Who doesn’t want the last day of school?

Third year in my Grade 2 classroom. What a mixed feeling to let these children go, and I see the same in their faces although it’s true that we all just want to sleep late. Zzz...

“Inukshuk, Miss J.!” – their usual request during downtime. It’s my version of the hangman game once “big” words have been introduced such as indigenous, government, decomposers, etc. Children guess the mystery word using sounds (“Is there a /k/?”) and a part of the image such as an inukshuk, a snowman, a robot, etc. is deleted for every wrong guess. Kids sometimes go wild with every right and wrong answer, so they’re asked to use voice #1 or a whispering voice; otherwise, the plastic dollar store microphone is passed around and nobody else is allowed to make a sound except the one with the microphone. The student who guesses the whole word right usually gets a prize – pretend cash money they put in their pretend wallet for the end-of-month “shopping day,” thanks to your donations to thrift shops where I get “prizes” once a month with my $25 budget. Please continue to donate little notebooks, stickers, fancy pencils and pens, extra markers, etc. to thrift shops or directly to public schools in your community.

This class not only enjoyed all the games, body breaks (exercise, mirroring acts, dance with GoNoodle or Just Dance, Cosmic Yoga, etc.), elbow buddy chat time, after-lunch reading time, lots of arts/crafts, singing,  but also spelling quizzes and “Number of the Day.” Towards the end of the school year, they were able to complete the Number-of-the-Day tasks on their own, starting with representing the number in words, place value, expanded form, cross on hundreds chart (+1, -1, +10, -10), number lines, bills/coins combination, patterns, word problems, etc. Some even showed readiness to do multiplication and division.

Unforgettable for them was the field trip to Fish Creek Park where they saw a deer and anthills, growing Painted Lady butterflies and releasing them, Christmas caroling around the school, and singing What a Wonderful World at the Volunteer Appreciation and Grade 6 Farewell as well as the Jubilee 2025 Hymn at the Talent Show finale. Most memorable of all must be watching their three classmates dance to “Sunroof” to everyone’s delight. Such bravery and confidence when some could hardly form a sentence or lead the class prayer in September! I will surely miss everyone in this class. Really grateful for Education Assistants’ and parents’ patience and support. We made it to the end! I just need a massage now…

Now, who doesn’t want the last day of school? Oops! Maybe some parents. My apologies… MLJ/25062025