Schools out for Summer

Today is my first day of summer break - YAY! As every teacher knows, the past couple weeks have been chocked full of busyness in preperation for this day. Last I spoke of school, I was filling in for a first grade teacher until she came back from medical leave. When that happened back in mid-March, I was moved to a safety-net position. This means that I was working with small-groups of students ranging from first grade to fourth grade that were in danger of being retained. My goal was to ramp them up enough to pass and be successful next year. The good news is that all but one was able to move on to the next grade-level and as for the one who stayed back, I really think that was the best decision for that child. Having taught mostly first grade before this year, it was really an interesting experience to see such a broad range of the elementary school years. I feel like every primary teacher should have the opportunity to work with various grade levels - it gives you a better perspective of where students are going and what is expected of them down the line. Now this being said, I always thought that I'd *love* dealing with small groups all day instead of a whole class. The reality of it was slightly different however. It's just not the same as having your own little 'family' of students that you spend all day with. Right now I'm sooo excited to return to first grade next year. I have so many ideas swimming around my head - I can't wait!! :o) I'm relaxing for the rest of this week and then I'm signed up for a workshop all next week. After that, my true summer will begin!!!