Now that school is over...

The last day with the kids was on Friday. I've avoided posting because I hate goodbyes.

On Thursday last week, the kids had their last publishing party. We invited parents (all but 3 came!) and toasted the writers with apple juice. Cheers, kids!

Once the parents left, the kids had a magical hour of enjoying books, reading to each other, and being read to. It was a free-for-all that was lovely. A teacher couldn't ask for anything more. 

And then Friday came, and we inventoried the room and cleaned up. We celebrated with individual awards and a raffle of classroom posters. I got mauled by a group hug and nearly lost it. Lots of tearing up and, not wanting to be weird, holding it all back. Then the kids walked out the room, singing our goodbye song.

The thing is, I'm not coming back to the school in the fall.

It's been a tough year, and I'm looking for something new. Starting in August, I'll be teaching at an all-girls' school in the Bronx. They will wear jumpers. With patches on them.

But tomorrow is the last day for teachers. It'll be goodbye sparkly birthday crowns, goodbye dangerous art installations, goodbye large-scale puppet projects. Goodbye weird smell in the hallway. Sigh!

Gifting

End of the year business, and everyone feels friendlier. So today I got a memo pad and some cereal pieces from kids. 

One generous soul brought in copies of National Geographic for Kids for everyone. Very thoughtful!

She even wrote their names on the top. Unfortunately, she didn't have a roster and names are tricky to spell, so written on top...

Marcus got "Markis"

Maimuna got "My moon a"

and, my favorite: Isaacs got "E-sock"

Open Mic

The teacher end-of-the-year party was tonight. Teachers getting down is sort of funny? Will write more tomorrow.

"I believe I can touch..."

On our way to the mailbox outside, we saw the art teacher. She was eating a chicken drumstick. 

This prompted one student to begin singing "I Believe I Can Fly," which he did for a few verses. And then it turned to:

"I believe I can touch the chicken wing. I think about it every night and day..."

...?

This Is How People Become Pundits

One kid likes to think of himself as the math whiz. He will take any question and answer it. His usual tactic is to say, "I know what 1,000 times 1,000 is. It's 10 million." It gets the kids every time. So legit-sounding.

Someone tried to stump him today with, "What's 1,000 + 1,000?"

He looked up, thought a bit, and declared: "That's a good question. It's 30,000."

The questioner nodded thoughtful, totally in awe.

Signs of the Times

No update on the cans yet, but our signs from two weeks ago are going strong.

Civic Success!

I love teaching community activism, maybe because my activism involves angrily calling 311 when I see syringes and then just griping about it for a few weeks. Teaching about it makes me feel better.

So we've been on a "Get More Trash Cans" campaign. 

Really, the neighborhood is nearly devoid of them. We went on a roughly 8-block walk and counted just 4 of them, all at one intersection. 

As you might imagine, trash is everywhere in the neighborhood. And it's gross trash too. I have seen, among other things, whole raw turkeys, used condoms (many daily), and biohazard buckets.

Today, after previously posting signs and writing letters, we decided to take matters into our own hands by calling my all-time favorite, 3-1-1.

Although the 311ers on the other end of the line had to stifle their giggles, they took the requests of the students seriously. They asked the right questions, and one savvy kid responded appropriately. He said that we needed more trash cans because we only counted four; we have too much trash; and no one seems to care. So, after waiting on hold and complaining about the number of transfers we had to endure...success!

Someone will be coming by within 5 days to check out our intersection and determine whether or not we can have a trash can. We even got a confirmation number. Woo!