Okay, okay already! Sheesh!

So it has been awhile since my last post, but with good reason! Work has been CRAZY! Our PTA president decided that she had had enough of the fifth graders and wasn't going to do anything for them. Well, there are alot of activities that the PTA is supposed to take care of, so who do you think became the one to take care of them all....lil' ol' me. HMPH!
Some of the activities include planning a picnic for 100 students and 30 parent volunteers (which includes the food, decorating, logistics, and clean-up), purchasing and decorating the auditorium for promotion and then removing the decorations, setting up the yearbook signing party, and coordinating the volunteers and money for each. All of this on top of what I do with my own students, getting materials and information for a new grade level, AND packing and moving my classroom. Holey Moley! Luckily I had two great parent volunteers help with the purchasing and decorating!! Thanks you two!!
Everything went off swimmingly! In fact, several parents commented on how well everything went, "very organized and well structured activities and programs" Thanks!

So, promotion was yesterday and it was a very rough day for me. While I am proud of my students and glad that so many of them did well, (28 of my 33 students were on honor roll and received letters from President Bush with an Award for Educational Excellence), I was not ready for the flood of emotions that occurred. A handful of them were in my third grade class two years ago, or around me when they were in third grade. So I have been able to see them flourish and grow over the past years. When it came time for me to read off the names and hand them their promotion certificate, I started to get that feeling, you know the one you get when emotions are running high and you may leak from your eyes? Since I really don't cry, just sweat from my eyes, I was not prepared for the onslaught of "sweat". I couldn't believe this was happening! My little ones were being promoted and leaving me! A parent commented that I am "like a mother hen and they are my baby chicks, ready to fly away from the nest so it is only natural to be a bit emotional". It was definitely an interesting day, to say the least!
I guess that in reflecting on the past school year, I have grown as a teacher in ways that I didn't think were possible. I grew to truly care about these young people so much. I don't normally attach myself to my class like that, because it is so hard to give them up. Gailon said that the tears, I mean eye sweat, are a part of a natural mourning that must take place because they are moving on and because I gave so much of myself to them this year!
What a great year it was too! Neato kiddos!!!