Last Week of School
Memorable Moments
(Or, how I talked my class out of a FIELD TRIP)
This has been one crazy week at school!
On Tuesday we walked a mile to a swimming pool for a morning swim.
Did I mention it was raining?
And cold?
Despite my ruined hair-do and soggy feet, the kids had a great time.
The pool water was warmer than the surrounding air, plus all their moving and jumping around in the water gave them some additional warmth. Our school district has a new swimming pool policy that mandates one adult for every five students. Have you ever tried to keep track of five moving targets that seldom come near each other, or who can't stay in one place more than five seconds? We were all required to stand at the edge of the pool (not sit) and supervise. There were also at least four life guards on duty.
Our grade did fine (only seven kids had to be pulled out of the water-but with all those adults watching, some were rescued before they knew they needed help), but today a fifth grader had to be fished out and needed to be revived. I guess some boys were doing dead man floating and everyone thought he was still playing. Pretty scary! Fortunately, he will be fine.
Anyway...back to Tuesday.....
With freezing bodies and chlorine induced red eyes, we walked back to school.
That afternoon I felt like I was like teaching zombies. They were pretty tired.
Wednesday was a field trip.
With budget cuts and so much pressure on testing,we save all our field trips for the end of the year.
We always look forward to going to This is the Place State Park (click to learn more) and stepping back in time.
It was a fun day learning about life as a pioneer and about all the different local animals, including learning about tanning their hides, recognizing their fur, and identifying their tracks. We also got to go inside a Native American tepee and a hogan. Our very cute Native American guide surprised me by asking me if my name was Mrs. Clegg.
HE WAS ONE OF MY STUDENTS IN MY VERY FIRST YEAR OF TEACHING! What a fun surprise for me! Yes, it is a small world.
HE WAS ONE OF MY STUDENTS IN MY VERY FIRST YEAR OF TEACHING! What a fun surprise for me! Yes, it is a small world.
Today (Thursday) we were scheduled for another field trip, a day at a park.
We were given free UTA (public transportation) bus tickets and had planned on going to a fun park.
This morning I gave my students a pretty good sales pitch for spending the day at school instead of going to the park.
I've never been a debater, but I managed to convince them that we could have more fun staying put.
(O.K., offering to order pizza, erupt my volcano, work on boondoggle key chains, water color, and have extra recess was a little heavy handed, but it worked!)
When the other classes came back sunburned and tired we were happily eating our pizza.
It was a pretty fun day.
Tomorrow (Friday) will be the last day of school.
We will have our awards assembly, spend a little time signing autograph books, and then depart our separate ways. My time as their care giver will be over.
Yes, I will miss them!
I wonder if our lives will reconnect again some day.
You never know!
♥
JoAnn
6 comments:
Oh how I love it. I don't know how many teachers could really talk their kids in to STAYING at school. haha. Oh I still can't stop laughing. Anyway, it does sound like a crazy busy week. I'm glad you are pretty much done. Now that means you are MINE all mine. :) Oh and I think it's really neat you got to see one of your old students. Doesn't it make you feel good to see someone you taught turned out so great?
My week was about as crazy as yours. I had field day with 1st graders in the rain, 2 extremely long walking field trips, packing up stuff, and helping others with random end of the year projects. I've been so tired I actually went to bed early all this week! Enjoy your short break because it will be a busy month for our family.
Katie C.
That is so cool that you ran into an old student at this is the place. It's nice to see your students as responsible people.
And then you will have time to recuperate...You will deserve it...you need time to enjoy your little grandchildren once again.
But I can imagine you are tired after this week.
I loved that that fellow recognized you as one of his early teachers.
That is so amazing.
Woohoo! Today is your last day. It's good to see you survived. By the way, I love boondoggle. I would still do it now at 36 if I had the materials. Any leftovers? We could have craft day.
I love that you were able to talk your class out of the second field trip! Your pizza and boondoggle day sounds way more fun. :) And how cool that your old student remembered you and said hi! Some teachers are special people that get remembered, and obviously you were worth remembering! :) Congrats on surviving the school year... let the summer fun begin! :)
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