School's Out For Summer

So all day long the Alice Cooper song School's Out For Summer has been going through my head. Crazy, huh?

Today was such a bittersweet day for me. I've been so emotional all week. Of course I'm ready for summer- no alarm clocks, spending more time with my kids, catching up with friends, relaxing by the pool, campouts, etc. but it makes me really sad to see the kids in my class move on. I've had such a great little group this year, it was very hard to say good-bye. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it.

I've cried several times this week. I think it all started when I wrote and sent a letter to a former student for a memory/scrapbook that his parents are making for him for his High School graduation. Yes, you read that correctly, my first year teaching kids are Seniors graduating this weekend. His parents e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to send a letter with memories that I had of him. Well, by the time I finished the letter, I was crying. He was such a unique kid, one that I'll never forget. It amazes me how fast that time went by ... it just seems like yesterday he was in my 2nd grade class and now he's about to go to Ole Miss for college.

That was Tuesday night. On Wednesday I began writing my "teacher comments" in each of my students' 2nd Grade Memory Book. I started getting teary-eyed again. I try very hard to make each note unique by telling each student special things I liked about them and how special they are. Again, I just kept thinking about how much I will miss these kids and how fast the next 10 years will go.

I kept telling myself not to cry, to stay strong for the kids. Well, it didn't work. At one point, a couple of minutes before the bell rang, I had to just walk away, get a kleenax, and just take some deep breaths. I was on the verge of a full blown bawling session and needed to recover quickly. My kids hugged me so many times and they just kept looking at me with these sad little faces. I have a group of about 8 little girls that are all really close friends that I knew would probably shed a tear or two. What I was not expecting was most of boys getting teary-eyed, too. I think this was the saddest last day that I've had.