Hawaiian Tsunami of Tears

T-minus 1 day until the dam breaks. And Teacher's tears flood the hallways. Again. Hey, I have a reputation to uphold, people. I'm "The Crier". Better than "The Mean Girl" or "The Floozy".

Anyhoo, yesterday the second graders had their end of the year "WE READ OUR BUMS OFF THIS YEAR!!!" reading party. And we pull out all the stops in second grade. We don't just celebrate willy-nilly style, we celebrate LUAU style! Hang loose, y'all! Sorry. I guess that's more of a Hawaiian-turned-Southerner approach. We don't discriminate in second grade either.

I love this picture. For so many reasons. Someday, when this picture is shown in their senior year slide show, they will thank me. As will every teacher in the high school.






This mom certainly had the Hawaiian spirit. I didn't even notice her the first hour as I was blinded by the brightness radiating off her ensemble. She won't have another second grader for three years. That should give my retinas enough time to adjust to the primary colors of the color wheel.




Oh my lands. I miss them already.

This afternoon is the highly anticipated annual Kooistra/Roosma Kickball Invitational. You can read about last year's game of injustice here. We've been trash talking all week. Yesterday, the third graders had the nerve to throw a box of tissues into my room with a note reading: "So sorry about your loss. Here are some tissues for you." Seriously? Is that all you've got? Clearly, Roosma forgot who she's dealing with. I immediately retaliated. I tossed a box of band aides onto her desk with some words of encouragement attached. "Use these to nurse your wounds and cover your bruises. Love, 2B." Wow. We are such positive examples to our little people. The kids are loving it. And they'll love playing today. And they'll still love kickball, their teacher, and each other if we lose. Because it's all in good fun. This morning, during our morning prayer, we asked God to bless our day and our game this afternoon. Because in everything that we do, all the glory goes to God. Then, before lunch, I asked them again, "Who does the glory go to today during our kickball game?" and one beloved cherub of mine yelled, "Us!" Oh dear. Teacher has a lot of work to do in this last day.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go start warming up.