Whew! We did it!!!
At the end there, we were totally and completely just crawling/limping across the finish line. BUT WE DID IT!
The month of May was such a wild month for us with moving, wrapping up the school year and transitioning out of the church that we have attended for 11 years. It was just WILD.
The last two weeks of school are some of my favorite weeks of the entire year (also for sure the most exhausting!). We filled our days with finishing up academics, taking some standardized tests, having parties, enjoying outside sunshine and inside recess from all the rain, field day, a Royal Presentation, and final assembly and all the bittersweet goodbyes!
The seniors at our school finished classes a week earlier than all the other students. They got to school bright and early on the last day and PRANKED the school. It was hysterical. They brought goats and chickens and staked them right outside the front doors where all the students come in, then filled the entire hallways with red solo cups (apparently it also spelled out something cool, but it was walked through before anyone even noticed haha), and even put goldfish into the high school bathroom sinks. All of the students arrived to school that day just BUZZING with talk of the pranks and what they wanted to do to prank the school in 11 years 🙂
My student intern this year was a senior and is pursuing Early Childhood Eduction in the fall, so we were all cheering her on and SO excited for her next steps. But also sad to see our precious Ms. Ellie go!
Next up on the schedule was the Royal Presentation. Since our school offers so many different elective classes and not all students attend all classes, they do a Royal Presentation at the end of each school year so that each class can kind of “show off” what they have done. This year they split the classes into either performances (on stage) or displays (a table in the gym). It was so fun to watch some performances- Kiah sang two songs and Tera sang in her music class and even did a dance number for her music class. I had my 1st grade display table and enjoyed seeing all of the other displays!
The last week of school was SO crazy and we were so exhausted every night that we fell into bed way out of our routine. You can see ALL the dirty dishes stacked behind Kiah, and him working hard so early in the morning to pack some lunches. He’s my morning person buddy. Tera and Ezra were both in different stages of meltdowns because they were just so over the early morning rush out the door. They perked up soon enough, though!
Field day is a HIGHLIGHT of the year, and this year was no exception! It’s so fun to be able to go to school and not have to be in charge of events, because the parent organization handles field day. We had so many kids and from the looks of it they all had a blast. It was supposed to rain all day, but it held off until right before lunch time. We all go to watch a teacher be pie’d in the face and then enjoyed a pizza lunch.
The last day of school is always so busy, and I had completely run out of time to do Tera’s hair. Mia to the rescue! I’m so thankful that we have fun and helpful teenagers at our school 🙂
Unfortunately, it rained all day on the last day of school and it was hard to keep the kids entertained when we had everything put away and no option to go outside! We spent a lot of time in the gym, but the big kids were also in there so it was a delicate balance between letting them hang out/play basketball while also letting my little ones run all over the place. We ended up playing a giant game of sharks and minnows, bigs and littles and teachers all got into it 🙂
The school day ended with a final ceremony where every student received a character award. Then there was a mad rush of goodbyes, snapping pictures and reminding all the students to PLEASE NOT LEAVE ANYTHING BEHIND. Spoiler alert: Things were left behind haha.
This is one of my students this year. I actually knew her Mom and Dad in college and attended their wedding. Full circle moments are fun 🙂
One of the best parts of the year is getting to teach with such a great team!
One of my students grandparents gave me this whole box of summer cookies. Made my day!!
Even though school got out on Thursday, Friday was a mandatory cleaning day for all teachers. We had to come in, clean and pack up our whole classrooms. We just don’t know for sure what room I will be teaching in next year so it’s possible I will have to move rooms. Honestly, I strongly dislike cleaning day. It’s so hard to go back into school and do totally thankless tasks when summer break should’ve started 12 hours before. BUT! I did have some sweet times of fellowship and it is nice to see the classroom all cleaned up and ready for a summer rest.
As soon as we bought our property, I knew I wanted to have a big bonfire for all my students when the school year wrapped up. I had planned the bonfire for Friday night, but had to postpone it to Saturday night because it rained all day on Friday. The bonfire was a spectacular success and we had nearly 40 kids + 20 or so parents just hanging out in our backyard on the most beautiful night ever. I think this will become a yearly tradition. I kept it SO simple with just two bonfires and a s’mores bar.
And with that….we are on to summer!!!