little bit more cautious than usual. When I was playing lacrosse they told us not to touch our mouthguards unless we need to take it out to get a drink. The coaches said that it wasn't because of covid and it was just because of regular germs. But they had never said anything before coronavirus started. I knew they didn't want to scare us but I definitely could tell something was up.

Time passed, I didn't think about it for a while. Then I went to upstate New York to go skiing again with the same friends. I knew my parents were talking about it a lot. I didn't care. I thought it was a silly virus that would pass and nothing I should not worry about. I thought it was funny to joke because people online kept joking about it and making memes about it. Then, another two or three weeks passed without me thinking about covid. By then things were really starting to get serious up.

By Whitney Klein

My mom works in New York and takes the train. She stopped because of Covid.

Everyone knew that Covid was here. I kept looking on my computer to see how many cases there were at the moment. Fifteen cases. I thought THAT was a lot. I still thought things would get under control. But I was wrong. Then it was the last day of school. It was a Wednesday in March. It was the final dress rehearsal of the Fourth grade play, Annie. I was an orphan. So many people came to it because the teachers were pretty certain that we wouldn't be at school the next day for the oficial play.

And, to be honest, I think a lot of kids and parents knew that we would not be going to school the next day. We came to class after and the teachers told us to all go into one classroom. They started to talk about covid and to not worry about it. Then, they told us that we would be going home early for spring break. Everyone was so happy.

People thought that we would be back in school after. Little did we know we would be at home the rest of the not so bright spring.

I came home knowing I probably wouldn't go back to school after break. I was so happy. But then, my trip to Mexico was canceled. That's when I realized that this virus was no joke and things were going to get bad. Then in two weeks and a day we started online school. I thought it was cool and fun, and it would be an interesting thing to experience. I thought I would be back in my classroom before I left the lower school. But two weeks later I didn't think so, I hated online school. It was not fun, and things in the country were not looking good.

We then found out that we would not be returning for the rest of the school year (even though my mom told me we weren't going to go back). It was a long rainy spring with some perks of being in quarantine. I got to wear comfortable clothes all the time and I got to watch a lot more tv. But I was missing going to school and seeing my friends and going shopping. So when summer came and it was finally warm and I was able to go to the beach I was so happy. Then later that June I was finally able to hangout with my friends inside. I spent 90% of the time in the summer at the beach.

That was my happy place. I hope for the rest of 2021 things look up and there is light at the end of the tunnle

IT BEGINS

20

I remember the day that the teachers sat us down to tell us we were going remote learning. I went home that day and screamed into my pillow because it was the day before ANNIE the play and I was Warbucks.

We rehearsed for months, put hard work, memorized lines, and sacrificed recess time to get where we were and they shut down the school one day before we did the act. We got to record the dress rehearsal but we made some mistakes. My grandma was happy that we came because she was scared about the whole COVID-19 thing. She is 81. We had 2 weeks off! I thought it was going to be fun being in my PJ’s and having school next to the kitchen but after some weeks, it got soooo boring!

SUMMER FUN TIME Finally summer came and I can’t say it was not fun. Even though my birthday was… well, you could say lonely, my family still went through so much to make me happy. I got a pet fish, a cupcake, and lots of happy memories and love. I also played so much tennis! 3 hours a day.

Bad Year, G

-By Alex

20

Good Moments

Lebrija

Fall and Winter 5th grade came and we went to school. I was happy there and I still am. I got a puppy in November and he is one bug puppy! I have enjoyed it so much since I got him. His name is Bruno, a bernadoodle. He is very sweet but loves to annoy me. He is also kind of easy to train because he will do anything for a treat! Now i play 2 hours a day

My year of 2020 (boring) By: Hisham Kiani

2020 starts with my grandma’s birthday, January first. I went to school those days but around march 12th and 13th my teacher, Mrs Grambling said that we were going to do remote learning because some people in westport had covid-19. At first I Thought this would be fun but when those days came for remote learning I wasn't anything like I thought it would be. The only good thing was we were able to bring home these ipads that weren't even that special. All my classes were pretty fun but zooming was the worst thing in especially spanish.(no offense) but I didn't like zooming into spanish class. After school ended I had no one to play with because covid-19. My birthday happened on June 19, right after school. On my birthday there was a basketball hoop next to my driveway on my front lawn and I have never told my parents this but it fell on my head when I tried to move it to my driveway but nothing happened to me. It touched the top of my head and then I moved over and it fell to the ground (by the way the basketball hoop was 10 years old and the backboard was destroyed).

After my birthday I really started to game a lot because it was very hot and I couldn't play with my friends because of covid-19. After that one day in august or july my friends were riding their bikes and they came to my lawn and I played with them that day and then the next day I played with them and the next day and so on.Eventually I got to play with them whenever I wanted to. I played with them everyday and then my 13 year old brother right now turned 13 on august 12th. After that eventually came school and the first day was just to meet our teachers and our friends again and I thought it was pretty fun but everybody had towear a mask and no one could see anyones smile. After that day we had a few days before school and we had to get supplies and so we did that and most of the stuff i had but some of the stuff but i didn't and we had to go to staples.

Eventually we got all the materials and so we put them into our backpack.

The backpack I got was my big brothers and he got a new backpack but I didn't. The stuff didn't even fit in the backpack and I kept trying and it didn't fit. Then I got everything in somehow and I showed it to my mom and my dad and they said my backpack would blow up and so we figured out how to put the materials in the backpack and a few weeks later after school started I got a new backpack.

I Survived the

Mar

Quarantine started and starting my remote lear amount of hom I just finished my home to do other than just pla had an idea, I wanted t my brother to d

Mar It was still weird to st week. I finally learned

Ma

My birthday was today mates even my teacher when they didn't forget

e Year of 2020

rch 12

June d I am already bored. I was I was supposed to go to France but rning day. I have triple the with Corona there was every flight was canceled. mework than usual.

September ework and I have nothing

ay on my Nintendo. Then I to make some jumps with I thought GFA would be a big school but it is small for having every grade. do some tricks with.

rch 19 tay home all day and all d a new trick on my bike.

GFA used to be a mansion and an old one.

Our house is close to 200 years old.

I met someone very nice called ay 19 Maadhav Subramanian. We ate and my whole classroom together and ate Ice cream together. r forgot about my birthday Made By Edouard t about other kids bithday.

THE END

THE YEAR

2020 has been a crazy year. In March, everyone had to go into quarantine. I didn't see anyone for three months and didn't go in the car for two. I remember just before the world shut down, news reporters were saying that the Coronavirus wasn’t a big deal and we shouldn’t be worried about it. Two weeks later, bang, the virus is in Connecticut and cases go up and up and up.

Finally, we shut down. I couldn’t go to school, soccer, friends houses, or see any other parts of my family. I completed the rest of fourth grade on a computer, using zoom. It was crazy. For one, my mom had to cut my dad’s hair ( That was a disaster) and my dad had to cut my hair. We were supposed to go to Central America, but that trip got canceled, basically along with everything else. I also had to do zoom soccer which sounds weird and it is weird. I did soccer on an app in which I could compete against my teammates to see who could do the most time playing soccer.

Around June, my soccer team started playing again. We played outside, about an hour from my house. It was mainly drills, because we weren't allowed to do anything that involved contact. But I was still having a great time, seeing my teammates and playing soccer. But the season was coming to an end, and it was getting to the time to move to the next age group, which for me was U-12. We couldn’t have tryouts this year, so my U-11 coach, Rich, told the U-12 coach Magnus about whom he thought should be on the A team and who should be on the B team. So, I waited and waited. In the middle of the summer, we found out that I had made the U-12 A team. I was absolutely thrilled.

In mid summer, my parents then had the idea that we should move. I couldn't believe it! We lived on a small road in Westport in a nice house that we had renovated to perfection. We had a big backyard and a pond within the view of our house. We were happy there. Now, in my life, I have moved a lot. And now I was possibly going to move again. My parents claimed that we weren't really doing much in our house. We had about three rooms that we had never used before quarantine. So, in May or June, my parents started looking for houses around Fairfield county. We looked in: Fairfield, Easton, Weston, Westport, Norwalk, Greenwich, and Rowayton. Twice we thought we would move to Fairfield, but it never happened. Finally, around mid July, My parents found the perfect house. It was in Rowayton, and it was on a quiet street, right by town and the beach. I asked my parents for the billionth why we had to move. Their response was the house prices were really high right now, so we could sell our house for a lot of money and people would still buy it, and we could buy a smaller house that was worth less money. So, in August, we sold our beautiful house, And we bought a smaller house on the beach. So... our buyers wanted to move in in late August, but our house wasn’t ready until September. So we planned to stay at a friend’s house. But, about four weeks before we were to move, we received an email saying that I have a soccer tournament, in New Jersey, on the day we moved. Well that’s such a coincidence!

OF 2020...

When the tournament was a week away, we agreed that my Dad would drive me to the tournament, while my mom and sister would do the last minute preparations for moving. But our friends didn’t really feel comfortable having me and my dad living in their house. So after the tournament, me and dad had to quarantine at our unfinished house. So I would hang around outside during the day and walk to get breakfast, lunch and dinner at the market. But after 72 hours, my dad took a Covid- Test (which was negative) so we could stay at the friend’s house. We stayed there for a couple weeks, and during those weeks we started school again.

This year school was different. We had to wear masks all day, and be socially distanced all day. But it still managed to be mainly fun. Even if we couldn’t play sports in school, we had a lot of fun playing soccer and infection at recess. We tried to make this year as normal as possible, but that was hard, because this year wasn’t normal. But even so, we managed to make it through half the school year (knock on wood) without having to go remote. It’s been tough not being able to do all of the things we usually do every winter, like skiing and seeing all of our friends. We have managed to get a little skiing in, and see some friends and family, at least over Zoom anyway. 2020 has been a year to remember, but even so, I’m ready for some change in 2021.

BY HALLIWELL KLINE

all about my life with covid BY

GRACIE

SAGE

What happend to me with covid Covid started in 2020 March 11. It was hard. We had to go virtual for school. I got covid but it was hard to even move the symptoms I had was coughing couldn't move stomach ache headache it was hard to not be at school but I survived. It's hard to have covid covid is a pandemic. It's hard to do school. I don't even know if we are going virtual. It's almost Christmas. My grandparents can't come because of covid but my family is. I'm excited for Christmas.

Let's hope we don't get covid we have to wear masks all day. We stay social distance but we still have fun. We play tag with everyone. Christmas was fun. I'm sad that my family left. It is now 2021. I hope 2021 is better.

What are the symptoms with covid I had covid the symptoms I had were stomach ache, headache, I couldn’t move, coughing, stuffy nose. I was in fourth grade and 10 years old. My class called me when I had it was nice to be able to talk to them for a little.

Hello!

I’m listening to Baby by Justin Bieber . . such a good song. So let me start off at the beginning. I remember when I was at Bella’s house, having a banana and peanut butter smoothie. It was pretty good but that is not the point. Bella’s mom was talking about the Coronavirus and how all these people were getting sick on that ship.

The next thing I knew I was sitting at the kitchen table, sad and frustrated. “Think Sadie!” I kept saying. Learning can’t be that hard without a teacher by your side? Well at least that is what I thought at first but things changed quickly. I was bored out of my mind and soon began reading the Harry Potter series and building the legos that went with them. Zooms and drive - through birthday celebrations became the new normal. Family puzzles and nothing to talk about except the nice dinner that I would be receiving in the evening. The mask that I had received in the mail from one of my mom’s friends was what I soon wore to the grocery store once in a while but that was one of my only outings.

The school year ended and I did not know what to expect. In this part of 2020 as a happiness chart this would be one of the highest points. With an awesome summer where I could tear off my mask and finally have some fun without the stinky smells that lied in the house from Zach, 17, and David, 19. This was the Weston Field Club, where my smile was strong. It is a small club still a short distance away from my nice house in Weston. I finally felt freedom, metaphorically and in real life. In the summer I knew I would be going to GFA where my happiness level would change increasingly.

And this is where the year started, with a great community and kind friends it is hard not to smile everyday. Today it is 12/16/20 and I am writing this in history and I am now listening to Billie Jean. . . very catchy.

Fighting 2020 In the Eye of Lilah Tuvlin

This year has been super hard. It started when my family and I heard that Covid-19 was spreading in China. We didn’t really mind that it was in another country, but when we heard that it was coming to America, we started to get anxious. We were rushing al around, getting food, clothes, house essentials, toilet paper, and much more. It was March, when my brother and I were sitting in the kitchen, my dad, making us breakfast, and my mom came in, telling us all about how it was getting really bad in America, and how we are going to need to shut down school and go online.

The least thing I expected was her to say “I have Covid-19.” I was freaking out. Was my mom going to be ok? Do I have it? How is she going to get food? When will I get to see her again? How long will she be in quarantine? These were all questions running through my head. My mom had to quarantine for 21 days. I was miserable sitting outside my moms room, and crying every day. I would sit there, for 30 minutes hoping that I would see her that day.

The only way I could see her was going into her room, wearing a mask, and staying 6 feet away from her.

d

ll

It was the day my mom got out of quarantine, and I was jumping up and down, almost crying of excitement. I saw my mom. Still jumping up and down, I was hugging her, with all of my energy and excitement. She means the world to me, and I was so happy to see her. Her warm hugs, and kisses, make me feel like I am in another world. A warm, cozy world.

Fast forward to July 8th, my 10th birthday. It was one of the most special days of my life, I was turning double digits! The only thing I didn't like was that the best birthday of my life was in one of the deadliest viruses that I would know of. All of this, and I got to have one of my best friends over, Caroline Almeida She got to come over, and my family did so much for me, and I am so grateful for my amazing family, and how supportive they are. I would not live without them. I have the same birthday as my uncle, so we could celebrate that. We didn’t get to see him in person but we got to do a zoom. Suddenly, it was the start of the school year, I was super excited to start the school year, and see my friends. School was over, fast forward to November, 3rd the election day.

It was 10:00 PM and I was watching the election. I didn’t get to watch that much, but I got to see that Biden was in the lead.

Wow, so many people voted. My family likes Biden so we were happy to hear that Biden won. How is it already Christmas? I don't know... I got LED lights, a lot of chocolate, and a lot more.

It was the night of the new year. We couldn't watch the ball drop, but it was one of the best days of my life. 2021. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

woke up on a normal day in Weston Connecticut. but little did i know i would never wake up the same way. that day i felt happy and preppy and ready for school as it was also the play. everything was great i was with my friends we did the play we laughed and laughed. until the teacher gave us a talk about Covid-19. we were all very confused as if this was only a rumor the has been spread around. but it was much worse. it was almost spring break when the teachers said we will have an early start to break. but when

everyone was online. don't get me wrong i loved the long break. but

break ended... bad things

i hated not being able to see my

started to happen. everyone

friends and being stuck with my

around the world had to stay

brothers 24\7. online school was

home. you couldn't leave your house.

hard for everyone. it was hard to focus hard to get on your zooms. no one liked it. over the summer i started to see my friends again. but we had to wear masks it was uncomfortable and i hated it. then when we went back to school everything was great. didn't have Covid i was healthy got tested a lot. until winter break came and my family and i all got Covid. my family and were extremely lucky. we didn't have any symptoms. we got lucky and were all good and healthy again. although i missed my bday hanging out with my friends. it was okay because i already had

2020 NO

♡

2 2

By Minna Reilly It was only a few weeks after my birthday when GFA went to remote. The exact day was a Wednesday, I remember clearly. We went home 2 or 3 days before Winter break started. Do you know why I remember? Because that Thursday was supposed to be the 4th grade’s production of Annie. We had been practicing since January. We did not get to perform it and it was very sad. Fortunately, they had recorded the dress rehearsal.

They sent the dress rehearsal to us during remote learning later in the year. Speaking of remote learning, It was pretty fun. We were still able to do fun projects, and I got more down time, but I missed my friends.

As remote learning shifted into summer, I started having outdoor and socially distanced visits with my friends. We would bike at the nearby high school, or meet in one of our backyards. It was fun to jump around in a sprinkler, but I wished it would go back to normal. I was planning on going to a sleep away camp for the first time ever and also my day camp I have been going to for 6 or 7 years. It was seriously disappointing. Summer was fun though.

Then we started school. It is annoying to have to wear a mask, but we are all used to it.

It’s not that different. Ok, who am i kidding??? It is definitely that different. But it’s good and it’s fun and it’s ok. I have also discovered a new passion: Computer Science. I love my teacher, Ms. Yuen, and i love the fun activities. I have the awesomest teachers, even if some say that I am asking too much of them on the first day of school. Yes. That actually happened. Soooo, I am doing well. Thanks for asking.

But wait. There’s one more thing. Something called... vacations. Ever heard of them? I had to miss at least 2 traditions. I will enlighten you. #1 - Club Med, Mexico. I have been going ever since I was a baby, and every year during spring break. In the year before this, I didn’t go because I went to London, Paris, and Venice instead. Me and my fam were so psyched to go back and see my penpal, Maxine, who lives in Canada but we both go to Mexico for Spring Break, which is where I met her back when we were like six. So, we missed that for a 2nd year in a row. #2 - Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. My mom, yes my mom, has been going since SHE was a baby. I have been going since I was a baby. I have never skipped a year in my life. Not one. Except this year. COVID-19 is a tradition-breaker more than anything else. So, bye.

6 feet

Hey 2021!!!

Me, pretending I don't know 2020.

I made this image

with PicsArt, a

photo editing app I

discovered over

the summer. You

can make super

cool photos with

filters, stickers,

and lots more

cool stuff.

0022

By Andrew Meisel

Part I A New Year: It was December 31st 2019 and a new great year is coming I thought, no worries no fears just a brand new year, happy things and very good stuff to hold in the next year. This COVID-19 will not do anything to destroy this new year. Absolutely nothing can get rid of the great treat of a new year. I am in Israel watching the countdown happening in NYC. 5-4-3-2-1 2020!!!!!!! I thought of a great year ahead, but I didn’t know that a bad thing had just begun.

Part II Slopes ; It was my birthday, January 19th 2020, we will ski today, or so we thought. We waited 6 hours in the car, even though it was supposed to take 10 minutes, only to realise we could not ski because there were 9821 people skiing. It was the first terrible event that will happen in 2020. Then, it is on the news that 28 people skiing that day got this disease, the coronavirus. I ski the next day, but wonder what this year will be like for the world.

Part III Tiny Hopes: It was February 26th, a Wednesday. I am sitting at school choosing my state. I choose Idaho. A few minutes later the teachers announce that school is closed because of COVID-19. It sounds cool that you would do school online, but it was the exact opposite of that. It was the total worst. I made tiny hopes about the quarantine ending, but it felt like it never did. It was supposed to end at the end of April, but didn’t. My brain had to handle all the stress of doing all of this stuff online, and I couldn’t see my friends at all.

Part IV Zoom Troubles: It was March 29th, the first day of virtual learning, I started it, I hated it. I didn’t get to talk to my friends about anything but a math problem or what they are doing for the states project. A month without friends is like a life without friends. Even if you are mad at them you still need them. You can’t like a life without friends. I still had friends, but I didn’t get to really talk to them about many things. Zoom makes it pretty hard to concentrate during classes. It had millions of features, everyone was using the chat and changing their Zoom names, it made things very confusing and harder. Zoom is also glitchy sometimes, and I cannot figure out how to get it back to normal.

IS THE WORST Part V Owen Time : It was April 7th, eleven days before my brother Owen’s birthday. I just finished Zoom School and wanted to relax. Owen had other plans. He called it “Owen Time” it was just Owen chasing me and jumping on me.

Owen didn’t let me do anything I wanted. He only wanted Owen Time all the time. I yelled at him a few times that day but he wouldn’t stop. He did it for the next ten days too.

Now it is April 18th, Owen’s birthday. It was a full day of Owen time and zero rest for me. I can’t stand it. It is too much and I can’t do anything to stop it. Nobody can stop the horror of Owen Time.

Part VI Zero Plans: It was May 28th, and I was pumped up for camp. School ended a few days before so I was getting ready to go to camp. My sister and brother were also getting ready for their camp time. That’s the point when the bad news came. “No camp, Andrew.” These words rang in my head. I knew there had to be online school, but I didn’t think camp would be straight up canceled! I never wanted anything like this to happen! Now there are zero plans for the rest of the summer.

Part VII Another New Year:q It was December 31st, 2020.

I know the year won’t be perfect, but I can’t wait to see what’s coming ahead. I wish the best in the upcoming year (2021) and hope that the vaccine can help everybody soon.

The world isn’t perfect and I know that now, but next year holds a surprise that will unfold 5-4-3-2-1.

How 2020 went south 2020 was a disaster. It started out in 4th grade when Mrs. Grambling said that “because of the coronavirus we may have to do remote learning if the coronavirus gets worse.” Then later that day she said we are on lockdown and have to take our school supplies home. She said we have to practice getting on zoom, and practice using the learning apps.Next thing I know I’m at home not able to see my best friend. I was so sad and annoyed by this and wanted this to be over, at first I thought it was going to be a big vacation, but no, it was way worse. We had to learn from home and we couldn’t ask the teachers for much help. I didn't get much time to relax. I was up at night finishing assignments. Then finally the summer came and I was happy to not have to learn from home. I could finally relax. The only down side was we were trapped at home and couldn’t go to the beach, or talk to friends. The only way to talk to friends was through messages and facetime. Though we couldn’t go anywhere I was still outside swimming, since I live on the water. I was so lucky. It was ok for me, until I found out my grandma passed away because of cancer, I was devastated.

By: Charlotte and angry at myself. Until I made a friend through Fortnight. He texted on the group chat saying he just got Fortnight on mobile and he wanted to play. I already knew him from school but I had Fortnight and loved to play so I texted him privately and said “do you want to play Fortnight,” and he said yes! We started playing a lot together so some of our other friends got Fortnight on mobile and we had a lot of fun together… then the creators of Fortnight took Fortnight off mobile, I no longer could play Fortnight with him, so we would play Minecraft and Roblox together. It was still fun but not as fun. Then school started and I was able to see my friends again I was so happy to be with them but we had to wear stupid masks and had to stand six feet apart but that didn’t stop us from having fun, we had the best time we could’ve had during this pandemic. Then all of a sudden Christmas came and some of my friends got Nintendo switches and that meant we could play Fortnite again. The few little good parts about 2020 was that I made new friends, and had an epic time with them. It was a scary weird different year but now it's 2021 and it didn't change much at all… yet everything is different.

I stayed up all night to scream “happy new year” and wake up everyone in the house. We had normal nights with my siblings always teasing me at the dinner table, and me not caring but screaming anyways.

I would go outside and play with my dogs, and I still remember when me and my dog Bear and I were playing with his chew toy and my other dogs, Tank and Sawyer, would try to get the ball but since they are older they barely got it.

Since we were not allowed to go because of COVID i decided to continue skateboarding. I was never great at it but since I had more time to practice I learned my pop shuvit and got better at just skating around my yard. My mom would get new masks and I would try and pick an outfit out to match the masks even though I probably would never wear them. I usually called my friends and played roblox, minecraft ect.

And when August came and school started, I was afraid i would get trampled in the hallway by sometall highschoolers or middle schoolers, but thankfully that didn't happen yet. Middle school had new expectations, rules, and even if it was similar to lower school, it was much bigger than expected.Eventually the classes switched up, and my new classmates were Lilah, Charlotte, Alex, Max, Hisham and Mary. As I said before, I played roblox, some of the games I played were Bloxburg. Bloxburg is where you build houses and play with friends. A lot of my friends liked Bloxburg so when we played we all made houses. I made a mountain house and I made the driveway way to steep and big, my decor choices were not pleasant and I could tell making a house was not my best talent (I was never into making or decorating houses so I can get why my house was so messed up)

M Y

B O R I N G

Y E A R

2020

kinda just switched off of games after that, like Royale high: When I tell you i'm a horrible trader I mean it. I traded my whole inventory for heels. Yeah, not my best choice. I played that game for a while then of course I eventually got bored of it. Time skip to Halloween: lets just say halloween was interesting- I had a candy hunt with my friends, then we went to Lilah’s house and had a sleepover. We had a “scavenger hunt” type thing around her road and we had to take pictures when we found them. Our costumes were M&M’s, but in the end we were just wearing a sweatshirt and a poofy skirt (which reminds me of a ballet skirt). After we did the treasure hunt, I honestly couldn't make out what happened after that- moving on to later in the night, Lilah had soccer practice in the morning so me and Hazel attempted to have a allnighter, (which in the end didn't work) Me and Hazel were stuffing candy in our mouths so we wouldn't fall asleep, but while doing that, we were trying our best not to wake up Lilah (surprise surprise, i don't even think she was asleep because of how loud we were, mostly because me and Hazel couldn't stop cracking up) On Christmas day, my sister woke me up to open presents and no one was downstairs so me and my sister had to wake up everyone. She told me to wake Andrew up, and let's just say he wasn't happy. Once everyone went downstairs, we started to open presents. I got some clothes, and much more! I really wanted rollerblades, so when I realized they were not in any presents that were in my house, I was even more excited to go to the barn (where the other presents were kept) I got rollerblades. time skip to new years, family friends came over and we celebrated New Years! 2020 was really hectic, and I hope 2021 brings best joy to all of you! ^^

2020 An Epic Fail

This year was bad... really bad

Wow. Covid-19 hit fast. I went in less than one month from the sunny race track of Daytona Florida to my house in CT where I was in lockdown. At first it wasn’t bad, I got to do school from home, my family drove to Florida and I got to do school from there. But eventually it got worse, I wanted to do more than be locked in my house for a month. Then summer came, finally I thought Covid would be over, but NOPE everything got canceled: my sleepaway camp, my family trip to Scandinavia. But with every down there is at least one up. I got to go to sailing camp. This camp also took great percussions like having everybody wear a mask and social distance.

This is something I have done before, I loved to sail so I thought this was going to be fun. Turns out I was right! It was actually really fun because we had regattas and team regattas. (my team got 1st) then school started.

Then Black Lives Protests began, some peaceful, some not. I was new here at GFA. It was actually really fun being at a new school! Sadly because of covid I don't get the full experience but it was still really fun! A month later headline: Joe Biden elected president, President trump trying to overturn results. Then came thanksgiving and along with it came the thanksgiving surge. But also came the vaccine and now the world has a covid-19 vaccine. Let's be honest here, 2020 really did stink........

Created by: Beckett Seymour

2020, A YEAR

BY Daniel

At the start of the year, things were going okay. There was something in China, whatever. Now it’s in Europe, eh, still pretty far away. Now it’s in downtown New York, ok, what is this thing. No one really knows much about it. Now it’s March. I remember my friend mentioning we might not come back after spring break. “Not a chance” I thought. Now it’s spring break, and Corona is real. Hours after hours of kicking balls in the yard, making mazes out of magnets, and playing games. Ever awaiting news of what would happen after spring break ended. Break is over. Now it is hour after hour of staring at the computer. I have now officially moved to Westport. We got a dog in May! Finally, summer!

Not so great, trapped inside my house. The new school year is fast approaching. I keep in touch with my old friends, and make some new ones in the neighborhood. It is the first day of my new school. It’s not so bad, at least I get to see people again. By Halloween I am feeling good in Westport. It doesn't take me too long to finish my candy. Thanksgiving.

My sister and grandpa come, but I havn’t seen my grandma for months.

Christmas comes a couple months later. I get lots of presents! Now it is today, and new vaccines are being made.

_______________________________________________________

ANNIKA'S 2020 YEAR 2020 started off somewhat normal. We celebrated the new year as we always did, then a few days later on the 9th we celebrated my dad's birthday. Little did we all know everything was about to change.

Four days later, the day started off quite normal. My sister and I got ready for school, my dad was working out, and my mom was getting ready for work. As my sister and I were heading downstairs to eat, my mom was running up and down the stairs getting juice boxes and giving them to my dad. My sister and I didn't think much of it, we just thought he was dehydrated. After we ate we got into the car and started to go to school, everything was normal, except my dad was coming with us. When we came home from school my mom told me and my sister that our dad had a heart attack, so we would be staying with our family friends.

The next few days my aunt came from New York and stayed with us while my dad was in the hospital. A few days later my dad came back from the hospital and things started going back to normal. My basketball team was doing great as it looked like we were heading for the championship game. February flew by quite fast, and by then people were already talking about this mysterious virus, covid-19. At the time my friends and I were making silly jokes about it, and saying it probably would never come to the US.

Everyone was getting super excited about the 4th grade play, Annie, that was supposed to be on March 12th. On March 11th Ms. Grambling called the entire 4th grade for a class meeting. She told us that there was this virus going around, covid-19, and we should be washing our hands more, and we should be more cautious. She also told us that school probably wouldn’t shut down anytime soon.

Everyone was making jokes that we were going to shut down school later that day, little did we know that very thing would happen. On March 11th, we went remote, we cleaned out our lockers and went home with iPads, and the next day we picked up all of our school supplies. That weekend was supposed to be my basketball championship game, everyone on the team was super excited, but that also was the weekend where everything shut down, it was the start of quarantine . Online learning was difficult at first, remembering your schedule, and trying to figure out everything. Those 3 months or so of online learning were a blur, we did mostly the same thing everyday. Wake up, get ready, eat, get on some zooms, homework, eat, play, more homework, eat, get ready for bed, sleep. After online learning everything started to become a bit more fun, quarantine was becoming a bit more loose, and less strict. So everyday I went over to my friends house to go swimming, bike riding, and have fun!

Summer wasn’t that bad for me.Then school started again, I was happy to see more people, but I was also wondering what it would look like. All I knew was that we had to wear masks, social distance, and do the normal covid-19 protocols. Coming back to school was weird at first, for sure, but some things become normal. Such as, wearing masks, social distancing. But quarantine wasn’t so bad after all, I got a lot of extra time on my hands which I would have never would have had without quarantine. When my friends and I went bike riding we went around town naming random places, trying to explore the “abandoned mansion” (It was a house that was donated to the town from this really rich guy a long time ago). We would make weird skits at the town stage when nobody was watching. We would also play Bloxburg non-stop. We would run around the neighborhood and try to skateboard down the big hill, (that took awhile to master-). We would think of cool ideas of games to make on Roblox, but never actually make them because we don’t know how to code. We would make random stuff and we would try to teach our dogs how to swim. 2020 did have it's downs but it also did have it ups . :)

“This is going to be the best year yet!’ I said on New Year’s. And I was not necessarily wrong, but let's just say 2020 has been a roller coaster for us all! When quarantine first started I was thinking the whole time, “Covid is not going to ruin my 2020, definitely not.” Thinking back on what I said on New Years hoping it was true. Wishing it was not true. Online school was terrible for basically all of us. Always being late for zooms, never finishing school on time, and many more struggles during online school. It felt like those few last months of school were adding up.

After school ended Summer came, it might have been one of the best summers ever. The reason I say that is because as soon I was allowed to see my friends it seemed to be more fun than it ever was. I grew so much closer with them and even made one of my best friends now that I bet on the summer. Seeing my best friends basically every day, made us grow so much closer and closer.

Unlike online school, summer was flying by! I guess I was just not ready to go back to school in the fall.

Eventually it came. I just felt lucky to even be in school. I met some of the nicest teachers and got closer to school friends that I have known forever but never really been the best of friends. I know this seems weird, the rest of fall flew by! But then all the sudden it was Christmas! I gave and received the best gifts, in my opinion. Looking back on what I said a year ago, it was true. I got so much closer with my best friends in the whole wide world. Honestly, thank god for 2020.

2

2020 Not Done Yet

By: Macy DeLottie

2020 THOUGHTS by:

Will

R.

2020 started off pretty good. I gotta stay up till twelve oclock and watch the ball drop with some family friends then my mom finally let me get the game Minecraft and that was a lot of fun, and then I saw my sisters doing weird dances and posting them? Not sure what was going on there. But then I heard my sister and my dad talk about something called the coronavirus and I did not know what the corona virus was so I said what is the coronavirus and my sister said it was a pandemic in china so i thought it was not a big big deal and then she said it is coming to America so then I got a little scared. When I was going to school I saw a couple people doing those weird dances that my sister was doing so I asked what are you doing then she said i am doing a tik tok and I did not know what tiktok was so then i kept going on with my day. Back to the corona thing at school the teachers gave us more details and said that we will have to be going to do online classes and we would have to go on an app called zoom and learn from a screen. First day of online school I thought it was pretty nice we did not have any homework. We didn't have spanish or music classes which I was very happy about because spanish is not my cup of tea over all i thought it was like a vacation. Second week of online learning it was so boring we did not have any recess or any time to

CORONA interact with our friends and then spanish and music came back we had to go to spanish and music, and i realized it was nothing like a vacation or any fun and we had to look at a screen all day long. 4 month into online learning, its almost summer time i am looking forward to going to my beach club swimming and maybe I could just have a little break of the corona virus andI thought that the corona virus would be gone by the time that i would be in fifth grade little did i know that it would last for way longer than the end of the summer. During the summer I was really bored. I could not see any friends or go anywhere I had to stay home for most of the time. It was like a jail. I think my mom felt bad for me that I could not see any friends or go anywhere so my mom let me get fortnite and I was really happy I wanted fortnite for a while then I asked if anyone wanted to play fortnite no one answered except one person and then we started playing together and she became one of my best friends. The end of summer was coming. I just found out who was going to be in my advisory and I liked who was in it. During school we had to wear masks. I got to say it was a little weird, we did not have any band class and we did not even eat in the lunchroom. The end of twenty twenty was almost finished. I felt a big relief. 2020 was the worst year of my life. I am happy it is over.

2020 :(

By: Henry Chudd

2020 was a crazy year. It had some positives, but you all know about the global pandemic Covid 19. So let's go back to 2020 and see what happened. The first time I heard about it I was sitting and eating at school when someone started talking about a virus in China. At the time I didn’t even care. But then fast forward one month ahead now I am hearing about my school being shut down to coronavirus A few weeks later I am sitting at a table in my house hearing about that my dog has cancer. It was one of the most sad and frustrating moments of my life. I am on Zoom sitting at my fold in desk and a soft chair looking at a screen.

At first it was quite fun to be in my house constantly but after a month or so I started to miss all of my friends playing soccer outside, the classic boys vs girls style. It’s hard to be in your house “forever.” I can remember to this very day the first time I left the house during quarantine was around two months in. I will always remember some night my dog Rudy walked out to the screen porch and never left because at 11:30 on a beautiful July morning Rudy passed away. It was so sad I didn’t talk almost at all that day except for “I miss him so much.” Then one of the worst storms came and my power went out.

And a few days later the power was still out but my moms phone turned on and that's when we got our new dogs Dakota and Jackie. They are my dogs right now. Fast forward to me in fifth grade, in school wearing masks staying six feet apart and now it is break and this is where we will stop together.

2020

March 12 I am eating lunch in my school cafeteria. We are about to go to our last class of the day, but then the principal comes in. She announces that we will not be coming to school tomorrow, and that we should take our computers home. By now, I had known that at some point we would go into remote learning, because everyone was talking about it, but it was still a shock.

The Next Day I wake up to see my day planned out for me online. I do the scheduled things, then I'm done with school. I do this for about a month, till about mid-April. I have little human interaction during this time

Mid-April I start the process of learning with Google Meets and Zoom. We use these things for book clubs and teacher-student meetings. And god knows I was not on time for any of these things. Seriously. Just ask him.

May George Floyd’s death. Black Lives Matter protests. My whole family is dull.

June We’re all really excited. The school year is ending! Not much else really happens, though. But nothing is similar to what was there only 365.5 days ago. I can’t go to my friends’ houses, or even go to the grocery store!

July Nothing happened. Just literal boredom.

August RIP Chadwick Boseman. Also, school supply shopping happened.

By: Maadhav Subramanian

September I come into a new building, with the idea that it’s Hogwarts, but sadly, the staircases don’t move. I go to a homeroom, and a ‘Mr. Jackson’ greets me. Another teacher also pops his head in for a bit, and I learn later that his name was Mr. Carroll. I do some icebreaker activities with some random kids, and some girls are talking about shoes. They end up being in my homeroom. The people are cool and I make friends with a boy named Edouard at lunch. We eat ice cream. That may have been my favorite part.

October It’s now October, the month of scary.

It’s pumpkin time!

I have a song prepared: People like October, They like the pumpkins.

People like October.

By the way, that was the end.

Also - candy.

November People are actually excited now, because this month there is an excuse to eat a bunch of food, which there isn’t in a lot of the months before. Most of the month just comes and goes but Thanksgiving Break starts, and I’m happy. So is everybody else, but that’s not important. This is about me. No. I’m not self-absorbed. What a ridiculous idea.

December I LOVE this month! It’s the time of hot chocolate, sledding, and more hot chocolate, not in that order. I went sledding after it snowed here. By the way, it snowed! This has not happened in a while, so it's amazing. I think that sums it up. Wait. Christmas! I got roller skates for Christmas and I love them so much. After that, there’s not really anything.

2020 is 0 stars

By Janet J 2020 the year began in January in the brisk cold, waiting for spring to come.Everyone was so excited for the new year and they wanted to be the best year yet, but little did they know this year was going to be the worst year to come. In February things had been heard about something like a disease in China, no one knew what it was so they didn't care to bother. Then March came and the disease came into a virus, the virus had been traveling to the U.S, we think it was from China when people were visiting they brought it back to the U.S. Later in March we had to go to quarantine and found new hobbies from staying in your house all the time!

At first the quarantine was fun but then you were bored to death of staying in your house 24/7. April has come getting warmer every day. People had begun to worry about what was going to happen next, but people made their day by getting pets when people had nothing to do :). Then early summer was the same as April. But after that from the summer to late summer we were able to go out in stores and have some of our freedom back. Then we had an election and our President lost and now Joe Biden is president. Then the new year came and it was like 2020 didn't want to go but it went. The new year was here but then mobs of people broke into the capital because Trump wasn't president, but Biden won fair. And in 2021 I don't know what's going to happen next.

2020 REWIND BY: Dylan Seymour My 2020 was really bad just like everyone else.

I still have not been inside a basketball court since 2019 yes I know depressing it's like a duck has not been to the pond for a year. So my year was ranked terrible if I had a tier list to rank it on. Of course there were good things like they did not cancel the NFL and the NBA so we could still enjoy a little bit of the year. Another thing is people who refuse to wear masks even though there is a whole world wide pandemic. Also the pass of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden was not so peaceful, like come on people just let it go.

Trump will not be in office again and even if he does run for president in 2024 a lot more people are probably going to be on Joe Biden's side. Also another good thing is that I finally got all the fuss about starbucks.

Like if you give it a try it’s not that bad. But another bad thing is that I have not been skiing this year but luckily I am going on presidents day. Another sad thing is that my sleep away camp got canceled due to laws in maine. But my summer was still fun because I got to go water skiing and jet skiing everyday so it was not like I was sitting inside all day doing nothing. Also during the summer I would swim a lot and get way better at swimming at holding my breath. Also during the pandemic my family got a hot tub and we can use it in the winter and we have used it a lot. Also I now play a bit more video games. Also a big part of my life was that I switched schools. And that is my rewind

March 11th 2020 The last day of school in person for 6 months.

I sit on a bed with Mary and all we can say is, “Wow!” The day before the musical they canceled school.

We studied, we practiced. We put blood, sweat, and tears into this and it was gone like that. I get home and I cry forever and to be honest, I feel like it. The next day I do nothing. I eat cookie dough and cry and wallow, that is really it. The next week I start to panic more about what if we don’t go back to school ever or what if this virus never goes away. It was hard to stay calm and it was not fun.

My mom tries to help but it doesn't really help.

by:Abigail Hannum

not even 4 weeks until we are back at school over zoom but it feels like forever. In those 4 weeks, I started to dance again which feels great because I have just learned I have a shot at the dance team.

The next month I feel more confident in things that I do. Like more confidence in school and in my dancing. Soon It was going to be the last day of school and the last day ever of Lower School. Then it suddenly happened, and the school year was over. Over the summer I do many things, like make the dance team, spend more time with my Dad, and spend more time with my Mom. This year has been the hardest craziest year ever. I have changed. I have gone from Jojo Siwa to Marvel and I have missed my family . And one of the best things coming back to school.

2020, What A Great Year...

NOT! Take yourself out of your life and zoom to 2020. You land in the body of Hazel Hantman, a ten year old girl who lives in Darien, CT. Hazel is at school thinking about the ourth rade play which is in 2 days on March 11th. Hazel was cast in the lead role: Annie. She is in class and the teachers have her grade sit down on the carpet. ittle did Hazel know that this was going to be the last time she would have her whole grade all together for a while. The teachers start reading some weird book about things like self care and cleanliness. After this they break it to us: there was a chance we would go to online school. I was sitting next to some of my best friends. We stared at each other like we would never see each other again. However that was not to be case.

The next day we had a practice for the play. There was a catch though. It was an open house.

Hazel’s brother, mother, and grandparents all came. Well duh, they came, that was what my grandparents came to Connecticut for. Well we never got to do the actual play. They took one day off, that was the day of the play then it was break. They didn’t know if they were going back. They ended up not going back.(for that school year) Hazel loved the idea of online learning (at the time).

She is a very independent person just like her father. or the rest of the year it was wake up when you want to, get all your work done, and have a free day for Hazel. Hazel did have one enemy in online life. Zoom. Zoom was the most annoying thing to her. Imagine this. You're outside jumping on your trampoline. Then an obnoxious timer goes off to get on your Zoom. xcuse her french but it sucked. Ok so that was school. Hazel’s friends were screens aka TikTok, acetime, texting, and pictures. She remembers the first time she saw a friend in person. It was in a driveway and they were 7 ft apart. This was the time she saw her friend Morgan. The second friend was Macy. Hazel could not be able to last any longer without seeing anyone from school. They had been sending letters to each other for all of the quarantine but that wasn’t enough for them. When they saw each other we were wearing masks and separated by a tennis net. They threw letters to each other and read them out loud.

By: Hazel M. Hantman

Hazel was one of the people who had a birthday during these odd times. Her family had cake wars to celebrate.

Cake wars are when you have teams and you make your own cake and a judge votes which cake is better. The teams were Hazel and her dad vs. her mom and older brother with her younger brother as the judge. After cake and presents it was time to go in the pool. The pool was a lot of fun, especially when you have brothers like Hazel’s!ummer came fast. After all, Hazel always was finished with her work very early, as I mentioned before, so she basically had free days all spring. Hazel plays rizzlies lacrosse and is very competitive. It was very sad for her to find out that someone on the other grizzlies team got COVID-1

and that there would be no

tryouts, just random teams. Hazel did get the chance to go to one of her most favorite places: Block Island, twice. Block island is a place that her dad has gone to for years before Hazel was born. This place is obviously very important to the Hantman family. So important that her family bought a house there. Sooner or later school came. When Hazel found out she was in the same class as my friends Macy and April she was so happy. She didn’t realise that inside the homeroom we were split into two classrooms. She was with April and Macy was in the other half of class. You may have noticed I am sort of fast-forwarding through time in your experience of zooming into Hazel’s mind, that is because of many reasons. ow let's get back to it. The rest of school (so far) had gone by in a snap, until break. Christmas was awesome! Christmas is one of the top of the list on Hazel’s favorite holidays. So now you can come back to your own. Congrats you have learned about 2020 from the perspective of a 10 year old girl in fifth grade at reens arms Academy.

At the beginning of the year 2020 my family was at the dinner table and we were looking at new puppy’s. We already had an Australian Labradoodle named Indy and a glow fish named Blueberry. The puppy’s we were looking at were also Australian Labradoodles. The puppy’s had not been born yet but the dad was all brown and he had white on his stomach, paws, and a little bit on his nose. The mom was just light brown all over. Finally 3 weeks after our talk, the puppy’s were born! They were born on March 27. There were 2 white puppy’s and the rest were brown.

Our top 3 picks were Grant who was brown with white on his paws and stomach, Lincoln who was brown and had a little bit of white on his stomach, and Kennedy who was just plane brown. They were all too cute and it was so hard to choose! A couple days later we had a zoom meeting with the person who was taking care of all the puppy’s.

Some of the puppy’s were fighting over which dog got the water and which dog got to be in the camera.

2020 Puppy By:Caroline Fogel The rest were playing with their toys or playing with the other dogs. We were so desperate to know what dog we got but she wouldn’t tell us until two days after the meeting! Two days later when we were eating breakfast my mom got an email about the dogs! We had gotten a boy named Lincoln! They already had names but you could still change them. They were all named after presidents so we just kept the name Lincoln. Two weeks later our old tutor Duncan, went to pick up Lincoln from Vermont! Lincoln would arrive sometime near 6:00. So when we were done with dinner we were staring out the window to see if he was here yet. We waited until 6:02 and then the doorbell rang. We ran to the door and there he was! He was so cute and so playful. I carried him outside with My sisters and Indy.

Indy was so excited to have a new brother! I put him on the ground and Indy and Lincoln started to play with the toys. When it was time to go to bed we were all so annoyed since we wanted to play with the dogs for a little longer. But it was getting late so we all went up and went to bed. 2020 had some ups and downs but having Lincoln, Indy and the rest of my family together was the best moments of my life.

2020 ONE

OF

THE OF

HARDEST MY

YEARS

LIFE

March 11 2020 Today I got out of bed like any other day, I took a shower got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast then went back up to brush my teeth and brush my hair, got into the car and went to school.

On the way there we listened to the radio talking about the corona virus that has spread to the UK I wondered if it would come to the US I asked my mom and she said if it does we will get a vaccine pretty quick I believed her and when I got to school I was a few minutes early I walked in to my classroom and peeked through the window they were in a meeting so I did not want to bother them when I looked in there I heard them talking about going to do virtual learning I was so confused and when class started I was not able to Focus, just thinking about the meeting took away my focus. Then came science class Mrs.Kurtz was teaching us how to use the online science materials I had only thought about the morning with the teachers talking, it was pretty obvious that we were going to do distance learning I had heard of it because the school dwight was doing it already to take precaution and I really did not want to have school go remote it would be the worst possible day to do it, the school play annie was going to happen tomorrow and I was Annie. I had spent such a long time remembering the lines by heart and everyone had worked hard as well. Then it came to all the other classes and they were all teaching us how to use the online classes “just incase”. And then we went to our last class they had given us the news that we would be doing distance learning but it was sort of ok because we got cookies which makes things a little better when i went to drop off, my bff abigail was coming home with me my mother had also told me that it would not be long. Little did I know that this would be one of the hardest years of

By Mary Heyn March 15 We are day one into Corona lock down, Sort of The weekend does not count. The second I woke up I thought that I was going to be late but I got up the realized that it was the first day of Lockdown I went on to my school Ipad and did my class work it was impossible because I was so tempted by so many things after class I felt like a zombie coming out of the grave I was on the school ipad for way to long that night I could not go to bed because of the headache i had from the ipad, I was in pain all night and could not lie down because my head hurt so much. That first day of lockdown changed my perspective on this whole quarantine. April 2 2020 We are a few weeks in now for lockdown and I am going nuts my sister is using my desk and not her desk for school work my brother is being himself which is just annoying.

This whole covid thing is killing me i have circles on my eyes and if i did not have netflix during this i would have been dead a long time ago but who cares about the lack of vitamin D. I am losing my mind I don't know how i am going to get through this. I am going crazy. Now i may have only given you a few days of what it was like for me but so many other things have happened we have lost people and we have met new people. And I want to think of 2020 as a opportunity for us all to be together but to also be apart.Thank you to all of our nurses, doctors, volunteers and first responders you all have helped us all through 2020.

Thanksgiving was lonely and depressing except for the extra fat and juicy and thick and squishy Turkey. Also the cranberry sauce was good, but it looked like blood and blood is a symbol of 2020.

Also, i would like to note that Alan had the creepiest and scariest costume of all Guess what it was 2020!

The Sylvia Lake trip was canceled! Alan was depressed, devastated, sad, in pain, mentally dead, friendless, lifeless, happinessless. It was nice that I could play video games and learn to solve a Rubik's Cube. It was not fun doing remote learning. It was a time of despair.

It was the month of April 2020, and coronavirus cases had hit over the thousands. The world was quarantined. Alan was on a zoom doing remote learning. It was the second month of this painstaking digital revolution.

While quarantined, many bad things happened.

Alan was not allowed to have friends over! Alan was so sad and felt like he was going to die. Also, Alan got COVID-19 he had to get tested after getting a fever. It was the worst. Alan had a big fever and a headache. Finally, it started to slowly get better.

At the end of the year around Christmas time Alan was starting to pick out parts for a new PC he was going to build in 2021. Christmas was annoying. Alan couldn't even have his cousins over or friends.

It was May when Alan Mello finally graduated from Lower School (UGH.) Finally, summer break! Oh but of course there is always a problem (no surprise) Alan was in quarintine! So Alan set off to find a good fun video game.

Fortnite? Roblox? COD? Minecraft? Fortnite!

Covid pandemic I Was told to reflect on 2020, so here it is the first thing that happened is before my birthday covid started I was suppose to go to California and Hawaii for my birthday but that didn't end up happening I went to Florida instead i remember the night that my parents were talking about covid I was suppose to be asleep but i couldn’t fall asleep so I listened to the conversation I was really worried about it but then my parents told me it's just a little virus so I believed them. Then it got worse and worse and people kept talking about it at school. I started to ignore it but then they kept on talking and talking.

Finally school ended and we all had to quarantine.When I went to Florida it was a boring birthday because i couldn’t do anything.

By: Lilly Fogel.

Cronna virus wasn’t as bad in Florida and there were only a couple of people that had it in Connecticut. When I got home there started to be more and more cases and the news was saying all kinds of things.

We went on zoom for a long time until we had summer break. When it was summer break we went to Cape Cod and we saw our cousins. We were surprised that we were gonna go. The summer was fun but we had to wear masks everywhere and some places shut down. We spent a long time in Cape Cod with our cousins. By the time Summer break was over and we had orientation. It was good to see everyone that I haven't seen in a while. Covid still goes on till this day.