End of the Year Festivities

Zoo:
We can call our zoo field trip a success because nobody got hurt, lost, or had an accident. Definitely a success. The zoo was PACKED so the fact that no one got lost is definitely something to stand on. We had good parent help but it was also helpful that we left two of my most "spirited" friends at school in ISS. They had a chance to go but couldn't pull it together even for a trip to the zoo.

Fun Day:
At least 4 people got hurt and one person had an accident. On the plus side, no one got lost between the Youth Center and school so that was good. The walk there takes 15 minutes. The walk home takes 25. At one point, at least 4 kids were crying. 1 was sent home and at least 4 had to sit out different parts of the day. It was the first cloudy day in 2 weeks. It rained. I witnessed some shivering that was almost seizure like and I expect at least 8 kids to get sick in the next week. SMASHING SUCCESS. Always my favorite day of the year.

Best thing so far:
The looks on my students faces as they went down the water slide into freezing cold water at 9:45 this morning. They were SO excited to be there that at first they just went for it. But as they stood at the top of the slide it occurred to them that this might be a little scary. But everyone else was doing it so they took the plunge. The expressions were priceless as they went from excitement to hesitation to in-trepidation to terror to cold induced shock to giddy elation. Imagine all of that in an 8 second ride down a slide that ends in a foot in a half of freezing cold water and now you understand how it's my favorite day of the year. Let the shivering commence!

We have tomorrow as the last full day of the year and on Monday we'll take our well behaved (referral free) students to DQ. Again, we'll walk which takes FOREVER. However, we have 3 hours to walk a mile and a half and eat a Dilly Bar. Kindergarteners have short legs and they like to stop and smell the flowers. Literally. I'm not a big fan of slow walking but it's a good last day with my kids. It's sometimes a great idea to stop and smell the flowers. More on that later.