The Finish Line!

It seems like just yesterday that I wrote this. The school year has past so quickly, although while in the trenches it does seem to drag by in slow motion. I got everything done that I needed to get done to close out the year. I HATE the end of the school year! Not because I don't like summer vacation or because the kids are bounce-off-the-walls crazy the first day the June calendar goes up. It's just I have sooo much to do and the kids have nothing to do.

I mean, I have to finish up grading, do report cards, do Scope and Sequence reports for my English Language Learners, add comments to both, clean out piles of paper work, pack away EVERYTHING in the room, sign certificates for the awards assembly, oh yeah still gotta finish those report cards, more papers to file, make a slide show of all the pictures I took this year to show on the last day of school (I bring that one on my self, but the kids just love it), and finish cleaning up the room--it is amazing how much random stuff gets collected in that room over 9 months, including giant dust bunnies. All the while, I have to keep 23 very excited 7- and 8-year olds occupied so they don't kill each other and are doing something somewhat productive.

Can you see why I hate the end-of-the-year? I'm lobbying for a new approach to the last day of school. We tell the kids that, yay, the last day of school is June 17th. But then, they come to school on June 12th and we say, "Surprise! Today is the last day of school! It's been fun, have a nice life." Then the teachers get the last three days to do that they need to do with no kids to worry about. I just don't know how to handle the parent factor. Any ideas?

So, back on topic--I survived. Here's what my room looked like when I finally left for good for the summer. (I had to go back in for one day after the last day, but that's pretty good for me.)

The view from the door. And looking at this picture just now I realize I forgot to take down the flag and put it in the cupboard. Oops!

My former teaching station almost bare--I left some stuff up, cuz, hey, I'm going to use it next year!

The whole room (almost) stacked up in the corner. It looks like so much less stuff like this.

The back of the room totally bare.

The cupboards stuffed to the brim with all my random crap. It's not quite this bad during the year!

Only a fraction of the amount of garbage and recycling that cleaning up produced. I lost track of how many recycling bins I filled.

All-in-all it was a good year. I was actually sad to see my kids go, unlike last year when I couldn't get rid of the fighting, arguing stinkers fast enough. And we actually had a really nice last few hours. We watched our slide show, listened to a story, went out for recess, signed yearbook/memory books, played some games, and watched a story on DVD. Then it was time to go. There were some tears from some of the girls who knew they were moving, but overall very low key.

And now--time for my big trip to NYC and Europe. I'll try to update this blog along the way. We'll see how much blogging internet access and time allows. Otherwise, there'll be a lot of posts after the end of July!