Today at 10:30am, my summer officially began. My darling kindergartners said their goodbyes, packed up their final report cards, and left the school building. Woo hoo! Let the fun begin!
After all the kids left, our entire staff headed to a local steakhouse, Malibu Steakhouse, for an end of the year luncheon. It was a delicious meal and we all enjoyed filling each other in on our summer plans and non-school related lives! We also got a chance to thank and acknowledge the hard work of our co-workers and say one final farewell to the teachers moving to other schools and retiring at the end of this year. The luncheon is an annual thing and it really is a great way to bring the year to a close.
Although this last day has been fantastic, we really started celebrating the end of the year in kindergarten for the past two weeks. We had movie days, kindergarten parties, puppet shows, picnics... all kinds of really fun ways to celebrate the end of the school year!
On Tuesday, our school had a school-wide picnic where the entire school went outside on our big field and lunched together. We had Beach Boys music blaring in the background and blankets and umbrellas spread out to lounge.
On Wednesday, the kindergarten team put together a fabulous end of the year party for all of the K classes (125 students! Wow!). We were so fortunate to be able to rent not one, but two moon bounces! Although the weather did not cooperate for our outdoor events, being the flexible teachers that we are- we adapted our plans for indoor activities. We put the moon bounces in the gym and the kids HAD A BLAST! All I recall hearing as they jumped and jumped was "Ms. McDonald, this is the BEST DAY EVER!" We then ordered in Papa Johns Pizza and watched a movie in our classrooms. To round off the day, we rotated through each classroom and did a different activity. There was a parachute, musical chairs, carnival games, and steal the bacon. The kids had a really fun time and us teachers enjoyed it too!
This having been my second year teaching, I still feel very fortunate to be working in the profession that I am. Not many people can say they look forward to going to work everyday, but I certainly do. I get hugs everyday. I watch kids learn new things everyday. I get to help wipe away the tears and the bruises when they get hurt. It really is a tough job and can be thankless and under appreciated sometimes, but I truly love what I am doing and I am so lucky to be doing it. There is no greater reward for a teacher than the end of the year when you can truly see how much these kids have grown in 9 months. I am so proud of them and so proud of MYSELF because I know I have made an impact on each of these children in some way. After summer break, I will gear up again and get ready for a new group of children to come into my classroom. But until then...
SCHOOOOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!!!!
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