School's Out For Summer!!

Whew....I never thought this day would come!

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I really love my job. I enjoy coming to work and teaching my students, but there is just something wonderful about that last day of school that certainly brings out the child in you! Some of you may be thinking, gosh, my kids got out of school a while ago. But you must remember, I teach public school. And also, thanks to this glorious day, we had 2 extra days of school to make up the real snow.

As I've mentioned before, I teach fifth grade, the last grade of elementary school. Yesterday we had their "graduation". We invited all the parents to the ceremony and a big crowd turned out. The kids marched in and you could just see parents' faces beaming with pride. The kids were called to the stage, just like at a real graduation, and received their "diploma", which was really just a certificate of completion of elementary school. Then we watched a PowerPoint slide show I created of all the students, with their kindergarten picture on one side and their fifth grade picture on the other. It's always a big hit with the kids, to see how they looked all those years ago.

Another fun thing we do for the students is at bus dismissal of the last day of school. All the teachers put on funny sunglasses and we carry noisemakers out to the buses. We use water soakers and throw water balloons. We pull streamers across the driveway for the buses to drive through. We spray Silly String at the bus windows. The kids absolutely LOVE it!! One year the local news station came out and filmed us!

So, I've got a few more hours of fun with my students and then I send them on their way to have a summer of memories before starting the huge world of MIDDLE SCHOOL. I have to work a few days next week to do report cards, clean the room, etc. Then Quinn and I get to do the summer version of "stay-at-home-mom". I can't wait!