Last Day :(

So today was the last day with students this year. Such mixed feelings! I'm in desperate need of a long rest and dangerously close to burning out. Ok, fine, I burnt out a few weeks ago and have barely been keeping it together. Anyways...

While part of me was immensely relieved to have a few weeks of rest ahead of me, the other part of me was/is so sad at saying goodbye to so many of my kids. Because of the way my job is looking next year I'm pretty much guaranteed to NOT have any but 2 of my kids again next year, which means a lot of goodbyes. Two in particular were very hard, mostly my little J.

He's going to a completely different school system next year which means it really IS goodbye. He gave me a wonderful last-day gift though; he briefly played catch with another student! I was so shocked, never have I even seen him play with a ball, never mind with another student.

I was super impressed with myself for keeping it together all day, no tears, no choking up, just a few big hugs and high-fives for the kiddos.

Then this evening I was telling someone about the first time J spoke earlier this year and it hit me. It's over. I said goodbye to him today. Cue the tears.

Mission

So all of Early Ed at my school has been asked to come up with a Mission Statement to post outside their classroom when we get back to school in the fall. Several (ok, dozens) of the staff saw this as "more work", "waste of time", and on, and on.
I however saw it as a challenge, a big one.
How can I boil down everything I think and feel about my kids, my families, my approach to education all into one sentence? How can I express exactly what fires me and drives me and informs every breath I take when I'm in the classroom (or out of it for that matter! Ask my hubby, I never stop thinking about school!).
I've since been jotting down words, phrases and thoughts that might make it into my statement but this is turning out to be way more difficult than I originally thought. I really wish I could put some scripture in it (but I could probably get sued for that one). Cuz whenever I think about teaching I think about this verse: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Matt 18:6.
I take that verse very much to heart.
So I'm going to keep working on this Mission Statement and if I ever get it hammered out to my satisfaction (or at least close to my stupid level of perfectionism) I'll post it here.

Reminiscing...

Today was the last round of meetings with parents for the school year to review IPPs, assessments, transitions for next year, etc.

Almost every parent commented on how fast the year has gone by, how they can't believe school is over in just two weeks and so on.

It didn't really hit me until I was meeting with J's mom.

We had a great talk about how all the astonishing progress he's made since he started in my class in Sept of '09. We were talking about how best to transition him to his new school next year and how I could help his new school when she looked at me and said, "I can't believe he'll be going to a new school. I've been sitting across a table from you for 2 years!"

That's when it hit me. Two years of my life I've invested in this little guy and his family. Two years I've been an integral part of their lives (and vice versa) and in two weeks it'll be all over. It's very possible that I may not see J again (unless I run into them in the community). I can hardly believe it.

I got a little choked up when I thought about it. I can't believe it.