Tomorrow is the last school day with students before break. Wow! What a year. I wrapped up with an interesting meeting with my partner teacher and our principal. Yes, it was a long year (thanks to the snow days!). Yes, we are ready for a break. But we are also looking forward to the next school year — an exciting new adventure awaits!

Thank you to all of the students, parents, and colleagues that made this school year one for the books. I appreciate all of you!

A little poem to leave with you:

Forget that we started class before eight. Forget your pencil? No, I won’t wait! Forget the answers on the test? Forget to act your very best?
Forget the author, forget the plot. Forget which book was great, or not. Forget to walk straight in the hall. Forget to pick up the basketball.

But don’t forget the fun we had. (Don’t forget to ask for new IPads!) Don’t forget to help each other; she’s your sister, he’s your brother. Don’t forget to think of me whenever you use the Power of Three.

Don’t forget the lessons you learned, about thinking, dreaming, and how you turned…work into the fabulous grades you earned.

Forget about Ellis Island, Russia’s pogroms, and geography’s many, many miles. But don’t forget —

— I’ll miss your smiles!

This poem was inspired by Kenn Nesbitt’s “What to Remember in School” (from Aliens Have Landed at our School, 2006)