So long, farewell,

auf weidersehen, goodbye...

Last week we bid adieu to our student teacher, Ms. Fusco. Her last day was a week ago yesterday. I meant to get this post written last week but best intentions and all that...

It felt a bit like coming back to school after the summer. With the exception of teaching 40 minutes of writing each day, I hadn't had the class to myself in 8 weeks!


And, boy, could I tell!

So, last week was busy, busy, busy with relearning routines and expectations a la Ms. Hughes.


I think they all realized that Ms. Fusco was really gone when her Happy Club turned into the Unhappy Club (otherwise known as the After School Club) and I told them that from now on they stay after school if they have incomplete work or if they make poor behaviour choices. 

Not that I was a complete ogre last week but they needed to get the idea that time is ticking by...


As of tomorrow, there are only 11 weeks left in the school year and a whole lot of learning left to do!!!!


I told them very clearly that I expect them to be buckling down and working during working time. It's one thing to not understand how to do something. It is a whole 'nother thing when they are just being down right lazy!

Anywho, back to the point of this post...we had to bid a fond farewell to Ms. Fusco. So, we threw a surprise party!!!!

And she was surprised!


Students and their families had sent in money for me to buy Ms. Fusco a gift. I decided to fill a basket with assorted goodies that I wish I had had when I first started teaching. No one tells you to have a mini sewing kit on hand or that packing tape is a teacher's best friend when it comes to book surgery. 


These are important things to know, people!

So, she opened her big, huge gift basket (the basket being a dish tub since teachers never seem to have enough of these either!)



These are a few of my favourite things: scissors, pens, pencils, duct tape, safety pins, measuring tape, packing tape, hockey tape (great for colour coding stuff!)

This mug just screamed out "Ms. Fusco!" because it totally reminded me of all the Kid President videos we have watched with her and how he always says to find your awesome.

Another one that people don't tell you about...thank you cards!

And you can't go wrong with a personalized clip board. No worries about another teacher taking it because it is OOAK (one of a kind) and made with love (and a lot of duct tape!)

And, last but definitely not least, there was the book we made for her. Each of my lovelies wrote a tip on how to be a good teacher and then drew a picture for her. I put them all in a book and had it published on Blurb. I love that site!!!!



I got an extra copy to keep in the classroom for the lovelies to read.

And the title? Well, it comes from my philosophy which I shared with Ms. Fusco. I do believe that students need to feel loved to learn. When they feel loved, they feel safe and worthwhile. When they feel loved, they can do anything!

Cheers!

Olwyn

p.s. Don't ask me why part of this was highlighted in white. Tried to get it to go away but couldn't figure it out! Oh well!!!!