This is Sophie and Henry, reporting upon our favorite things in the Lower School. We have been a part of the Hackley community for many years. Since we started in Kindergarten, we’ve stayed here until fourth grade. Now, our Lower School experience is coming to an end. This will, sadly, be our last journalism article in the Lower School. So now we’re reflecting on our favorite things about each grade in the Lower school. 

My (Henry’s) favorite thing about Kindergarten was how bright my classroom was and how, even though we had different things we liked, we all hung out together. Sophie, who is working on this with me, said she “loved the sense of a whole community, opposed to the complex social life of fourth grade circles. Nobody was “popular”. There was no division between boys, girls, and people who focused on school”. Another thing that both of us liked was the Kindergarten Post Office. We loved all the stages and the feeling of exhilaration when you read your letters, and also the feeling of responsibility, and not the bad kind! Shoutout to Ms. Stapelton, Ms. Function, Ms. Donlevy, and Ms. Farley, for guiding us through our first year and helping make us the people we are today.

Thank you to the first grade teachers for making this a memorable year. You made this last pre-COVID year worth every minute. In first grade, my (Henry’s) favorite thing was the Flat Stanley project because I loved learning about what my Flat Stanley did, and what other peoples’ Flat Stanley did. I also liked doing the musical and learning the songs. I liked the feeling of success when we finished the play. I love ‘Fifty Nifty’ to this day. I (Sophie) loved the Flat Stanley mailing project. I was so excited to receive my Flat Stanley back, with the letters and pictures of what he’s been doing! 

In second grade, I (Sophie) really enjoyed writing our fairy tales/fables. Even though they were only a couple of pages long, typing them took hours, even with teachers’ help! I (Henry) also enjoyed writing stories like my fairy tale and fable. Also, we liked brainstorming. Even when we had writer’s block, we still got through it and we had a good story. They were some of the first writing projects that we did. It gave us huge self confidence for our writing skills. We would also like to give a big thanks to second grade teachers for helping us through tech glitches, being resourceful, and making zoom as fun as it can be. When there was so much darkness in the world, our teachers were a beacon of light. 

When you enter third grade you get a mental growth spurt. The third grade teachers were perfect for us as we grew up. 2020-2021 was a weird, turbulent time. We were always on the edge because we knew we were always on the brink of going back to Zoom school. The teachers knew that and supported us. For example, our teacher took back her magnifier every day, just in case. Ms. Kanter would host a Friday snack costume party when we were on Zoom during spirit week.  I (Henry) loved our poetry unit and all writing in general. My teacher helped nurture my writing skills. I (Sophie) also loved the poetry unit, and I also loved writing Polar Opposites with my reading group. Ms. Kanter made it so fun!

4th grade: CRAZY. We were expected to lead now that we were in fourth grade, with no preparation or anything. Everyone looked up to us, and we were still only third graders in disguise. Mask regulations kept changing, and we still lived in fear of going home, and going remote. The teachers are perfect for this. They are preparing us for our life in middle school, while showing us how to be leaders. Though we still have 2 ½ weeks left of school, my (Henry) favorite thing about fourth grade is writing my Historical Fiction. I also liked my Black History Month Biography. I (Sophie) like my Historical Fiction Picture Book, as well as my biography on Stephen Hawking. We would also like to thank all the specials teachers for all you do to make our time out of our homeroom classroom awesome. Thank you teachers. Thank you for preparing us perfectly for Middle School. Thank you.

-Henry K, KFS, 1D, 2F, 3K, and 4C, Class of 2030

-Sophia P, KFS, 1M, 2F, 3K, and 4S, Class of 2030