The last half day of school.
Is the longest day of school.
Keeping the kids busy and out of trouble and somewhat calm is a challenge. My team decided that taking them to the gym to run and scream and throw basketballs around would be a good idea. It worked out pretty well (Mrs. Language and I even shot a few baskets - I made two, amazingly enough). No one got into a fight, we only had one jammed finger, and it kept them busy.
I took my class back around 9:30 to make s'mores (science teachers have cool things like electric burners in their rooms), which the kids loved. We also watched a Jimmy Neutron (I love him) DVD, signed yearbooks, and chatted about what the summer would involve.
And then the highlight of our day....bus riders were dismissed.
There is a tradition in our district that the teachers, staff, and the walkers all go out of the building and wave the buses goodbye. The bus drivers make it even more fun by laying on the horns and making a total racket. Kids wave from the bus windows, kids and teachers and secretaries and janitors and everyone else jump and wave and scream as the buses roll out. Considering we probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 buses, it's quite a sight. Bringing up the rear of the bus parade is our SRO in his patrol car with lights flashing.
I don't know why, but I just love this tradition. There's something about the pure joy of it, and everyone involved in educating our children involved - from the support staff to the teachers to the bus drivers to the kids - that makes it a wonderful culminating event of the year.
And it's freaking loud!
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6 comments:
That's really neat! Our tradition is that on the last day the admin comes around and releases classes one at a time and we escort our students off campus. It usually happens 10-15 minutes before school's suppose to be dismissed.
In fact, the last three days of school, students may not enter campus until just before the bell rings, and they may not bring anything other than a pencil to take final exams. (Minimum day testing schedule--two periods a day.) Other things are collected at the front door. No shaving cream or silly string entering our sacred halls. Each day, we escort our last period of the day all the way off campus. It's much like herding cattle. We can clear 1400 students in less than 5 minutes.
Anyway, your school's obviously a lot more fun than mine in the last days of school! HAPPY SUMMER!
We did the same thing in my old middle school. There were about 50 busses and we carried on nearly as badly as the kids. Horns blaring, kids screaming and teachers jumping up and down!! What a happy day!
On the last day at our elementary school, the 5th graders march through all the hallways while the rest of the students stand and applaud them. We march them right out and put them on the busses and then load up everyone else. Happy, happy times for everyone!!
Congrats!
We still have another 5 weeks, I think.
Hooray for you! You're now officially on vacation!
That is exactly what they did when I was in Elementary School!!! I LOVED it every year! It made all of the kids feel so special!
What a neat tradition! Things are much more subdued at the high school. They take finals in the morning, then we have the afternoon to grade them. In our department, we have our own tradition of trolling the halls for discarded treasures the kids left behind. I've gotten school logo t shirts and sweat shirts. Binders galore, pens and pencils, books, art projects- esp. pottery.
I need to get out more.
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