Here Come the Tears

Today was my second to last day of school.  And oh dear has it been difficult saying goodbye.  I had my very last class with my 5th graders.  I planned a special activity where I asked students (ahead of time) to bring in eggs.  (I can't even begin to imagine the parent's reactions to this strange request.  I may go down in history as the first teacher in Spain to ask students to bring eggs to school...)  Today I shared with them one of my favorite memories from Science class.  (A big thanks to my 7th grade science teacher Mrs. Quelch!)  I gave each group of students a long piece of tape, a sheet of newspaper, 4 straws, and scissors.  They had 15 minutes to build a contraption to protect their egg.  Why did they need to protect their egg you ask? Because I was going to later stand on a ladder and drop said egg.  They built their contraptions.  I dropped their eggs.  No one succeeded in actually protecting the egg from breaking.  A fun, enjoyable activity for all.

 This particular student was pumped to watch me drop his egg

This particular student... not so much

Checking to see if the egg broke

While I was cleaning up egg mess, the students went back to the classroom.  I soon followed suit and found myself facing a classroom with the lights off.  I opened the door and "SURPRISE!" They had planned a mini goodbye party for me, with homemade cakes and all.  I was doing great with keeping my emotions in check until they started singing the Bruno Mars song "Count on Me."  Which if you recall, they sang to me on my very first day of school.  It took every piece of acting training I ever received not to cry.  After the song, we feasted on the cake one of the Mom's had made the night before.

I never thought I would ever meet another group of students that would melt my heart as much as my kiddies from student teaching.  I was wrong, my students in Spain, especially in this particular class, have taken up a good chunk of space in my heart.  Especially this one in particular who wrote me this note today...

I remember you always

 And this is one of the reasons why I became a teacher.  

Wish me luck tomorrow when I have to say goodbye to the rest of the school!

My class of amazing 5th graders