Done!

The school year is over - YAY!

Our Spelling Bee yesterday was fabulous. The students REALLY got into it. They studied so well with each other. We went many rounds before finally coming up with a winner. The student who won came up to me after the Spelling Bee and he told me "Ms. V., you know what? My mom already knows that I am a winner!" How cute! I gave all of the kids prizes for working so hard. It was great fun.

We also played multiplication "Around the World." They LOVED that too. I was very impressed at how well they know their multiplication tables. My stomach is also hurting from laughing so hard while playing this game. The kids crack me up with their fast responses. One kid (the Spelling Bee winner) figured that he wouldn't know any of the answers so his blanket response was "20!" for whatever question he was asked. Others respond so fast that they pointed at me when they responded or jumped and answered at the same time, one fell out of a chair! The funniest one though was a kid who would yell the answer and jump at the same time and then finish with a goofy deep throated laugh. I wish I had that on video.

At the end of the day, I pulled the kids over to me one by one and reviewed their report cards with them and said personal good byes. This went over very well except for with one student. I am never teary eyed at the end of the year. I am happy to see my students move on to the next grade and start fresh with a new bunch. Well, one of my students, Ana, (remember her from here and here?) brought me to tears yesterday. As I was reviewing her report card with her I noticed that her eyes were watery. I smiled at her and hugged her to help her to feel better. As I was hugging her I started to get misty. I know how hard this little girl has worked all year long to acquire a new language and try and reach the grade level benchmark. I also know how much she appreciates all of the work I have done for her. I asked her for her phone number so I can contact her in the summer to play with Sabi. I hope that she sticks around town so that I can follow her progress through the years. What a moment we had, the two of us. Those moments are what I live for and why I keep teaching.