Saturday, May 25, 2013

Schoooool's Out for Summer and a MAY RECAP

Sorry I've been so blog quiet...May almost did me in!! 
But today was the big day!! The last day of School! 
I was a little emotional today.  Happy.  Sad.  Excited.  Tired.

It's been an action packed month. Let's do a recap!! 

In addition to Teacher Appreciation week & Mother's Day...
...I had a big birthday!! The big 4-0
I walked into work with a lot on my mind- obliviously walking right past these signs plastered on the entrance of the school...


My freshman high school photo was plastered on every wall of our school!! OMG!!! WTH!? 
Every corner I turned there I was.  
My 2 fellow SLPs at school and one crazy wonderful special ed. teacher got me good.  
Our librarian and countless others got in on the fun, too.  Never a dull moment with them.


Oh, not to mention the whole faculty dressed in black to mourn the passing of my youth.  
They blew me away.  I love the people I get to work with everyday. 

And many classes came to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me.  The sweetest and most clever students acted SHOCKED that I was 40 and told me I COULDN'T BE!! Love them :))


Can't wait to get that my massage my cohorts gave me for my birthday.  
Blessed beyond belief to work with so many people I get to call friends.

THEN 
My oldest son, Ferris, graduated with his degree in journalism from LSU.  
I have to brag ~ he has a very bright future in writing. 
~talent and brains and sweetness all rolled in one~  So proud of him. 
The partying followed this dignified photo :)

 
And THEN it was time to wrap up speech therapy for the school year and say goodbye to my students.  

This year, more than any other in my 18 years, I had the most loveable group of kids (who also happened to make unbelievable progress!)   


We ended the last session of therapy with a whole lotta fun:  a little popsicle quick drill , a popsicle party, a little summer trivia competition and a relay chock full of pool supplies.  


It shows me how they're really communicating when they're just having fun (and I'm not pestering them).                                


We had a great time and ended the year of speech therapy with  a bang.   Too bad I don't have photos of the summer trivia competition.  We played boys against the girls in each grade level with me reading the questions and them trying to be the first to "ring in" with those silver service bells that I love and answer for their team.  The teams gave themselves hilarious names.  We had the bikini babes vs. the beach bums and the fishies vs. jellyfish {just to name a couple}. 



If you want to play with your students, you can get the summer trivia activity HERE
It's perfect for end of the year partes. You can play with 2 students or a whole class! 

Finally, after celebrating the retirement of EIGHT of our teachers (wow) we sent our students {from prek to 5th grade} off for the summer.  
Lots of hugs, goodbyes, sighs, cheers, and a few tears.  

We survived another year of the dreaded LEAP test. 
We survived our state's new teacher evaluation system and our first year with 
SLTs and Common Core.   We did it. 
We grew our kids one more older and wiser and hopefully made an impact that will last.  

Our school has a fun tradition of showering our kids with bubbles at dismissal on the last day.  Then once the precious cargo is loaded on the school buses, there's the blaring of horns while little arms stick out of bus windows frantically waving goodbye. 
You can get a taste of it below :)


Now that they kids were on their way we immersed ourselves in "check out" activities.  I got word that I would be moving rooms.  It was sad to pack up the room I've spent 4 years in - sharing it with the best roommate and friend- who sadly is leaving to teach at a nearby school.  (hence, the sad part of the last day of school).  

Oh the stories we could tell about what went down in room B101 over the years.  
We call it the confessional - a safe place where teachers come to get advice, give advice, have mini breakdowns or tell jaw dropping stories.  Since my room housed the copy machine, a phone and a bathroom (which I was happy to share), I got A LOT of traffic. 

So during the summer I'll be moving to my very own room.  I haven't had a room to myself in my entire career!! Exciting! Although I'm thinking I may be lonely {lol}

So when I finally closed the door and said goodbye to the 2012-13 school year, what did I do? After a faculty lunch, I went home and CRASHED alongside my sidekick pup, Lola!  


4 and a half hours later, I woke up from my mini coma, took a dip in the pool and had a  little sushi with my husbands. Not too shabby.                                                                                

To those of you still "therapizing," hang in there!
I'm actually doing private therapy all summer so you haven't heard the last of me. 


                                            When does YOUR summer start?

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on making it to summer! My school doesn't get out until JUNE 5!!! Still plugging along. Enjoy your summer vacation :-)

    Karen
    www.afvslp.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Karen- hang in there :) Good luck with those crazy last weeks!

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  2. Hi, Mia! Thanks for linking up!

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  3. And I thought that our summer started early! We have next week, then 1 1/2 days until we're done. LOVE the send off! :)

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