February’s Class: Oyster-Adams fourth-graders

Missy Alden and Marga Ruiz’s fourth-grade class at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School in Washington is the February Class of KidsPost. Alden and Ruiz’s 25 students enjoy playing soccer, eating pizza and exploring the world outside their classroom.

If you would like to be part of a Class of KidsPost, ask your teacher to download our questionnaire at kidspost.com , fill it out and send it, along with a class picture, to kidspost@washpost.com. If your class is chosen, we’ll send a KidsPost Chesapeake Bay poster and KidsPost pencils.

Favorite author and book: J.K. Rowling edged out Jeff Kinney as the students’ favorite author, but Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series and Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series tied for top book. Other authors of choice included Rick Riordan, James Patterson and Suzanne Collins.

Favorite TV show: These students named many shows. The Disney Channel comedy “Austin & Ally” and “Brain Games,” the National Geographic Channel show that explores the human mind, each got two votes, and 21 others got one vote.

Favorite field trip: A second-grade shipboard field trip was the favorite of about 25 percent of the class. The kids studied science and geography while sailing on the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. How cool! Visits to the National Aquarium in Baltimore and to a local swimming pool also stood out for several students. This bunch is well traveled, with other trips to local museums, a roller rink, the National Zoo and the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Favorite game: This category had a runaway favorite. More than half of the kids picked Minecraft, the video game that lets players create blocky virtual worlds. Kids also liked FIFA, the pro soccer video game; Super Mario Bros.; and the old-fashioned card game of Uno.

Favorite professional sport or youth sport: Soccer was the clear winner, with almost half of the students choosing it as their favorite. Baseball was a distant second, with swimming and gymnastics tied for third.

Favorite Web site: Most of these fourth-graders prefer YouTube, where viewers can find videos about anything. A smaller number picked Coolmath.com, the site that features games, puzzles and lessons on dozens of math-related topics.

Favorite food to have on your birthday: Nearly a third of these students voted for the traditional kid favorites: pizza and cake. But there were also some unusual options: candy corn, ramen noodle soup and Mexican food.

What do you want to be when you grow up? The top career field was entertainment. Four kids aim to become either a singer, dancer or actor. Marine biologist was a close second. In third place, a four-way tie: soccer player, teacher, astronaut and author.

What is the biggest problem in the world, and what can kids do to solve it? One-third of the students picked global warming as the biggest problem. They encouraged others to recycle and to ride bikes instead of using cars. Others mentioned the related problem of pollution, and they suggested that kids could help by picking up trash.