Ending Another Year

Wow!  What a crazy ending!  You would think that after seven years of planning graduations, creating awards, packing up boxes, and saying good-byes, I would be more efficient than this! 

I apologize for my absence since my last post.  My past two weeks have taken me a tailspin of a journey.  The end of the year brought on a very angry parent that took hours of my time.  She was upset that her son didn't get an award she thought he should have gotten. 

Then I packed up by classroom, finished all of my paper work, packed my car full of books to plan the next year over the summer, and headed home for a relaxing three days.  Then what did I do?  Started a four day conference!  Oh the life of a teacher!

While some of my work colleagues hit the beach, I opened a conference on Enrichment Opportunities with a 45 minute lesson from a citizenship unit. 

Finally!  Today I only need to work on writing from my home.  I do not have to step back into my classroom for about 4 weeks! I can concentrate on the freelance writing jobs I have picked up for the summer and spend some much needed time with my two year old little boy and my husband.  Perhaps I will even catch up on laundry this weekend, but I don't want to push it!

Field Day

    Don't we all remember field day as kids? When I was in elementary school, it was the greatest day of competition of the year! We were split into teams, made t-shirts, had chants and slogans, and competed fiercely. Most events were similar to track and field, except for some of the team events and, of course my favorite, jumping rope. I rocked out the jump rope competition each year. I had these spindly legs that could jump for hours without tiring.
    As a teacher, I still love field day. We held our annual event this past Friday. Worried about storms, we hesitated to include water events. However, the rains held until after school released. It was a hot and beautiful day, and the water events were a huge hit. The favorites for this group were the water balloon toss and the sponge relay.
    Allow me to explain this sponge relay. We form two teams into lines, each with a bucket full of water in front and an empty bucket behind the line. The object is to race to fill the bucket in the back by soaking the sponge and passing it over your head then under your body until the last person in line has the sponge. They squeeze the few drops of water left into the empty bucket. Most of the water drips onto the kids as they pass the sponge. It is good fun for everyone.
    The event that I am paying for today, three days later, is the tug-of-war. I have a young man this year who is at least 5'5". He weighs almost as much as I do, and he is strong! The only way the other side had a chance to win was for me to play for them. I pulled and tugged and dragged and pulled some more. For fifteen minutes we played tug-of-war! I am SO SORE today! My arms feel like I carried my entire class around all day. It is a good thing field day only happens one day a year!

New Kids

A new student moved into my class last week.  Let me remind you of the time of year!  We have less than twenty days of school left before these students graduate from elementary school and move forward to middle school.  Why would parents choose to move their child away from the friends he has been with for years just before graduation?  His mother died!

My heart aches for this young man.  At age 11 he found his mother dead before school one morning.  He bravely called 911 and tried to administer CPR.  He took his three year old, a bag full of clothes and toys, and moved in with a father that he remembers as abusive and violent from living with him four years ago.

I think this child is doing remarkably well, but has so much disruption in his life, I can't figure out how he is even making it through each day.  God blessed me with this child, but I am not sure how God is using me in this situation.  It is so terribly sad!  I have learned enough to know that I have to be patient and wait to know my role.