Saying goodbye to my students yesterday was tough. The last day of the week before a holiday is always filled with a bit of frivolity, a bit of chaos. I intended on being present for all of it. We’ve been filming book trailers to close out our fantasy book club unit of study, so we spent the day watching each other’s work. It was the exact festive environment I wanted.
I wondered if any of them were thinking back to the end of their school week one year ago, when they said goodbye to their 4th grade teacher. I wonder what they were doing in their respective classrooms that last silly day of the week. None of us knew we wouldn’t come back. Even though we all finished the year on Zoom, it still felt like a death in some ways.
I see this tree every morning walking up to my classroom. I have enjoyed watching it start to bloom this week, especially after our record-breaking winter! Its blooms might peak next week while we are on our spring break.
Life is seasonal. Teaching is seasonal-we have new 5th graders! In some ways we’ve been collectively holding our breath all year, but it feels like after this week we can finally exhale. There was no major spike in illnesses at my school, we never had to shut down again.
We will set our clocks forward this weekend, we will enjoy one more hour of sunshine, and when we come back from spring break we will see life in full bloom everywhere.
