Feelin' the Love

Today, I felt lots love.  It was our last day with kids.

As usual, I stood at the door to welcome everyone.  I was greeted by the usual hellos, how are yous and several sweet gifts which included a silver shiny lotus flower candle holder (cuz you're moving to India and that's like their flower), a Sobral Cobacabana inspired ring, a mug with Portuguese writing and a Korean wallet which reminds me of the hanboks I saw in shop windows.
After morning meeting, we started the day celebrating their memoir writing.  Erica and I combined both classes memoirs into one third grade book.  Each trio of authors shared their stories followed by two compliments from their peers.   Then of course there had to be an autograph session for the authors to sign each others work. 

We celebrated the end of the year with an ice cream party outside behind our classrooms before field day.  Team M (my team) rotated around to seven different stations "competing" against other teams along the way.  The teams were a mix of all grade levels and classes making them a fun mix of kids.  I had two former students along with new faces in my group. 

After field day, the kids returned to the classroom where I had compiled their Top Ten of third grade into a Wordle document.  The Cool V.I.K.s loved (counting down):
10.  Field Day, New Books Arrived (they had fundraised and I brought back about 30 books at semester) and Read-A-Thon    
9.  Book Fair (kids perform and also buy books)

8.  Book Clubs
7.  Miss Megan Returned (from my surprise trip to the U.S.)
6.  Brasilia Field Trip (saw the sights and learned about the city's unique history)
5.  Silent Ball (gotta love a game of toss where one of the rules is you have to remain silent). 
4.  GleEAB (mentioned on previous post)
3.  First Day of School 
2.  My parents visit to Brasilia (that one really made me smile)
1.  Nex (field trip to Jaguar sanctuary where we saw rescued jaguars, ocelots, panthers and pumas and cooled off under a waterfall).
The kids got a chance to trace their top ten and then gather email and Skype addresses.  I have four students and myself leaving EAB.  You all know where I'm headed.  The students are going to:  the U.S., Malayasia, Sweden and Spain.  While they were gathering this important info, two parents stopped by.  Both started by telling me that they knew I was going to hear that I was their child's favorite teacher but they really meant it. 

One mother, told me that her son loves me and that with my care and attention, he's become a better person this year.  He loves school and has felt so comfortable. She told me that he's been sad for weeks that I'm going and that she hopes I'll visit and if I do, I need to stay with them.  This mother has been such a supporter all year long and just wonderful to work with.  I had to say goodbye to this student before the end of the day and was just heart-broken as he's been such a light this year.

The second mother and I have had our ups and downs.  She and I see a lot of things similarly but she's got high expectations but has a realistic picture of her son.  Her son's just an amazing child who has so much potential.  He spent K - 2 being the class clown for attention and does have a great sense of humor but doesn't love school so much.  We've worked ALOT on his behavior, attitude, responsibility for actions and self-control.  I'm so proud of him and today I learned what this work meant to her.  She came into the room, saw me in tears and began to cry which shocked me.  I quickly looked around for her son who then I realized I'd sent back to the bathroom to rewash his face (he had black face paint on it from field day).  My heart sunk until she came and hugged me.  She shared that I'd made the biggest difference in her son's life this year and that with my help, he'd started to become the boy she always knew he could be.  He just needed someone to be tough to show him he could do it. 

I was now full-on snotty, gross, crying teacher.  I let the kids work for a bit more and then pulled them together.

We had a final game of frogger which is a class favorite.  For my teacher readers, frogger is a game where one child is a frog who's rather hungry.  To eat, the frog sticks out their tongue quickly at the remaining students who are flies.  By doing this, they are eaten  and die usually a rather painful overly dramatic death. All of this happens while a fellow classmates tries to guess the frogs identity.

To end the day, we sat in our same circle we'd sat 200 days so far and gave all of the kids a chance to share about this year, their feelings and what they just thought in the moment.  Here are a few highlights:

"This year my parents got divorced.  It was hard.  Lots of you know what it's like and you made me feel better.  You could tell when I was sad and you made me happy with hugs and nice things you told me."

"So, you guys know that sometimes I'm not very nice.  I can be mean especially when we play games and especially soccer.  I'm a bad sport sometimes.  And you guys even after I was mean would ask me to play again.  I just wanna say thanks for being my friends.  I wish you lotsa luck in your new schools and in the future."

"Miss Megan.  We could fill a swimming pool with all of the tears in here."

Out of the 18 present, more than half were in tears.  I was teary but wanted to end with something positive.  We did a final huddle and yelled "VIKs" and then dismissed the kids a few at a time for a final hug, handshake or high five. Mostly hugs. 

I had a few more special moments after school with kids and I could share those but what really struck me is that this has probably been my second most challenging class of my career. Today made all of the blood, sweat, tears, beers, complaining, work, consuling, emails, meetings and more worth it.  This class has a special bond that I felt like will be important for them for a long, long time. 

One of these moments included a particular girl.  One who started the year in a pretty mean way.  She complained.  She was rude to teachers and students.  She moaned and groaned.  She avoided work and blamed everyone for her mistakes.  This girl though, has made major strides.  She problem-solves.  She helps others without being asked.  She gives hugs even when she doesn't want to but knows her classmate has asked and needs it.  She sobbed after school.  I gave her a long, hard hug.  I told her (please know that after the work we've done I was being honest due to the types of conversations we've had) that at the beginning of the year she was mean.  She was rude and people were frustrated with her a lot.  I squeezed her tighter and told her as I touched her heart. I said that this, her heart, is what changed this year.  She let people in.  I told her I knew it was hard and that even though her report card didn't show it that the work she'd done was some of the most difficult of all.  I told her she now was loving and kind and that by opening her heart her classmates liked her. I told her that sometimes opening her heart actually made her hurt more but that she had to leave it open so others could learn what a wonderful, compassionate kid she is.  I told her I was so proud of her and that I loved her.  While I was telling her this, her mom was standing nearby.  Her mom speaks just a bit of English so another parent translated what I said.  Her mom started to cry too.

Wow.  I realize this is a really long post.  I want these documented so when I have a tough day in the future, I can be reminded of why what I do is so important.  It's not a perfect post  and it lacks some of the details but to me today couldn't have been a more perfect last day with my students.  This year I loved my kids hard and today the love was sent right back.