Last week marked the end of the school year and also J's last week at his elementary school. We moved across town earlier this year but decided to have the boys finish the school year at their current schools. Although I am looking forward to their new school [which is fantastic + a much shorter commute], it was hard to say goodbye to J's school. We feel blessed that he had two amazing teachers there along with an equally wonderful staff. The high level of parental support at the school is well known throughout the community and I will miss all of J's classmates' parents [and grandparents].
The class presented Mrs. L with two presents. The first present was a gift certificate to a local spa and the second present was a book I put together of the children's drawings, letters, poems and pictures.
I sent home an envelope marked "TOP SECRET" which included a piece of cardstock + a letter to the parents instructing them to have their child decorate one page for Mrs. L's scrapbook. I picked up a Kolo Lucino album [I love Kolo albums!] which I love because it has top loading 8.5"x11" clear pockets.
It was so fun to see how the children decorated their pages, each reflecting their unique style. J drew a picture of Mrs. L using his favorite sharpie pens and he included a photograph of the two of them that I had taken during the last week of school.
And since j has been adopted as the little brother for the entire class [he often gets to join the children during the last 5-10 minutes of the day] he wanted to decorate a page of his own.
I presented the book to Mrs. L on the last day of school, which was probably a mistake since I got all choked up and had tears in my eyes [thankfully there were other mothers who were teary as well since you know tears are contagious, right?]. Mrs. L loved her book and more than anything I think it was a wonderful way for the children to express their love for her and a sweet way for Mrs. L to remember her 2009-2010 first grade students.
P.S. Did you know Kolo has a blog called the Koloist? I discovered it a few months ago when Kate, the editor of the Koloist, contacted me about featuring the cookie recipe book I made for J's school auction. You can see the post here.
