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!

I love yard sales ...and other end of the year shenanigans!

I know, I know, I've been MIA on this blog for most of the month of May. But you know how it is during the last month of school, frantically trying to squeeze everything in before the last day. Not to mention, we had two huge end of the year events: our annual water day & picnic and our super cute Kindergarten luau! Both events are pretty big productions and planning and prepping for them took up just about all my time! Our Kindergarten luau is our Hawaiian-themed promotion ceremony. We sing 6 songs, present the kids with a certificate and lei, and celebrate making it to the end of kindergarten! It's so fun and the kids just crack me up with their dance moves. I gotta admit, I always get a lump in my throat when they sing the last song...

I have loved every one of my classes dearly, but this group was the best class I have ever had. This group was something special. They rarely got into trouble, begged for weekly group hugs, threw spontaneous surprise parties for me to show how good they were being, loved each other, helped each other, and were so kind to each other. They randomly started chants ("Try your best!" was a favorite) and songs whenever the moment presented itself. They were super hard workers and smartie-pants... I got to do more amazing things with this class than any other because they were just so wonderful and well-behaved. I was completely and utterly spoiled by them... and I shed a few tears to see this group go. And I know I'm in for it next year, because you KNOW how these things go in cycles... one amazing year, one gray hair inducing year, and so forth... ha.

I have yet to fully feel like I am on summer break yet because I did not get to organize and clean out my room when I wanted to this year. The last Friday we were at school, we got a last second notice that they were going to be cleaning our rooms for the summer that following MONDAY. And, well, my classroom still looked like kids could come back and go to class the next day. So what did I have to do? Shove everything in whatever basket, cabinet, and container I could find and shove all my furniture to one side of the room. I was having a small panic attack at the fact that my room had become even more disheveled and disorganized! So I am waiting until I get the notice that they have, in fact, finished cleaning my classroom for the summer so that I can go back in and organize everything for the summer. When I finish that, I can finally relax and enjoy my summer. It was frustrating not to have the extra time to do it after the last day of school, but what can you do? 

One very exciting thing that occurred today is that my aunt stumbled upon a yard sale. But not just any yard sale, a retiring teacher's yard sale. A retiring teacher that had amazing things in her classroom yard sale. Folks, I cleaned house. I want to go back tomorrow and buy more books! They are all in impeccable shape and only 25 cents each! Do I have a problem? Possibly... but BOOKS! Here's a picture of my haul. I got a Caps for Sale big book, a huge multicolored pocket chart, Chris Van Allsburg portfolio picture set, Lakeshore rhyming words pocket chart set, popsicle sticks, magnet men, Dr. Seuss reward chart set, and 21 paperback books for $16. Sixteen!!! Thank you retiring teacher. Thank you. You have made my entire summer already.