Tomorrow is my last day…

My time is about up with my second graders… and its bittersweet.  I’m so happy to be done, so happy to not have to plan lessons and do so much work and not get paid for it, but then when I think of not seeing these kids every day- not hearing their funny stories or laughing with them- I get so sad! I about cried at conferences last night when one of the moms told me good luck and said her daughter would miss me.  Another little girl told me yesterday "I don’t want the 3rd to get here" and I asked why and she said "Because you leave on the 3rd!"  And one little boy wrote me a note saying he’s sorry I’m leaving.  I’m going to have to hold back the tears tomorrow- and boy will I feel like an idiot crying in front of them! 

Last night we had conferences and it was quite a good experience.  At first I was nervous because I was afraid the parents would ask me questions and I wouldn’t know how to answer them, but for the most part they went great.  I LOVED meeting the parents of these kids- it explained a lot about why some of them are the way they are.  And to see the same mannerisms in the parents as you do the kids is so funny!  One of the moms was really slow to talk- took her time thinking about what she was going to say and how she was going to say it- and her daughter is the same way.  And one of the moms was just spastic and scatterbrained, and lo and behold so is her daughter. One mom I was talking to her about her son’s story he wrote and how he struggled to actually form a story (but that it was ok and we’d get lots more work on it later) and I told her how he kind of wrapped up the story saying "And skeletons are cool and so are witches and the pumpkins are cool too"  And she chuckled and said "Thats cool." OOHH KAY.  So I know where THAT comes from!  There were some parents that were so amazed and thrilled that their kids were doing so well academically because they themselves were not so great in school.  So after all that observation, I spent the evening pondering out our baby is going to act- what kind of mannerisms he’ll pick up. If he’ll act confident or meek, if he’ll take after any phrases that we unknowingly say (such as the "cool" thing LOL). I kept thinking "Oh my gosh Ryan and I need to shape it up so our son doesn’t act like a dink!"  And I can see me turning into a total strict mom about school work and behavior because Ryan was rotten as a kid in school…. From the stories I’ve heard, this little boy is going to be on lockdown once he’s in preschool-  I’ll be cracking down on misbehavior and homework from the beginning.  Or maybe he’ll take after me and do great in school without having to put in much of an effort (well, Ryan was very smart, just he liked to goof off and in middle school and high school he just wouldn’t apply himself).  Who knows.  Its such a funny insight, though, to do conferences with parents.  Tonight we have a few of the more interesting families to meet with- I’m really excited to see how it turns out.

We also had a book fair at school. I’m addicted to buying books, I tell ya!  I bought 4 books and got the 5th free, so it was a great deal.  Baby Barczak already has a whole tupperware tote full of books, plus his bookshelf is getting full.  However, he doesn’t have any baby-books, so I have to work on that.  Heck, I’ll just have to start out reading these to him.  🙂  I’m going to have to build a library or something! 

Ok well I’m done writing for now… I’m just killing some time before I get in the shower.  Yesterday I got to school at 7:50 and had 40 minutes to do nothing because I’m not teaching anymore.  So, I’m just going to get to school today by 8:20 and I figure that’ll do me just fine.