it's done!

(that's little erick, reading to the class on the last day)


finally on this end of things, looking back over the last 2.25 months and wow! and hooray it's over! i did it AND i didn't murder anyone!!! ha ha.

but the last day was crazy town. this last week was crazy town. it still hasn't sunk in. it really is over. how i will miss those sweet children!

the fact that i will miss them, is really the beautiful and unexpected part of all of this. jacob gave me a present. he was so excited. it was some delicious smelling candles with a glass flower to put them in and he was just so thrilled for me to open it. he even wrote a card, which i saved for later assuming his mom had written it. but no, he did. it said in red crayon, "you are a nice teacher." which totally melted my heart when i looked at it alone.

the second to the last day, and the last day, brice said in front of the class that he would miss me. in his little husky voice, "i'm gonna miss you, miss A."

it all happened so fast. the entire experience happened so fast. i look forward to remembering more as the summer unfolds. i hope i never forget how marvelous it was.

i saved all the pictures and notes they gave me. one of my favorites OF ALL TIME is from jayce. it reads in pencil, "I think you are the best teacher ever. I don't care about how much work we get i just care that you are my teacher."

isn't that awesome?!!! they made me crazy but i still love them and wow, just wow. i get it now.

it's my last week as temp 1st grade teacher ms. avery!!!

and i have 3 goals: 1. don't send stink eye to my principal, 2. get it all done and know i rock even if nobody else does, and 3. enjoy the kids!

they have really been adorable, despite the daily drama, and i will miss them. and i have learned so much. SO MUCH. for example, when the kid walks in singing and continues to sing while everyone is working, don't say a thing. here's my story to illustrate:

there's this one little guy who loves to sing. i mean, REALLY loves to sing. he has a bit of a lisp too, so needless to say, it's adorable. however, he has a rather annoying? habit of singing outloud to himself while everyone else is quietly doing their work. i usually ask him to stop, so that he isn't bothering anyone else. i've even explained to him that his singing makes it hard for some people to concentrate and yadda yadda. and yeah, in one ear and out the other (like so many things!). usually he sings 'eye of the tiger' but the other day he came in with 'everybody dance now' by c & c music factory. it was pretty funny and i had to keep from laughing. this time i thought i would just sit back and let him continue on and we would let 'natural selection' do the job of pruning his habit.

and what happens? another kid picked up on the song, and started singing it too. and someone else picked up the rhythm and started in too! all while they are working away at their morning bell work. and then bam! someone concentrating hard noticed how distracting it was and loudly asked them to stop. which they promptly did. and order was restored once again.

it was hilarious. for one moment i wished for a video camera to be on. guess i'll just have to wait to rewind those tapes in heaven, eh, katina? ;)