Saying goodbye to my class... and Five for Friday fun!

School is officially over! My last day with students was yesterday. This actually was one of the saddest goodbyes I've ever had to do...this was the absolute best class that I have ever had and there were so many amazing kids in my class. I had kids sobbing and crying that they didn't want to leave me... it broke my heart! I've had a couple parents e-mail me as well to tell me that their kids were crying about missing me at home after school... and I had just said goodbye to them that day! You can't tell me that that's not what teaching is all about... making those kinds of connections with your students and investing in their lives. They just want to know that you care and will give them a safe environment to learn in. I also had a parent text me a photo of a sentence their son wrote at home... it said "I like Ms. O'Bannon" in dry erase marker, and she said he was sobbing and said that he was going to keep writing the sentence again and again whenever it started to fade. Oh my word. Talk about ripping my guts out with that heartbreaking little story! I do love my kiddos so.

With that being said, it was a VERY busy week! I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

I teamed up with the great people over at Creative Teaching Press to review some amazing products from their Mustache Mania and Chevron classroom decor lines! I absolutely LOVE how my student survey bulletin board turned out! And I have to tell you, my students loved this activity.

The best part is... Creative Teaching Press has offered to let me give away all of these items for FREE to one lucky winner!!! The bundle includes 2 borders, jumbo library pocket charts, accent squares, punch-out letters, punch-out mustaches, and mustache sticker labels! The giveaway goes until Saturday... click on the picture below to go and enter! Hooray!

One of my favorite things about kindergarten is their writing... it's amazing to see how much they grow. And I love their illustrations... they alway impress me! I love what one of my little guys wrote in response to the question, "Which community helper has the most important job and why?" His response: "Police officers are important because they can rescue you and don't want bad guys to rob banks." And his picture of the 'bad guy'... LOVE!!!

We had our Kindergarten promotion ceremony on Wednesday, and ours is always luau-themed. We sing Hawaiian/luau themed songs and give our kids certificates and leis. We have our students make their own decorations for the backdrop and it always turns out adorable. This has been a tradition of ours for years and it has become a favorite event of parents, students, and teachers!

I got this book for my students as an end of the year gift. It was only $1 in the Scholastic book order this month! I used bonus points to buy one for each of my students and I wrote them each a personalized message inside. 

This week was exhausting, but wonderful. I'm glad for summer break to be here so I can relax and have some time to myself! But first, my classroom calls... I've got a lot of cleaning, sorting, and putting away before I can officially "check out"! Hope you'll link up with Doodlebugs for Five for Friday too! Have a great weekend!