Journey of a Fifth grader

A Journey of a 5th Grader

Fifth grade is one of the most important parts of our lives. It is the end of elementary school and the beginning of middle school. My fifth-grade journey was filled with adventure, changes, and uncertainty. I must say I learned a lot that helped me grow as a person. Here I share my journey as a fifth-grader at Burleigh Elementary School.

First Day of School

I was looking forward to starting fifth grade all summer after the fourth grade. I was excited about having three teachers with a specific group and schedule. There were five teachers in fifth grade, but three classroom teachers. They had a group called Team POS. Team POS had Mr. Peterson, Mrs. O’Connor, and Mrs. Sperling. The students in Team POS were further divided into three groups: green, gold, and purple.

Finally, the first day as a fifth-grader happened. I wore my shirt and jeans. I put my wavy black hair in some bobby pins. I grabbed my book and waited for the school bus at my neighbor’s house. My neighborhood friend, Lauren, was going to be in the same class as me and I was happy about it. When I got on the bus, I was a little nervous. Like I said, 5th grade is the last grade of elementary school and there is a lot to learn before you get ready for middle school.

When we got into the school building, I had so many memories of fourth grade. On the last day of school as a fourth-grader, Erica, Alvira, and I along with a few others were getting our face painted. We would always ask the lady to write words on our forehead.
Slowly I went up to my new classroom locker. There was a new girl in our class named Sadia. I thought to myself, “It’s time to make a new friend!” Sadia had moved here from Alexandria. She was a little shy at first but soon I found out that she was friendly. The first day of school had announcements about many changes for the 5th graders. No Camp Minikani, recess before lunch, and many more. I desperately wanted a time turner to go back to 4th grade. After a few interesting days of fifth grade, I was more comfortable with the new class schedule. All students in Team POS would be separated as groups and have their own class schedules. I was in the green group. I got to interact with kids who were not in my class.
I had not known Alvira or Sadia that well but slowly we were learning about each other. I told my mom about them and I thought we could be good friends.

New Substitute Teacher and Conflict Among Friends

Soon it was October and this meant my teacher was leaving. Mrs. Sperling was going to have her baby boy on October 11. So we were assigned a substitute teacher named Mrs. V. She was nice and intelligent. She was a Girl Scout troop leader and had two kids of her own in middle school and high school. She wanted us to do our best. I have seen Mrs. V before as a substitute teacher in other classrooms and volunteering at school. She was a little strict, but she helped me a lot in learning about punctuation and putting transition words in my stories or essays. She gave me feedback that helped me a lot and now I love writing. She taught me about friendship that helped me make more friends. Also, thanks to Mrs. V, Sadia, and I became best friends and met some wonderful people. But there was some drama or should I say conflicts among friends as well. I was in the middle not knowing which side to choose. Thankfully, we were all good a couple of days later.

Sadia, Alvira, and I would have conflicts when someone would feel left out.
One time, we had a big fight and Mrs. V helped us resolve the conflict by asking us at lunch our favorite things, and soon, we got along!

Fall Party

It was the day of the fall party. The day I was waiting for. The fall parties! I was excited.
I was in math class learning about fractions. There were no fun math coloring games like last year. “What was the point of begging my dad to buy me those crayons,” I mumbled.
In writing class, Mrs. V was giving us a sucker or mini snicker bars during free writing time. After Reading, we all went to our homerooms to celebrate the party. We had M&Ms, popcorn, and juice. We played games and it was the best time to socialize with friends. I was looking forward to Thanksgiving!

Spelling Bee Competition

It was December 6th, the day of spelling bee contest for which I had been practicing. I woke up around six very nervous about the spelling bee. I grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and comfy pants. Also, I put my hair in a ponytail. It was going to be cold, so I bundled up.
It was time for breakfast but I had lost my appetite. So I just had some milk and an apple.

Soon my dad came downstairs.
Dad said, “Janavi ready to go?”
“Yes,” I said.
I got into my dad’s car and I started to calm down and felt more confident by the time I reached school.
My friend, Sadia, and her sister, Mariam, had just arrived, and they sat in the back seat with all other contestants. The spelling bee started.
The words were easy in the first round. My first word was ‘Punting’. Easy peasy…I said to myself. The next word was ‘Nefarious’ a word that I had practiced with my mom.
Soon it was Mariam’s turn. Oh, poor Mariam she lost in the first round. She looked upset. Now it was me and my best friend Sadia among a few other students. On level 4, Sadia got out after spelling the word “stadium” incorrectly. After many tiring rounds and tough competitions, my hands began to shake. I said to myself, Whoever invented the spelling bee that made students say it out loud in front of an audience does not know how it feels to be that kid?
Next, there were eight kids left in the competition and the final four were going to win. Then the judges opened the big dictionary to ask kids in the final round. Mom had helped me practice many difficult words, especially the words with Latin, French and Italian origin.
My word in that round was ‘Squamulose’. That was a hard one. I got it wrong.
“Sorry that is incorrect, but you are still in the final round,” said the judge.
I got a few more words correct after that.
At last, there were four kids left in the final round. Three kids were me, Tarun, Sadia, and the alternate was Hudson.
I got the first position in the spelling bee after getting a difficult word right. I was so proud of myself. At the end I got a certificate and then it was picture time.
I emailed my mom that I had won and everyone in my class started congratulating me. Then I realized, I should not have worried so much about the spelling bee.

I had another competition at the district level in a few weeks and had to study more words. Although I did not make it to the top 5, I was glad that I could represent my school at the district level.

A few hours later, Sadia, Erica, and I were getting ready for recess.
“Congrats by the way on winning the spelling bee,” Erica said zipping up her coat.
“Thanks,” I said.
Mariam was understandably upset.
“Should I talk to Mariam,” I asked Sadia.
“Sure, but I am afraid that she might cry, and it gets really annoying,” Sadia said taking off her earmuffs.
I chose not to disturb her.

Christmas and New Year’s Break:

“Ok choose which one you want,” my mom said holding the hangers with the clothes. We were shopping at Kohl’s for Christmas clothes and high-heeled boots. I chose the red reindeer comfy sweatshirt and gray boots. I could not wait for the class holiday party. It was a fun party on the last day of school before break. At school, we got to watch some fun movies and eat delicious snacks. For the musical, I got the part for the song, “Sweet Home Chicago.” My dad went to Virginia so after school, Mom took me to Zaika mart to get a drink, some mithai, (desi Sweets) and biriyani (rice) . The next day, I had swim practice. My strict coach, Brian, was moving to New York, so it was his last class with me. After the swim lesson, he had ordered lunch. Sub sandwiches, pizza, root beer, and ice cream. After lunch, he gave me a certificate of completion.
During the winter holidays, I ate a lot and had gained a lot of weight. Mom took me to the mall for shopping. We ate Chinese food, bought smoothies, went to stores to look at purses, and a good gift for my dad and our family. Christmas makes me so happy. I got a lot of presents. During the New Year’s party, we had a lot of sweet treats including a cake with extra chocolate. Too sweet but it was good. After the holiday break, it was time to get back to school.

The heritage fest
Heritage fest is celebrated every year by the Elmbrook school district. It is the time to learn about one another’s culture. I have attended and performed in heritage fest for 3 years. This year, I me and some Nepali kids from our sunday project performed in a play about tourism in Nepal, seeing it landmarks, learning about its history and lifestyle. After musical practice, I got home and took a snack and my mom took out a nepali/ tibetian type of clothing called a baku. I put it on and brushed my wavy short hair and split it into two braids. Finally we gathered our posters and antiques from Nepal to display at the festival. We shared facts about Nepal and visited different tables to learn about each others culture. It is always fun to share and learn about diverse cultures. I have many friends from different parts of the world and this fest provided a platform to be proud of our heritage. The day ended after trying different foods ,doing art, and watching performances.


Fifth Grade Field Trips

In fifth grade, we were supposed to go to BizTown. Sadly, due to the pandemic, we could not go. We went for other activities like the Nature Center, survival life, watching ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ in the first stage, orchestra, an author’s visit at Swanson, and trips to the Wilson Center to practice for our musical.

Being a book lover, I really enjoyed meeting the author Linda Sue Park. I read A Long Walk to Water after meeting her, and that story really touched my heart. Elementary school field trips are educational and fun. But due to the pandemic and me graduating my 5th grade this year we will not be going back to those field trips anymore.


Music is fun! Especially Violin

Last year, I had started learning to play the violin. I was practicing over the summer and my mom signed me up for a private violin lesson. My private violin teacher’s name is Jana. She Is a young college student with brown wavy hair and always wears a skirt up to her ankles. Mrs. Schmidt is my school violin teacher, who helped me a lot during my violin lessons. Sadia also signed up to play the violin. In her old school, she used to play the trombone. Her dad wanted her to play the violin and her mom wanted her to learn saxophone. I must admit, I wanted to play the clarinet in 4th grade, but it was too hard to blow. So, I chose the violin and I think I made a good decision. Learning the violin was a little hard in the beginning, but I kept working on it. Sometimes, I would have pain in my wrist after playing the violin for a long time. Besides the violin, I like to sing. I have many videos of me singing as a little kid. When someone shows me my old singing video, I turn red. This year, I can do the choir after school and my violin lessons. In choir, I would sing in canon. It was fun but tiring. I have been learning piano since I was seven. The piano does not hurt much and it is a fun instrument. Especially when you can do a cool duet with your violin teacher. My favorite thing to do was practicing and improvising. During piano recitals, I would wait until the end because on the day of recital they served delicious cookies and sometimes buys Chips Ahoy, Nestle Tollhouse, or Girl Scout cookies with a nice glass of fruit punch.
I enjoy playing the violin now. This year, I got to perform at the district string festival at Sharon Wilson Center. Learning and performing music was fun this year.

An Unusual Valentine’s Day


Yes! It was Valentine’s Day! February 14th is my favorite day of the year. A day of friendship and a day of sharing candies. I put on my overalls and put a tiny braid in my hair. When I went downstairs, my dad had brought a bouquet of flowers and a gift card for my mom. I ate breakfast and headed out of the door. I hopped on the bus and my back was hurting because my backpack felt heavy. My mom and I had packed treats for Valentine’s Day. I dropped off my instrument and went to my locker to unpack. I had decorated my valentines’ box and put my decorated box in a plastic bag. I left It on the classroom counter.

It was a sad day because it was my friend’s last day at school. I had a gift in my locker that I wanted to give her when she arrived. There she was! I gave her the gift and she looked at the drawings and cards I had made for her. “I love them, you are an artist,” Sadia said putting it in her locker. I had made her a Best Friend packet where I made many arts.
Sadia went to reading class and I went to writing class. We got suckers and played games in math and writing classes. In reading, we took it easy and we got candies. For lunch, I sat with my friends and we talked about some memorable moments with Sadia. Sadia wept a little but said she was fine. Then, we gave out our valentines treat, my box looked happy filled with sugar. We had brownies and juice during the valentine’s party. And decorated rocks with paint. I had to miss Orchestra to help Sadia clean everything up. A few friends helped too. And we were laughing and crying maybe because we did not know how to react. Teachers were giving her hugs and wishing her luck.
At the end of the day, it was time to say goodbye. We were all sad that it was our last day with our friend. Sadia was moving back to Virginia. It was a day mixed with happiness and sadness. A bittersweet day. Ironically, this day is for making and being with friends but this year it was about separation from friends. This Valentine’s Day was also different because it was our last Valentine’s Day in elementary school.
“Call me every day ok?” Sadia said as we lined up to get into the bus.
And after warm hugs, she was gone.
When I got home, I was sad. Mom knew that and so mom let me eat valentines’ candies to cheer me up. It was not a usual Valentine’s Day. Most kids in school might have thought that Valentine’s Day was like any other one. But not for me. It was the last time I could see my best friend, my last Valentine’s Day at elementary school, and we had a special party with friends.
When my mom saw me sitting quietly, she came to me.
“Your dad has friends that live far away but they keep in touch,” Mom said. This made me feel better. “Distance does not matter between good friends,” she said.

The day ended and my heart was heavy. That was the last time I saw my friend and my last Valentine’s Day at Burleigh elementary school. What a memorable Valentine’s Day?

A Wish that I Regret

I woke up feeling sick in the morning. I felt a painful lump in my throat.
I checked the time it was 7:45 AM. I took out a thermometer from the drawer. I kept it under my tongue breathing heavily. “BEEP BEEP” I took out the thermometer from my mouth and it showed 100. 4 degrees. I walked up to my mom’s room. “I don’t feel good,” I mumbled.
Her cold hands touched my forehead.
“Yes, it does look like you do have a fever.”
“Come down I will give you some medicine,” my mom said, heading down the stairs.
When I entered the kitchen, my mom grabbed out a bottle of NyQuil from the cabinet and a measuring cup.
She poured out 30 Milliliters and handed it to me. Yes, I understand that NyQuil tastes bad but, I must drink it to feel better, I thought.
“Let me brush my teeth and then I will eat breakfast,” I told my mom.
“Sounds good”, she said.
I went upstairs to wash my face and change clothes. Then I went downstairs to eat breakfast. My cereal tasted bland, so I stopped eating. I grabbed my book and went upstairs to read. Next was lunch. I had lost my appetite and refused to eat. My mom didn’t know.
“Can I go sleep upstairs,” I asked my mom. “Ok, but if you cannot sleep then come down,” she added.
“Ok.”
I pulled down the blinds and there was a comfy mattress with pillows and a heavy blanket. I slept for the whole day.
The next day, it was 5:30 am and I could not sleep in my lonely room, so I headed to my mom’s room. 5 minutes later, I kept tossing and turning. “Janavi are you ok?” my mom asked.
“Yes,” I said.
She gave me medicine and it tasted bad again.
I regretted wishing to be sick.
“I hate it when I feel sick,” I told my mom, while she was getting some medicine from the cabinet.
The fever kept coming. Two days later, on Monday I went to urgent care with my dad to get checked and to get some tests. About four nurses/doctors came to check me. Lastly, a nurse came with the results from my throat. Yes, it is positive for infection, she said.
I had a streptococcus throat infection (strep throat) and I had to take a special type of medicine called antibiotics so I could get better.

I thought that getting sick was fun. No school and lots of attention. But it was not.
The moral of the story is to never wish for bad things because bad wishes can come true.

Musical rehearsal
Every year, Burleigh Elementary has a school musical for fourth and fifth-graders. I had watched two musicals during my elementary school time at Burleigh. Finally, it was my chance to participate. I pleaded my mom to sign me up for it and buy me black pants and shoes for my costume. I kept my costume safely in my backpack right away. The rehearsals started in January as the performance was in March.

Soon it was March; the musical was coming up in a few days. I was so excited! Some kids were not doing the musical, so they had to stay at school. They were going to do some fun activities. We practiced for a few hours almost every day. My parents or my friend Lauren’s dad use to pick us up after rehearsal. I was always excited after school to practice. There were a couple of songs and each group practiced their song every day. My group was going to dance to the song “Chicago”. I was also part of the final song where I would be in the special performance called ‘America the Beautiful’ where I was dancing with the lights. I got my lunch box where I packed myself a sandwich, some fruit, juice, and chips. After eating lunch, we waited for the bus. The cases of Corona were going up. I was talking about it with a few girls as the bus was a bit late. Soon we all got onto the bus. As it rained and rained, we got there shortly. We went into the Sharon Wilson center’s changing room to change into our costume, so when it is our turn, we could put on pieces of our costume for the performance. The songs for the musical were “Route 66”, “Chicago”, “Range”, “Baseball” and “Surfing”. I was in the song “Chicago”, so I had to wear my black shirt and pants, a hat, a little tie, and sunglasses. We took group pictures, and everyone was looking forward to performing in front of their family and friends. Girls were talking about inviting friends and family and hairstyles they would do. I was going to ask my mom to untangle my hair and put it to the left side as I was wearing my black shimmery hat. Practice sessions were really tiring. We had to do it several times. After two hours of practice, we had a snack break and got to watch the 4th graders musical. About two days before the big day, we performed for the whole school. We were wearing our musical shirts and could not use our lights or costume pieces for that performance. On Friday, the 13th (Yes, I know) we were scheduled to have two performances. One was in the morning at 10 am and the other at 7 pm. I had invited some friends and my family members for that show. We were celebrating Pi Day which was 3/14. I was very excited about all the upcoming events.
The day before the big performance, I was reading my book sitting around the kitchen table. My mom was staring at her phone with a sour face. She told me the musical has been postponed. I was sad to hear that. I read the email from my school that said it has been postponed for a week.

I thought Corona will end by next week and school life will be back. I was upset but still hopeful. What is the point? I thought. I worked so hard on my dance and singing all the songs for the musical.
I was sure that we would perform soon. But I was wrong. It was not fair. I had begged my mom to get me new expensive black shoes for the musical. I was disappointed about losing this opportunity, but my mom said, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. I hope I get to perform more on stage in middle school!

(There is some Burleigh musical footage a couple years ago on YouTube here is a link)
https://youtu.be/IxLVp1Ct2XI

https://youtu.be/BabWY_rt1xU

Pi Day celebration at school

It was Pi Day. Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th every year around the world. Pi is the symbol used in mathematics to represent the relation of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi is infinite and I knew it was never going to end.
For Pi Day, I had memorized around 100 digits starting at 3.14159.

Learning pi digits was hard at first, but I practiced and practiced. My mom says, “practice makes man perfect” and it is true. I used strategies that my mom taught me to memorize. And I did memorize 100+ digits. My mom had signed up to bring party supplies for Pi Day celebration and my friends had signed up to get different pies.
Finally, Pie Day came. I had heard that there were going to be different varieties of pie. I was already dreaming “What type of pies will be there?” and “Which one I would choose?”
After a long day of school, we got to the cafeteria, and everybody took a seat. I sat next to my friends, Alvira and Treasure. Each participant went to the front to write and say the pi digits. After two people from another class, I chose to go next. I was super nervous. My hands started shaking and I felt sweaty. I walked up to the table and got a pen. I wrote down all the memorized pi digits. When I was done, I put down my pencil and my whole body was relieved. Everyone cheered when I walked back to my table. “97 memorized digits! Wow! “, Said my teacher. Now it was time to try some pie, I got to the other table and saw the different varieties of pie. “It is so hard to choose,” I mumbled. I looked at all the pies on the table.
Apple pie? Not sure…. banana cream? Not my favorite, pumpkin pie …no. not this one. Finally, there was ‘Oreo pie’, yes it was my favorite. I grabbed my Oreo pie and got a fork. I sat at my spot and talked to the other girls at my table. Everyone was congratulating me and giving high fives to me. I took a bite of my pie. It was delicious!
This year we broke the record of Pi Day. We went over 200 digits this year. I was one of the winners and was close to getting 100 pie digits. We all got certificates. After trying different types of pies, our bellies were full and so were our hearts. “So many kinds of pies are still left on the table …. apple, banana cream, pecan, pumpkin, lemon, key lime, and Oreo,” my friend said.
Later, two teachers got a big sheet of paper and put different types of Pi Day activities/ exercises. I said to myself, “Now the teachers are making us lose weight by doing so many push-ups and so many sit-ups! But it is still fun.”
It was an amazing experience for me. My first Pi Day! I am so proud of my achievement. I hope I can break the record next year in middle school.
I did not realize that it was our last day of fifth grade at school. We were told that the school was closing for a few days or weeks for COVID 19 pandemic. I never had my last look at the classroom where I had so many memories right behind me.

Soon we got an email about virtual school starting next week.

COVID- 19 pandemic and virtual school

I thought that the online class will be fun because I could do school in my pj’s, do work in my bed, and take breaks.
But that was not that easy as I had thought. The assignments kept me busy, but I got to spend more time with my family. I had everything virtually including music lessons, field day, author’s visit, and high-interest day. My parents ordered groceries from Insta cart. We sometimes got restaurant food as carryout, wore masks, and maintained social distancing. Our lifestyle has completely changed.

Looking back, I think COVID- 19 happened for a purpose. May be to show us that family comes first. I got to spend a lot of time with my sister and now I have a strong bond with her. In our lives, we are always busy, on devices, out with friends, and we never realize who our true family is. We tried to connect with friends and family whom we had not called in a while. Since my parents are doctors, I wrote this thank you letter to my parents:

Dear Mom and Dad, April 8, 2020

I appreciate everything that you do. Although you go to work in the hospital almost every day, I still get good time with you guys. You are saving people’s lives and teaching young medical students how to become a good doctor just like you. Dads thank you for cooking dinner every evening and getting grocery supplies. And mom thanks for helping me with homework and preparing me lunch. You still have time to watch TV at night and play games with us.

I wanted to thank you for all you both do for your patients in this deadly pandemic. And not to forget what dad does for his veteran patients and his colleagues. I still remember last weekend when you prepared lunch and packed it for your colleagues working in the hospital. I was very impressed by your kindness. I am proud that you are our parents.

Thank you for all you do.

Janavi

PS: My parents were so happy to get this note from me.

Drive-through Graduation

Everything has changed. First, a pandemic starts. Then I get my black belt virtually. After that, I graduated 5th grade without a ceremony, and then ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests begin and not to forget Kobe and Gianna’s death. My teacher, Mrs. O’Connor, is also retiring this year. There are so many changes and uncertainties.

But I am grateful for everything I have. I am glad we still had a drive-through graduation parade and good luck wishes from my teachers.

On the day of the graduation parade, after the virtual class, I went to the garage to decorate my dad’s car. I worked on making color paper chains and balloons all day. When I was done, Toni, our babysitter took us to McDonald’s to get fries and ice cream. At 6 pm, we all took photos and drove to Burleigh in our decorated car. My parents got balloons and put them on the side of the window. Many people said I won the best-decorated car. One kid had brought a cowbell. My mom recorded the whole thing. I was sad that Burleigh would no longer be my school, but Burleigh will still be in my heart. I remember myself as a kindergartner a quiet kid who had no friends. But now, I have a lot of friends. All my teachers helped me to do the best I could!
I would like to thank all my teachers. Specials teachers, K-5 teachers, and staff I had, Mr. Pliester and Mrs. Ellis our principal. I cannot wait for what the future holds for me!

I cannot end this blog without thanking our custodians for keeping the school clean , lunch ladies for helping in the cafeteria , recess paras for helping on school grounds, and bus drivers for driving back and forth.
Special thanks to Mr Peterson for making math and science a fun experience!

GO BURLEIGH VIKINGS!