Final Week

What a great final week with so much going on around the building. On Wednesday the kids put on a concert featuring the songs they have been writing by themselves and with friends. Our audience was Miss Rachael, Miss Melanie, Mr. O and his third grade class, and Ms. Mahowald and her fourth grade class. That made for a room full attentive listeners. Can you imagine yourself not only writing your own song but having the courage to stand in front of more than sixty people and sing it to them? Your kids are amazing! Here are a few pics from the concert...

We also spent time on Wednesday saying goodbye to our teacher and friend, Miss Melanie. Thank you so much for all the great books you sent in! We were able to send her off with a more than a hundred books, twenty of which included a really nice inscription from each of the kids. The bag we used to hold the books came from an organization, Clothed in Hope, she feels passionately about from her time in Zambia. Everyone's efforts made for a great way to not only show her how much we love and appreciate her but to help her get ready for her own classroom next year.

On Thursday we headed out for the Fifth Grade Graduation. We saw my youngest daughter, Ainsley, graduate with both excitement and sadness. It was a lovely ceremony - if not a little hot!

This morning a couple of our classroom moms came in and prepared a pancake breakfast for the kids. They absolutely loved decorating their plates with plenty of fruit, whipped cream, and - of course- syrup.

While we were enjoying this special meal a new friend came to meet us. His name is Tyler and he will be joining our class next fall. The kids quickly invited him in and made him feel welcomed. We'll have two other new students next year as well.

Of course, to make room for these new friends means to lose old ones. You'll remember both Stephen and Keerthana moved away earlier in the year. And we recently found out we're also losing Matthew. Matthew is such a sweet, sweet guy and full of so much excitement and curiosity. He will be greatly missed! I hope to have all the kids write him letters next fall wishing him the very best of luck and adventure in his new school.

And...that's it for our second grade year. We fit a whole, whole lot into those 178 days. I can't wait to see everyone back in August. I absolutely love these loop years when there are no goodbyes. Just a "See you soon!"

Love,
Chris