“Goodbye” can be a hard word to say—especially when we don’t want something to end. For young children, it can feel even harder. They may not have the words to express it, but saying goodbye to something or someone they love deeply can be an emotional experience. Whether it’s the end of a school year or a special connection, helping them navigate these goodbyes with empathy and understanding is an important part of their growth.
I can think of many moments where parents would say to me that their child didn’t like the weekend because their child couldn’t go to school. I guess if you ever wondered if you were doing a good job as a teacher, comments like this solidify that what you are doing is making a difference and an impact on those you teach. When you really think about the time you are given to spend teaching a class, it really is a gift of time.
I love how you incorporated imagination, love, and fun in learning. It’s a little bittersweet the year ended as it did. Toby loved going to school- he would jump out of bed and ask to go on Saturdays. I.G.
Are there moments when you feel like pulling your hair out, need to hold your breath and count to ten before you explode, silently recite a scripture verse, or watch the clock wishing the day would end? If you said no, as my daughter would say—be for real! Being a teacher or parent doesn’t make the hard days disappear. In fact, when you’re intentional about teaching or parenting, those hard moments may happen even more often—because you’re setting expectations and nurturing character growth in your children or students.
In a school year, you have spent approximately 190 days together. Approximately 1080 hours spent learning, laughing, failing, succeeding, growing, accomplishing, building character and resilience. In those 190 days, you cultivated compassionate, responsible individuals and created a classroom environment where your students felt safe, valued, and motivated to explore their full potential. Take some time as the school year winds down to reflect, celebrate, and share all the moments you had together throughout the year. Take the last month of school to celebrate your year together as a classroom family.
Our Celebrate the School Year with 30 conversation starter prompts, encourages your students to reflect on and share their experiences from the school year. For older students, you can take it a step further by having them respond to the prompts through journaling, exploring their thoughts and feelings in more depth. Encouraging reflection helps build lifelong learners—empowering students to think independently and collaborate meaningfully with others.
