It has been such a wonderful school year! My girls absolutely love school and they loved their teachers and made so many great friends. I'm not sure if they are all that excited for school to be out, they enjoy it that much. Avery seems to get super attached to her teachers but she doesn't really ever show much emotion. It is very rare when she does. So she seems fine today. It may hit her later. {Update: I found her sitting outside my bathroom door when I got out of the shower today just sobbing! First thing she said, "I just wasn't feeling good yesterday and wasn't feeling very huggy." It took a minute for me to realize what she was talking about.....she didn't give her teacher a hug yesterday. She is soooo sad.} Allie has been sad today. She was crying before school. She also cried after. She really enjoyed her teacher this year and she also loved her PE teacher. She was crying because she is moving and is sad that she probably won't see her again. Such is the life we live. It's so hard to console her when I know that there is really nothing I can do.
Here is a first day of school/last day of school picture comparison. They have grown and changed SO much!
Allie with her teacher. (so glad I got this picture this morning because it was so crazy after school today.)
We tried to track down some other teachers that the girls wanted pictures with but they all seemed so busy, we just let it go. We did find Ms. Wotring, Avery's Kindergarten teacher. She seemed so sad! I think it was a rough day for her. They are still very much "stuck like glue."
We got some flowers for Avery's class to give to her teacher but we were running late this morning and the class was already walking in. So, Avery got to give them to her all herself.
Over the course of the last 2 weeks they have had some fun celebrations and such at school.
Avery's class had an Author's Tea Party and a 1st Grade Butterfly Release.
I took a video of Avery reading her stories during the Author's Tea but you can't hear her. She is so quiet. Kinda reminds me of someone. This Author's Tea reading also made me realize even more how much further behind Avery is. Everyone's stories were amazing.....and then there were Avery's. I know that is completely harsh of me to say, but everyone else was on a different level. We cannot let a day go by this summer without at least a couple hours of work put in. I'm already feeling the pressure!
The butterfly release was for a moment of reflection on their 1st Grade year and to celebrate their transition into 2nd Grade.
Allie asked her teacher if she could come and watch Avery. I had no idea she was going to do that. She's sneaky! Of course her teacher said yes as long as she had a note from me.
Then we presented Mrs. Kautz with the end of year gift from her class.
I really wanted to do something special and memorable because she was such a fantastic teacher. After searching Pinterest and much thought and going back and forth between ideas (I wish I could have done everything I wanted to do!) we finally decided on making a book "All About Our Teacher" and another smaller book about "The Things We Love and Will Miss the Most About Mrs. Kautz". This meant that I needed to type up a letter to all the parents (because we don't have email addresses....which would have been SO much easier) and include the questionnaire. I'm pretty sure that Mrs. Kautz has known for a long time that something was up. I had a deadline for the parents to get everything back to me because I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to get everything put together, ordered and shipped here before the last day of school. I also really wanted to include each kid so no one felt left out and plus if her whole class participated that makes it that much more special for her as well. Of course, several parents were late and I waited a week and a half past my deadline. I sent some reminder notes and tracked people down in person and got all but 2! Of course the day after I order the book I have a parent email their child's answers. At that point, I tried to contact the company to see if I could add another page but they said no. I have not heard the end of it from this kid about how unfair it is that he doesn't have a page in the book......even though I took the time to type everything up and print out a small picture and put it in the back of the book. I don't know why I feel bad because it's really not my problem.
Closer look at the book
Each kid had 2 pages, like this:
And random pictures from the year at the back of the book, which I didn't have too many and I feel bad that most of the pictures feature my daughter....but ya know, she's one of the cutest anyway. ;) KIDDING! (well, not really....but I am biased)
I went in during lunchtime last week and had the kids sign their pages. I also tracked down as many parents as I could and let them sign a little something at the back of the book if they wanted. The rest were able to sign after we presented it to her.
I'm happy with how it turned out and I think she liked it. She may have cried. ;) It wasn't the plan to give it to her on the day of the butterfly release, but since every single kid had a parent there we figured it would be a good day to do it. I had it with me for parents to sign anyway. Though that left me with little time to think of anything to say when giving it to her....and I am so nervous when talking to one person let alone in front of 20+ people. I think I just said something about the kids working hard on this gift and told her how she always mentions how blessed she is to have these kids in her class, but we feel like we are the ones that are so blessed that she is their teacher. And then thanked her again for a Frogtastic year.
Some of my favorite answers from the students:
What makes Mrs. Kautz happy?
"When it's her birthday party." (that was Avery's)
A lot of answers also had to do with getting to Frogtastic.
What makes Mrs. Kautz sad?
The majority of the kids said when kids are absent.
What does Mrs. Kautz do when she is not at school?
"Goes to a pond and looks for frogs."
"Lay in bed."
A lot of kids said play with her dog.
"She drinks coffee in her pj's and watches television."
Of all the things you have learned in Mrs. Kautz class, what do you think will be the most important when you are a grown-up?
I loved Avery's answer and then these,
"Learning how to count money. So when I grow up I can count all my money."
"Telling time, because if you can't tell time you don't know when to go to work."
Mrs. Kautz is special because.......
"she makes everyone feel special, especially me."
"She cares about us and would do anything to protect us."
There were so many cute, sweet and funny answers!!!
Then this book. I was certain I was going to like the other book better, but this one turned out so cute and the kids answers are so sweet.....and you can't beat $100 cash. Yes, $100 cash in between the pages, though after the late submissions I lost track of how much I put in there and I'm thinking now that it may have been over $100. I told the parents they could donate money if they wanted. The original plan for this book was going to be "100 Things we love and will miss about our teacher" hence the $100, but there were so many similar answers I had to come up with something different. The majority of the money was from 3 or 4 of us but, again, worth it. I love how it turned out. This one may be my favorite. It's so close though!
Some favorite answers:
What I love most about Mrs. Kautz is:
"that she likes frogs and when we get ready to go on the bus she does this funny dance."
"that she likes frogs and green, because green is my favorite color too."
"the fun times"
"her laugh"
"her smile"
"her hairstyles" popular answer
What I will miss most about Mrs. Kautz:
"HER!" was a very popular answer
"her smile"
"all of her niceness"
"her hair"
"her funness"
Such sweet kiddos who obviously love their teacher very much!
I did do a book for Allie's teacher as well. I couldn't leave her out.....Allie wouldn't let me either! It's not quite as extravagant, but just as meaningful. I had a harder time getting answers back and so there are several kids missing from her book.
Some favorites:
What does Ms. Shutak do when she is not at school?
"reads and works in her garden" ( I don't know if she does this, but I could totally see it)
"She should go to the spa because she deserves a break."
What do you think Ms. Shutak was like when she was in 3rd Grade?
"A smart student, good listener, wore pigtails and dresses."
If you could change one rule Ms. Shutak has, what would you change?
"No homework!!!!"
"Be un-quiet in the que"
What will you miss most about Ms. Shutak?
"I will miss how nice she is and how she reads to us in the afternoons."
"I will most miss her smile."
"That she was the best teacher I have ever known."
"He kindness, jokes and laughter."
"She was my favorite teacher because she didn't really scream that much."
"Everything!" popular answer
Field Day was a couple days ago. It was your typical day in England, wet, cold and dreary. I was running the popsicle station. Who wants popsicles on a day like that?! You never know what the weather is going to be like. I know the popsicles were a huge hit last year. It really didn't rain that hard and it still turned out to be a fun filled day for everyone. I had some 5th graders with me and they had it under control so the PE teacher told me it was fine if I wanted to walk around with Avery. So about half way through I did that and got a few pictures.
Allie's class had theirs in the afternoon. My friend Melissa was so kind and took Blake home with her. That was probably a good thing because, let me tell you, I was exhausted by the end of the day. I'm not used to putting in a full day! Blake would have been bored out of his mind. I was able to sneak off and get a couple pictures of Allie as well.
It was a great year! So hard to believe we will have a 4th grader and a 2nd grader next year!!!
