Farewell Kansas City: Saying goodbye to my students

We have been in Florida for over 4 months.  There is much to say.

For now though, I feel reminiscent and impressed to write a farewell message to Kansas City.  It's overdue.

I'll start with my class.

In May, I said goodbye to my 2nd graders.  They were a great bunch - eager to learn, thoughtful, comical - a delight to me.

I was careful not to burden them with my emotions that last week of school, as I was processing the miscarriage.  They had no knowledge of the pregnancy in the first place and needn't be informed on their last week of school.  Besides, we had the business of learning to get to.

Still, some children are perceptive and sense when something feels "off."  A couple of my girls brought me bouquets of picked dandelions at our last recess, and my most hyper boy even took time to make me a little dandelion ring and presented it to me with such gentleness.  It was very sweet.

And I saw again, on that last day, what a gift these children are and was glad God saw fit to entrust them to me.

My apologies for the weird circles.  I just don't feel comfortable displaying their identities 
without asking for parental consent.

We ended the year with a little donut/milk party, sitting in a circle on the ground together, reciting our sound-offs, chants, and songs and sharing our favorite 2nd grade memories.  It was a sweet time.

We had recently learned how to write different kinds of poems - limericks, haikus, couplets, acrostics, etc. And I was really excited to surprise them with framed acrostic poems of their names on the last day. There's just something about seeing your name in print.  Especially as a child.

Looking into their faces, as happens at the end of every school year for me, all their good qualities and individual endearing quirks and ways they have grown came to the forefront of my mind, and I got all sentimental inside.

Here are some highlights from our year:

Girls' Christmas tea and ornament exchange

Fresh off the boat!
Arriving to "Ellis Island" hoping to start a new life in America on "Immigration Day."

This family is hoping not to get deported by the immigration officer.

Deported!
(They were making sad faces)

immigrants getting their first taste of bananas
What are these strange fruits?

On his paperwork, I see that "Sven" here can't read English.
Sorry sir, I have to deport you.

Relieved citizens, after taking the oath
(everyone made it to America eventually)

Other memories:

enjoying the symphony

observing ants tunneling in their gel farm - so interesting!

simple machine demonstration

proudly displaying our class science fair project - they all pitched in to put it together

On the end of the table there is "King Cluck", our mummifying chicken.  The children developed a dear affection for King Cluck and asked eagerly to check the salt everyday to see if he was ready for wrapping.  We wrapped and "buried" him at the end of the year in a "secret, underground" tomb.  May he rest in peace.

Visiting a one-room schoolhouse after reading Little House on the Prairie
It's like stepping back in time.  I love it.

last day hugs

It was a good year.  Though it may have been my last year ever teaching 2nd grade. (sniff)

I now teach 4th grade in Florida.  God, in his graciousness, has led me to another wonderful classical, Christian school here.  I love it so much.

If a 2nd grade position was open, I would have asked for it.  But I'm not as intimidated as I once was about changing grades, and think the transition is helping me grow as a teacher. I arrived here really excited about it actually.  Nervous, but excited.  I love the 4th grade curriculum I'm teaching, and I love going deeper with older students.  And my colleagues are fantastic.

Still, I will always remember with such fondness the past two years in Kansas City, teaching 2nd grade to these precious ones.