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End of the school year

Well, I am officially on vacation. The children and I barely got through the last week of school without a major mishap as they were at each other's throat from the first day of the week. There were a lot of conflicting feelings for many of them and although we talked about this they are after all six and seven year olds. They are just beginning to understand the permanence and meaning of farewells. I loved this year's class as I always do and wished I could keep them for one more year. But, I sent them on with, I hope, lots of strategies for how to learn and live well.

So, I packed my old room for a new grade 2 teacher and I moved all of my things into my new room. I feel like a little kid with a new toy: my new room! It's smaller than my old room but it has a beautiful window with a great big window seat. The teacher that lived in this classroom a few years ago used the window area for her desk crowding that beautiful space with her stuff. I plan to use it as the primary reading area in my classroom. I will put pillows on the window seat for the kids to read, write, and draw, or to simply contemplate the change in the (2) seasons - spring/summer and fall/winter. (This is Calgary, after all.) My desk will go in a corner of the room because I have come to terms with the fact that I need a desk to contain myself otherwise I end up containing the classroom. I seem to overflow everywhere. Recently, a teacher gave me a large kidney shaped table for a corner of my room in exchange for a small round table. Mistake! I overflowed onto that table although I tried not to.

Summer is the time when I think about what went well this year and what I can improve on for next year. I have lots of new and old books to read and lots of new ideas I want to try out. I hope I remember that summer doesn't last forever and that if I'm going to be productive in my planning/thinking that I need to prioritize. In two months I'll be on the third or fourth day of school and this summer will seem like a long time away. But, for now, I am excited about getting another fresh start at getting it right even as I know that "getting it right" is just a matter of approximations that keep improving over the years. I still look forward to another try. After all, that's what beginnings and endings are all about.

Happy summer!

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