End of the Year

Last day of school fun

It's been a bit since I've posted last. A lot has been happening at school and I'll post about some of our activities in more detail soon. I do, however, want to take some time to reflect on the adults that I work with at my school. They are outstanding people.

On our last inservice day of the year my building always holds a potluck luncheon. Everyone comes, it is the one time during the year that I see everyone in one place. We eat, laugh, reminisce  and say goodbye to many people.

This year was especially difficult because our team intern was a spectacular young lady who inspired us all. She'll be moving to northern Virginia to teach 5th grade in Prince William County. I pray that the teachers there welcome her with open arms and that she thrives (though I have very little doubt about the later!).

We also are losing two wonderful people from our building, one due to retirement and one due to a move. Our 8th grade science teacher is moving to Texas, there were stories, laughter, and even a song played on guitar. The tears were flowing. She will be missed tremendously.

The other, and most important person in the building  is our head custodian. I realize that some of you may not have a relationship at all with the custodians in your building, I would challenge you to get to know them. Our head custodian was working at the building before I came so next year without him will be very strange. He'd come down the 6th grade hall every Monday morning in the fall and talk football (he is a Steelers fan like me) and pick on our resident Cowboys fan. He'd whistle cheery tunes as he walked the halls, he'd say hello to all of the students, help them with lockers, help us with anything, write notes on his hands to get done later, and he loved his work. With his retirement we shared memories and laughs. And then the most profound message of the day happened when he spoke, I regret not recording it on my phone. This is the general idea:

Yesterday when I watched the students leave I thought to myself, there goes another year. Then I watched all of you who were out waving goodbye to the kids come back in, together. Individually you do great things, but together you are like a puzzle. Each piece works together to create something wonderful

What a message, and there was more but it's a bit fuzzy as I began to cry at about that point. It was an emotional day overall, and in addition to that we lost a few paraprofessionals due to budget cuts. Unfortunately they found out on the last day of school, or yesterday before inservice. Times are tough but losing members of our faculty/staff feels unfair.

I hope that you are already enjoying your summer, or just about ready to. If you haven't finished yet remember to cherish the last memories with your kids. Those of us who teach lower grades in the building will see our kids next year and the year after as they grow and mature. For those of you who teach the final year in your building - do something special, make it amazing!

Field Day Fun!

Today I did a few important things on my checklist at school. I passed out their Pittsburgh field trip shirts:

Our field trip shirt for the year! Order from www.spreadshirt.com

I also have two major events happening in the next week: field day and banana split party! We signed up for the banana split party first. I ask the kids to all donate an item to the party and I provide the ice cream. In past years I would buy gallons of ice cream and scoop it out, then my partner teacher and I had a brilliant idea...Dixie Cups! We just pop those guys out into a bowl and the kids add the toppings. So much easier and less mess all around. I send home this reminder for both the kids and their parents:

They are really excited, and just wait until you see some of their creations! The other activity that got them pumped for the end of the year was our Field Day Team Reveal. Our team always does a field day at the end of the year, a little fun competition for the kids. We try to mix up students from all homerooms so that they get a chance to hangout one last time, and we also mix them up based on athletic interest/ability so that we don't have one powerhouse team. 

The kids are grouped into teams and given a color, on Field Day they are to wear their team color and are encouraged to have a good time and to be good sports. Here is our example schedule, you can see we start nice and early and break at lunch time. Beats the heat most years, and we are planning to give them Ritas Ice for a special treat at the end of their activities this time.

I am just as excited as the kids, I LOVE running the 4-square station. And yes, I do have a way to keep track of points :) How do you spend the remaining days of the school year? Do you do anything like field day? I'd love to hear your ideas! I hope that you find time to appreciate how far your students have come, even a small reward is something for them to remember.

Fun Friday - Motivating Students (and teachers!)

Ah...summer. We teachers can appreciate this time more than most. But don't break out your swimsuit yet. We still have a few weeks to go (those of you who are almost done, I'm jealous!). With the countdown happening and students ready to get out, how do you keep your students motivated? (I would honestly love to hear what you do, leave me a comment!).

This year my kiddos needed a little extra encouragement. We sat down and created this:

The kids came up with the entire agreement during a sit-down meeting. Our goal is to focus and encourage those who are doing well, and it's working! This week's reward was a picnic lunch (our school has a courtyard) but with the spring time rain where we are it was decided that a classroom lunch plus movie (The Lion King) would be perfect. 76% of my kiddos were successful this week. The assistant principal liked the idea because it reinforces good behavior, plus it will motivate some of the less than perfect behaviors that we see at this time of the year. Next week we will work towards a kickball game and maybe another lunch to finish our movie.

And finally, a Mother's Day moment. Once the kiddos enter middle school it seems like the cute projects go away and kids are left on their own to remember events like Mother's Day...hello, amazing mom's out there, should be easy right? Ha! So I encourage my students to do a simple gift, a gift of writing! (please refer to post #1 when I said that I'm not a writer to appreciate my overplanning of this event). It's a simple project that takes them two writing periods. They write a poem or a letter to their mom, or another woman in their family that is important (aunt, guardian, grandmother, etc). We print them in color and the kiddos are charged with delivering them during the weekend. It's small but I hope meaningful! And on that note, a bit of encouragement for you my readers (I'm assuming there are a few of you...maybe...sometimes) from my Dayspring Daybrightener calendar:

You are a gift to this big world of ours. God knew we'd need you. God knew you'd dazzle us all. Deidra Riggs

Go forth on this Mother's Day weekend and be dazzling! 

(calendars and more can be found at Dayspring.com - they are a great company, I'm promoting them on my own, they have great things!)