The Final Countdown

I think there are somewhere around 40 days of school left. Give or take a few.

I contemplate that and as I force myself to not burst into a horrible version of an 80’s hair-band song-- I have started to have a little bit of panic for the end of the school year. I have never looped before and though we have gained a few students along the way, I look out over my classroom this morning as they work independently on a reading assessment and I think OH! What will I do when they leave me? It is like the last few scenes in Toy Story 3 when Andy goes away to college and the toys are worried about missing him and want Andy to miss them!



Yes, I cried.


I look at the boys and girls in this room and think—wow! They were so kindergarten-ish when I got them. They cried at school and missed their moms and dads. They didn’t want to eat pizza on Friday. They threw fits and argued with me. We practiced knowing our numbers and counting by 5s. We learned bossy e and how to write a Small Moment.


NOW they are reading Harry Potter. They write stories that are exciting and detailed. They know similes and metaphors. They can borrow and carry in math. They rock at math problem solving—yes….the hardest one of the school year thus far and more than half the class aced the pre-test!! They tell me funny jokes and can work silently for more than 5 minutes at a time! I KNOW them. And amazingly enough…they are still only 7 and 8 and some of the best people I know.


At the end of every year, I always feel a little sad and melancholy. But this year, already I am preparing myself for the good-bye melt down. I have become attached. Not just to the students. But the GROUP they are together. The students they have become. I HEAR them say things I have taught them. I HEAR them relate to each other. I SEE them TEACH each other and know that I care about how HARD they work. I have also become attached to the families that come with them.


The last two years have been full of change for me. Not just with grade levels, but in my family life and personal life. My students remained my constant and because they also know ME, I was able to feel like our classroom was a haven for me as well. I needed them just as much as they needed me.


This year has been incredibly special and as desperately as I want summer to be here—SUN SUN SUN! I also want to slow down the time just a little bit….so I can enjoy each of them for the last few weeks I can call them mine.






Thanks for sharing them with me.