This post is written by students, Hannah and Julianna.

For the past few weeks, Mrs. Kolbert’s writing classes have been participating in a program called “Books of Hope.” This project is when we write non-fiction books for our sister-school, Lalogi Primary School in Uganda. Each child in our class picked a topic to write a book about. Then, we did some research and collected two or more books to help us get started. Every book we created must have about 15 pages of text and each page shuold have an estimate of 100-150 words. After completing our rough drafts, we typed it up and started our illustrations. To make sure our books had all the materials it needed, we got a checklist that had to be checked off in order for the book to be published.

After the teacher had made sure our books were OK, they will now be binded and shipped away to the fortunate children in Uganda. We hope that they enjoy our books.

We asked a student in our class what she thought of participating in Books of Hope. Her response was, “this was easy and fun experience was cool.” Another student said, “Even though it was lots of hard work, it truly paid off.”

From our observations we’ve noticed that other students thoughts writing, typing and drawing the pictures for these books was overwhelming work.

In the last of our Expository essay series, Ryan shares his thoughts on why school would be much better if every student were given a laptop to use.

Imagine if each student got a free laptop in school and you are allowed to use it.  It’s an outstanding idea because it has learning games that can give your teacher a break, it can help you understand technology and I can leave a comment on my classmates or teachers’ blog on our school’s website.  I bet laptops will make school ten times better!

Let’s go to Brainpop or Learning Tools!  With all these learning games online, we can learn anything we want or do anything our teacher assigns.  All these games you can play and learn can also lead to terrific grades and magnificent report cards.  You can not believe how fun learning can be when playing a learning game.  Learning games online can also give your teacher a break while you learn.  There are a variety of learning games you can play during school.  For example, Brainpop has videos, activities, and games you can play.  You just click Learning Tools and you will see it along with many other games as well.  Learning games are extremely helpful when it comes to learning, you have to just  wait and see.

Having a laptop can also help you learn about using technology.  It can teach you to type, how to use a computer and a whole lot more.  Soon I will be an expert at technology just like my teacher Mrs. Kolbert.  She loves teaching us about technology when we ask her.  When you get a new computer it usually comes with an instruction manual that tells you exactly what to do.  Always read the directions given to you or something wrong will happen.  The computer might also have some information about setting it up.  Getting a laptop at school would be a great way to learn about technology.

Let’s Blog! Blogging is another reason why we should have a laptop at school.  I get to comment on many of my teachers and classmates and they are amazing to read and comment every day.  Guess what? I can make my own blog post too! I type what I want and put a picture on top.  When my teacher edits and approves it, my blog is ready for people’s comments.  I haven’t blogged yet, but know that my teacher is making it better, so there’s no time to lose.  Now I know that blogging can be as easy as ABC, and I can blog about whatever I want to when we get a laptop for school.

Oh Yeah! Having a computer at school can be an astonishing experience.  We can play learning games, learn about technology, and blog anytime we want to.  Having a laptop computer at school will make me as happy as a pig in a mud puddle!

These are the days that touch my heart…

“I’ve known you for about a year,

When I hear your voice I just might cheer.

As a teacher, you make me laugh and play,

I want to see you every day.

You never think of me as stupid,

I think I might be visiting Cupid.

Just as I think the day is done,

You show up and it’s just begun.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love,
Elly”

In class we’ve been working on writing essays, from start to finish in 45 minutes. It’s a really tough thing for 4th graders. To be honest, it’s a tough thing for anyone; especially if the prompt isn’t “your thing.”  In that time limit, we expect the students to have a well organized essay with clear details and vibrant vocabulary, grabbers, take-away endings as well as generally good writing conventions such as spelling and punctuation. Below is a narrative essay written by Raegan. Raegan is a voracious reader who is one of my best writers. When she submitted this essay, I couldn’t resist asking her permission to publish it for the world to enjoy. It is published as is however, I changed some spacing. Your feedback is most welcome.

The prompt was, “Tell about a time you broke a rule.”

by Raegan
My warm fingers slid across the keys of my phone, almost dancing. “Ding!” My message had been sent. I was in aftercare (boring!) and was bored so I started texting my friends. I could hear the shuffling of Mr.Davids feet coming towards me and quickly stuffed my phone in my jacket pocket. “Close one” I thought to myself.

In school there is this obnoxious rule that your not allowed to use cell phones, and yes I was breaking that far-fetched rule.

As I headed towards the school bathroom to text some more, I passed a yellow sign plastered to the wall that read “NO CELL PHONES!” I started to feel a bit like a criminal, but in the same breath how would me texting my friends do any harm? Without sleeping on the question, I hurried into the ladies room and got ready to start a marathon on a phone keyboard.

My fingers pressed the letters with desire and passion, almost as if they were a vampire who hadn’t drank blood in years. After I sent a message I realized I had to get out of here before someone noticed me. So I put my phone in my pocket and scurried out looking kind of sinister.

I creaked the door open and entered the noisy eardrum-breaking aftercare portable. Luck was on my side because no one had noticed my absent. I plopped down in a chair and started texting under the table. And that’s when my luck faded away.

Mr. David was tapping on my shoulder. I slowly turned around and gave him a worried “hi”. He just looked at me with a smug expression on his face. “No phones in school” and then he gave me a written warning. Oh no was all that was going through my mind.

Ok, so I broke a rule and got a warning. I guessed I deserved it, now I know I shouldn’t brake rules. As my dad says ” You can’t do the time , don’t do the crime!”