4th grader on riots: 'I think Baltimore should calm down'

As students in Baltimore walked into class on Wednesday, rumors swirled about the Baltimore riots.

Public schools in the area were closed on Tuesday after protests over the death of an African-American man named Freddie Gray, 25, who died from injuries sustained while in police custody, turned violent.

Ashley Smith, a science and social studies teacher at Lakeland Elementary and Middle School in Baltimore, asked her students to write down what they thought happened amid the riots in the city.

"There was a lot of variation in what the students thought happened," Smith told USA TODAY Network. "They knew there was a lot of violence, and some thought that all the animals from the zoo were released. I wanted to give them the space to share what they knew and clarify misconceptions."

The fourth graders wrote a series of short essays, defining the difference between protest and riot and their thoughts on what happened in Baltimore.

One student wrote, "It's not fair that African American people aren't being treated fairly. The things that Martin Luther King was preaching about racism is still going on."

Another student said, "I think the way police do things are wrong, like when they hurt people instead of letting them talk. I think people should not rob a store or anything they're doing."

Smith tweeted pictures of the essay and said it was "incredible to see how mature and thoughtful students can be even in trying times."

Smith says in total 75 students wrote essays about the riots.

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