FOURTH GRADE

4Landon Ressler 42

Oliver Harrison

ALEAH Aleah Berengian

Smart, caring, trustworthy, and empathetic Lover of dogs, friendships, and nature Who wishes for a dog, and for her sister’s brain tumor to die Who fears creepy clowns and venomous spiders Who would like to see all the places in the world, and also world peace Resident of Newport Beach Berengian

TYKE Tyke Camaras

Respectful, athletic, funny, and a hard worker Lover of family, baseball, and traveling Who wishes to become a professional baseball player or a professional tennis player Who fears guns and heights Who would like to see the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, Resident of California Camaras

Tyke Camaras

Kamilah Cavner Blake Fraley Presley James Hudson Steelberg

Frankie Stiefel Cooper Kelly Tyke Camaras

THE BIG CHANGE Cooper Piercey

SPLASH! It was a hot day. The birds were chirping and the sun was shining. The sun was so hot that it melted everyone’s popsicles! It was a pool day.

“Bella! It’s time to go to the pool!” Mom yelled. Bella knew this would be her last time swimming with her family. Mom, Bella, Brooke, Quinn, and Harley were preparing for something big: Bella was leaving for boarding school. This was going to be a big change for everyone.

Quinn never really thought much of her sister leaving. I mean, who would? People would ask Quinn, “How do you feel about your sister leaving?”

Quinn would usually respond with, “Oh I don’t really care,’’ or “She never really hung out with me, so I don’t know.”

A few months went by. As the big day got closer, Quinn started to care a little more. One day, Bella came downstairs to get a suitcase. That is when Quinn realized that her sister was leaving very soon. Now Bella’s suitcases were all in front of her bedroom door. Bella was leaving in two days! Still, Quinn’s emotions did not change.

Quinn’s mom and grandma planned to take Bella to her boarding school across the country, in Connecticut. When this happened, Quinn, Brooke, and Harley would stay at their grandma’s house with their dad. Finally, one morning, Quinn woke to the sound of a suitcase thumping down the stairs. She saw her mom and Bella tiptoeing down. Quinn realized that her sister was leaving right now! Quinn was exhausted, but she was very motivated to see her sister.

“Please, please, please, don’t go!” Quinn exclaimed. “I’ll miss you so much, and what about all of our memories and laughs? Who will I go to if I need advice or I am sad?’’

Quinn started to cry. Bella told her it would be okay.

Quinn said goodbye, gave Bella a hug and went back to bed. When Quinn woke again, they were gone. Bella had left for boarding school. The ride to Grandma’s house felt different without Bella in the car. When they had dinner, again it didn’t feel the same without Bella. Though Quinn had another older sister, things would never feel the same.

Mom eventually came back home. One day, the girls got a call from someone. It was Bella! She was scared because there was a big storm. The family of five lived right next to the water, so they did not know what it would be like to live somewhere with stormy weather. Mom told Bella that it would be fine. If it was a major storm, the students would go down to the basement straight away. That helped.

After a few months, everything was back to normal for the girls (or as normal as their family could be). The only difference was that they were minus one person. Quinn had learned that, even though Bella was across the country, she really was only one call away.

Gabrielle Landy

Parker Stern

MY BEST FRIEND Addy Chen

On a hot and sunny Tuesday afternoon, Allie stood outside of the neighborhood church. The sun was in her eyes. Today was the day they were holding a funeral for her father. Tears trickled down her cheeks the whole time. Allie knew she would never get to see her father in person again. Allie

“Allie, Allie! Wake up or you’re going to be late for school!” Allie’s brother shook her back and forth on the bed at 6:45 in the morning. Allie’s eyes fluttered open and looked out the window. She saw only one or two cars whizzing down the street. She was not used to the nearly empty streets and warm weathered, suburban Southern California. Her family had moved here from New York City.

“Come on, Allie! We really need to go!” Allie’s older brother complained as he started out her bedroom door. Allie silently put on her uniform with her favorite fuzzy coat and walked out and down the dusty stairs to the kitchen table. Her mother was talking to her brother in a whispering voice. A bad feeling churned in Allie’s stomach. Was there something wrong? Was there something wrong about her? Allie did not know, and part of her did not want to know at all.

“Allie, are you okay?” Her mother’s voice was very faint and she had bags under her eyes.

“Allie, Allie?”

Allie realized she’d been standing on the last stair, frozen like a statue, for a while now. She took a deep breath.

“I’m fine. Just a little off focus,” she said. She gently placed her foot on the cold marble floor and silently walked past the kitchen counter to the front door. She picked up her gray-blue backpack and tucked her feet into her sneakers.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?” her mom hollered at her.

“No, I’m not hungry, but thanks. I’ll be heading to school now.” She slipped out the front door and closed it behind her on her way out.

Allie liked to walk quickly in the morning. She always was ahead of her mom and brother when they went out on Saturday walks. Allie had walked all the way to the corner of the street when she heard her brother’s voice.

“Wait up!” He came jogging right behind her, sweat trickling down his face. “Hey,” he said as he caught up with her. “Why do you walk so fast?” Allie shrugged her shoulders. They walked side by side down the hill toward the school.

They were a few blocks away from school. Out of the corner of her eye, Allie saw a garden with beautiful, shiny, golden gates around it. She then realized it was not any ordinary garden. It was the same one her father had taken her to a few years ago, when they were here on vacation. Allie almost forgot that her brother was right next to her because he was so quiet.

“Hey, I’ll catch up with you. I just want to see something real quick,” Allie said to her brother.

“Okay then, see you at school. Don’t be late!” he called back to her. She walked toward the golden entrance of the huge garden.

The gates were wide open. There was a big, wooden sign above the entrance that said “Sunset Garden.” Under that, the words “Public Garden” were carved into the same piece of wood. Allie walked in and slowly strode down the narrow dirt path. Allie remembered that her brother had said not to be late, so she reached for her backpack and dug out her watch. She wrapped the watch around her left wrist, and then she swung her backpack behind her. She kept on walking deeper into the garden, adoring the multicolored flowers. That smelled wonderful.

Suddenly, Allie heard another pair of footsteps from somewhere else in the garden. This is a public garden, after all, she thought, but her curiosity took over. She strolled toward the sound and looked around the corner of a fern. There, sitting on a bench, was a girl around the same age as Allie. The girl with long, brown hair and dark green eyes gazed up at Allie. The girl smiled. Allie waved back, then slowly turned around to walk away.

Allie jogged out of the garden and to school. The bell rang just as she got to school. As she walked to her homeroom, Allie spotted the girl from the garden walking behind her. Allie sped up and was surprised when the girl from the garden did too.

When class began, Mr. Holloway announced that there was a new student joining the class. This was weird for Allie (and probably all her other classmates) because it was very rare for a student to join suddenly, right in the middle of the school year.

“Class,” Mr. Holloway said, “this is our new student. She will be joining us for the rest of the fourth grade year. Her name is Lauren, and she just moved to Southern California a few weeks ago. Please be very respectful and kind to her, as this is her first year here in our school. Now, would anyone like to volunteer to help her out?”

Around ten or twenty hand shots up to volunteer.

By the time the bell rang for recess, Allie already learned that Lauren was very popular and was the type of person who made friends very quickly. Allie found herself wanting to be friends with Lauren. Walking alone, Allie tried not to stare at Lauren and her friends outside. Lauren

Lauren spotted Allie sitting all alone under a tree. Lauren felt for her. She wanted to be friends with that kind girl that she had first met in the garden before school.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” Lauren assured her friends. She walked in the direction of the girl sitting under the tree.

“Hello! My name’s Lauren. You seem lonely. Would you like to play with my friends and me?” Lauren asked with a warm smile on her face.

Allie looked up from the ground and made eye contact with Lauren. “I’d love to! My name is Allie, if you didn’t know. Didn’t I meet you in the public garden?”

“Yes! My dad owned that garden, and I would visit every day if I could. Now come on, my friends are waiting! We are playing tag and, sadly, I’m ‘it.’ Tag!” Lauren tapped Allie. They both laughed and started running. Allie

This was the best day Allie could ever imagine. She made many friends, including one very best friend that she wanted to keep for always. This time, instead of walking home with just her brother, she walked home with her new best friend. Today they did not want to go directly home, but to the garden first. Allie and Lauren strode through the garden’s wide golden gates and sat down on a bench. It was the same bench Lauren was sitting on when they first saw each other.

“Thank you for being my friend, Lauren. I really wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Allie turned to look at Lauren. They both smiled and gave each other a big hug.

Ella Olsen

Hill Smith Hudson Stern

Finn Hoover

Emma Harrison

Molly Tiwari

Humorous, likes learning, caring, and creative

Lover of his family, our world, and parrots

Ella Nami

DECLAN Declan Callaghan

Quiet, mischievous, and smart Who enjoys climbing, reading, animals, and hot cocoa Who is able to play football and to surf Who feels happy and energetic when alone Who wonders what animals are out in the wild Who fears the dark and strange sounds Who cares about family and animals Who dreams about becoming a U.S.A.F. pilot Callaghan

KNIGHT Knight Liu

Humorous, likes learning, caring, and creative Lover of his family, our world, and parrots Who wishes to live for at least 100 years, and to travel to Mars Who fears ghosts and some people Who would like to see his own city on Route 66, and a better world Resident of the solar system and the universe Liu

Lyla Fischbein