School's out for Summer!!

“School’s Out for Summer!!” That is such a great phrase… from a great song! Who doesn’t remember the excitement and the energy they had in school on the last day? There is an electricity in the air that feels like potential and hope. Who knows what the summer will bring. It’s probably the same charged feeling soldiers feel just before a battle. I can remember as a child each year on the last day, my teacher handed me my manilla envelope with my report card. They must have been more trusting back then because it was not really sealed, it had a string wrapped around a circle clasp to keep it sealed shut. Everyone immediately opened them as soon as we were on the bus and the teacher was out of sight. Every year, I would immediately look at the little box on the bottom right hand side that said, “Next year the student will be in grade _______” I breathed a huge sigh of relief each year when it stated that I had been promoted. I immediately sat up a little straighter on the bus and felt a little older. Looking around on the bus I would have noticed that everyone else was feeling and acting the same way.

Around the school building today, everyone had that same excited energy. The kids all looked a little bigger and had smiles that said they were ready to move up and on. Teachers frantically passed out papers and work that had been posted on bulletin boards. Parents came in with cupcakes and cards and small gifts for the teachers. Sealed envelopes in cubbies were glanced at hopefully by the students who would not be able to subtly open their report cards on the bus like I could do years ago.

It is a tradition here at school for all the teachers to wave good-bye to the kids as they pull away from the building in their buses. The buses all pull out at once, windows are down so the warm breeze can blow thru and the teachers all wave wildly and yell “Good-bye!” and “Have a great summer!” I do not know if the kids even realize how much teachers look forward to the tradition. For the teachers here, it is the moment summer begins. To all the students out there, past and present-

No more pencils
No more rule-books
No more teacher's dirty looks

Out for summer
Out till fall
Have a great summer one and all!! ;)