So, how was that BIG Retirement Party and Kindergarten Reunion?

As readers of this blog know, I had been planning a BIG retirement party and reunion of my former students for months.  I had studied class photos from the past 41 years, searched for over 600 names on Facebook and on school district class lists, and invited students and their families to an ice cream social one Sunday afternoon.  So, how did it go?!

It was a cool, damp afternoon and I was a bit worried.  The park district facility had both indoor and outdoor seating, a playground, and lovely grounds including a walking path around a large pond. I had been hoping to visit with people inside and outside. But, the weather was not cooperating.  Would the turnout be suppressed by the weather?  Or, would everyone come at the same time and would we risk exceeding the maximum capacity of 110 people?

We arrived a half hour before our first guests so that we could set up the tables with helium balloons and the class photo displays which I had prepared .  We set up two different class photos at each table, selecting classes that were years (even decades!) apart.  I hoped that former students would gather at the tables where they saw their class photo and both reunite with old friends and connect with new people.

We set up a few special tables, as well.  One table had a basket of all the old Beanie Baby-type teddy bears that I'd used for years during our daily phonemic awareness lessons.  Children held these bears while we practiced rhyming and other word skills.  The sign told guests to select a freshly-laundered teddy bear to take home.

Another table held three special stuffed animal friends: Corduroy, Owl, and Dog.  Corduroy was a bear that had visited about 600 Mundelein homes over the course of my career.  Kindergarteners took him home in a cloth bag which also contained books about him and a notebook for the children to record their own adventures with Corduroy.  Owl was a stuffed animal that the children held when they said something very wise.  Dog was a stuffy held by children when they showed they were good friends. These stuffed animals were there to be raffled off to some lucky guests!

A third table held an adorable plaque made by a former teaching assistant, Bonnie, along with a guest book.  A sign encouraged guests to sign their names or write a memory or a message in the guest book.

And there was one more table where guests would see my puppet friend, my "right hand man," Reader Rabbit, and a number of special albums parents had made for me years ago.  I hoped that these simple amusements would entertain guests.

My husband set up a screen and we projected a slideshow of some 700 photos I'd collected of students from 1977 to the present.  Music from my iTunes playlist accompanied the slideshow.

The freezer was stocked with about 300 Klondike bars and popsicles.  A wonderful locally-owned coffee shop provided the hot beverage for all who wanted it.

Everything was set:  now, where were the guests?

Oh, they were there!  Starting right  on time and all afternoon, students and their families stopped by.  At times, the parking lot was packed, the line to greet me was very long, and there was a lot of commotion in the room.  We estimate there were over 300 people who came to the party!

Our own grown children gave every former student a name badge when they arrived but I rarely needed to look at them.  This surprised me because I hadn't seen a lot of these people in two or three decades!  I was helped out a bit because so many of them came with their parents and I recognized the parents quite often.  But, most of the time, I could see something of the little boy or little girl in the man or woman standing in front of me.

One student was from my first class in 1977.  He will turn 50 next year!  Time for a teacher to retire when her elementary school student is turning 50, right?!  A couple of others were from classes I taught in the 1980s.  Many students were from the 1990s and early 2000's and,of course, there were a lot of young ones running about. Whole families came with multiple siblings who had been in my class.  The superintendent, my current principal, and a couple of other former colleagues with whom I've kept in touch, were also there.

My hope that guests would enjoy reuniting as well as making new connections was realized! My own youngest son was so happy to reunite with two of his buddies from elementary school. I could see and hear people excitedly saying, "YOU had Mrs. Hugo, too?!  When?  Do you remember Corduroy?"  

I heard more memories, more kind words, more success stories than I could ever have imagined. It took me hours to read all the beautiful messages on the cards and letters.

Every room in our house has flowers and candles in it, there are plants on our back deck, I have new jewelry to wear and purses to carry, I won't be tempted to buy chocolate bars all summer but I can shop to my heart's content at Barnes and Noble, Target, and Macy's, and on Amazon, I can drink coffee at Starbucks and eat at Chilis, Maggiano's, On the Border, Panera, Olive Garden, or Macaroni Grille every week!  People were incredibly generous with their time, their words, and their gifts.

My bucket is overflowing! This party is something I always wanted, it was a lot of work, it was incredibly satisfying, and I am so grateful.  That is how I would summarize my party and, for now, that is how I will summarize my career: something I always wanted, a lot of work, and incredibly satisfying.  And I am so, so very grateful.

BUT PLEASE STAY TUNED!  I'm not done blogging about teaching.  I hope you will want to read about more of my favorite lessons, tricks of the trade, and reflections on education.

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The Last, Last Day!*

*But NOT the last, last blog post!!!

5:00 a.m.  The last day of kindergarten and the last day of my teaching career.
This is when I've started my work day for many years.  So, why should this last, last day be any different, right?  Sigh.  I'm sitting at the kitchen table tracing 24 autograph dogs and their colorful ears for my kindergarteners to cut and assemble this last day of school.

7:30 a.m. Cathy Butterfly emerges from her chrysalis.
Readers of this blog may remember that we count the number of days in kindergarten each day and record the numbers on a long number line.  I have always called this growing number line, "Cathy Caterpillar."  When there are just 14 days of school left, the number line goes into a black garbage bag which is hung from the ceiling as if it were a chrysalis.  On the last day of school, the chrysalis comes down and the biggest butterfly ever goes up! So, for the last time on the last day of school, I climbed up on the univent to hang Cathy Butterfly.

8:30 a.m.  I receive a pretty wrist corsage from our superintendent.

8:45 a.m.  I gather my students together for the last, last time.

9:30 a.m.  I participate in my last, last assembly.

10:00 a.m.  My teaching assistant from 40 years ago shows up to spend some time in my classroom on my last day of teaching!

Sally was with me on my first day of teaching in 1977 and how great is it that she wanted to spend part of my last day of teaching with me?!

10:30 a.m.  My last class of kindergarteners loves making the autograph dogs just as much as my first class did!

This is a definitely worthwhile last day of school activity!  After cutting and assembling the dogs, the children walk around and politely ask each other, "May I have your autograph, please?!"

11:00 a.m.  I conduct a short awards ceremony for my students.

Earlier in the week, each child had drawn a picture of what they believe they are "as good as gold" at doing in school.  At the ceremony, Sally calls them up and they show their picture to the class. I agree with their self-assessment and sometimes add another compliment.  For example, if a student says, "I'm as good as gold at art." I add, "I agree.  I also have noticed that you are becoming a really interesting writer!"  Then I hang a gold medal on a ribbon (purchased in bulk from Oriental Trading Company) around the child's neck and we all chant, "Congratulations, first grader."  It takes about a minute per child to do this ceremony.

11:25 a.m.  We all enjoy a bite of a giant chocolate chip cookie!

11:35 a.m.  I share the love one last, last time.

Many years ago, I found this idea somewhere and it has never failed to delight all of us.  I tell the children that I have one more special friend whom I really, really love and can't wait any longer for them to know this friend.  But, I tell them, they have to meet this friend one person at a time.  And after they meet this friend, they have to go back and sit down really quietly and not tell anyone else who they see in the box.  They must not spoil the secret!  Of course, I call on the most trustworthy students first.  If you can't tell from the picture, there is a mirror in the box and they see themselves.

12:00  We gather for a class photo beneath Cathy Butterfly.

2:00  Retirees are honored at a district recognition ceremony.

Each of the retirees was interviewed by a former student and a videotape was made of the interview.  I am hoping to receive a link to my video tape and will add it to the post later.  Check back--it was really cute!

3:00  Cruising around in my friend's jeep!

My colleague, friend, parent of three of my former students fulfills her promise to take me for a ride in her jeep!  The top is down, the air is warm, the wind is blowing, the music is blaring and it is cool, cool, cool!!!

3:30  I am treated to an early, delicious dinner at a lovely restaurant with a former colleague and her husband.

My friends met 15 years ago at our oldest son's high school graduation party.  Rosie was my colleague and Rick was my husband's colleague and our son's high school English teacher!

What an amazing last, last day of teaching!  But, stay in touch, because my next post is on what actually happened at my BIG Retirement Party and Kindergarten Reunion!

Colleagues in Education

This is a special post dedicated to all of my wonderful colleagues.  I shared it with them at the lovely party they hosted for retirees last night.


As most of you know, I'm rarely at a loss for words.  For better or worse, this occasion is no exception.  As most of you also know, this past year, I have been blogging about teaching kindergarten.  My blogspot which I've called Good-bye Kindergarten,  has been a place for me to share some of my favorite lessons, offer some tricks of the trade, and reflect on my long career in education.  Tomorrow, I'm going to publish a short, new post.   This post is entitled Colleagues.  Now, all of you dog lovers out there, DON'T get excited; I said "Colleagues."

I became a teacher because I've always loved kids.  Kids make me think and make me smile.  I really believe that most teachers enter the profession for this same reason; we love kids.  But, in my case, I also became a teacher because I loved so many of my own teachers.  Now, to be perfectly honest, the teachers of my childhood were mostly very "old school."  After all, I grew up in the 1960s! All of my elementary school teachers were women, mostly unmarried women, and, as far as I knew, none had children of their own.  They seated us in rows of desks and taught straight out of teachers' manuals.  But I was fortunate to have teachers who were mostly skillful and approachable individuals.  And a few were actually creative.  I have a clear memory of my own kindergarten teacher allowing monarch butterflies to freely fly around our classroom.  This went on for several days.  And then, I just know this is true, a few weeks later there was a multitude of butterflies flying around that classroom!

So it was pretty much always my life's plan to become a member of this profession much esteemed by me, to become a teacher, a colleague in education.

As a teacher, my own colleagues have been very important in my life.  Two of my best friends on the planet were colleagues of mine at the very beginning of my career forty years ago.  We have carried on a conversation about education throughout all these years but also talked about marriage, raising children, health, politics, religion--all the stuff of life, really!  We've had fun together as friends do: going out to eat, watching movies and plays, and walking through gardens and forest preserves. They have always been there for me--we are BFF, for sure. Many of my more recent colleagues have become friends, as well.  We have enjoyed conversations and "dates" with one another.  And, when you have taught as many years as I have, you may have the special pleasure of becoming colleagues with parents of former students and, yes, these former students, themselves.

Colleagues have been friends and also cheerleaders.  You have rooted for me before I've made phone calls to certain parents. And you have rooted for me when I've engaged in conferences with the same certain parents.  You have cheered for me before I've been observed in the evaluation process.  And you have encouraged me to explore the ever-expanding universe of technology.

Colleagues have been friends, cheerleaders, and also members of a support group.  When things haven't gone so well and I've felt discouraged, worried or even clueless, you have made me feel better.  You have offered support with kind words, hugs, flowers, dark chocolate, and even emergency lesson plans and materials.

And while there are some technical distinctions between teaching colleagues and administrators, secretaries, school nurses, custodians, lunch ladies, and other staff members, these are often nothing more than technical distinctions.  I've been cheered, supported, and "Friended" and even befriended by so many of you.

Friends, cheerleaders, support groups, professional learning communities--colleagues in education are all of these.  And there is one more kind of relationship that I have felt between teachers, a really important one. That's a feeling of family.  When you stop to think about it, we see our colleagues more often than we see many members of our actual families.  We see each other on our best days and our worst days.  We compliment one another on a new outfit or hairstyle. We share many of life's pleasures like a favorite recipe, a crazy reality TV show, and a new book to read.  We comfort one another when we are dragging ourselves into school with a miserable cold. And, inevitably, we share life's sorrows and find compassion.  Yes, in my opinion, colleagues are like family.  And, as we know, families are all about love.

I'm glad to have been a part of this family for so many years and will carry your love with me forever.